In line with Georgian legislation, the governments of Abkhazia and Ajaria Autonomous Republics have their own Ministries of Culture (which are responsible for programmes within their respective administrative borders). The Ministry of Education and Culture of Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia and the Ministry of Education Culture and Sport of Ajaria Autonomous Republic are under dual subordination – they are accountable to local governments and to the central authority. However, in view of the war and the 12-year conflict, the de-facto Abkhazian authorities independently control the cultural policy in the territory of Abkhazia. Similarly, the Ministry of Culture of the Ajaria Autonomous Republic pursues the cultural policy, in the context of the decentralisation policy, declared by the Georgian government within its administrative borders.
The period 2008-2011 (from the early presidential elections on January 5th 2008 until now) is marked by intensification of centralisation and a weakening of self-governing institutions – e.g. the Ajara Autonomous Republic’s cultural policy is the embodiment of the central authority’s policy.
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