Geographical Problems of Inclusive Development of the Regions of Georgia

Abstract

Relevance of the topic. Territorial disparities in regional development are one of the main challenges for Georgia. In this regard, the study of the development of the regions of Georgia, especially the study of the geographical factors of their inclusive development, has yet to become the subject of proper scientific research. Methodology and methods used. What determines the regional disproportions? What is the strategy for developing the regions of Georgia? What factors determine the choice of regional development? These are questions around which much discussion or scientific debate is taking place within the framework of regional sciences. Why regions? Several reasons condition the selection of regions as empirical cases: 1. Significant disproportions were identified in the regional development of Georgia; 2. The existence of subsidized regions in Georgia radically changes the picture of the population's territorial distribution of the welfare level. Because of this, the research presented has practical significance in addition to the theoretical load. The presented research aims to make a modest contribution to these discussions by studying the asymmetric development of the regions of Georgia. The academic goal of the research is to determine how well the inclusive economic growth paradigm is applied in the regions of Georgia. Indicators such as the structure of regional investments, infrastructure, salaries, GDP, unemployment, and level of urbanization were selected for the analysis. Research is based on space-time approaches. The method of comparative analysis and the Case Study approach is used as the main methods. Specific methodological techniques such as primary (content analysis of official documents related to the study of regions) and analysis of secondary sources (scientific literature and scientific electronic databases) are used in the process of data collection and analysis. Statistical information is taken from the National Statistics Office of Georgia. The chronological framework of the research covers 12 regions of Georgia (including Tbilisi), and the chronological framework for 2010-2019. Basic Case. IMF researchers point out that unequal regional development harms the country's economic growth and dynamics. Currently, there is a stable consensus in regional science in understanding regional development - it must be uniform. At the same time, it takes work to improve the situation substantially by allocating transfers from the state budget to all regions in the country. Based on the new economic geography approaches, territorial inequality is considered based on three main factors: density - territorial concentration of the population (development of urban agglomerations); Distance - (underdeveloped infrastructure, location, distance from global and internal markets, transport in general; division - institutional and political-administrative barriers (including borders) that prevent the penetration of goods, services, innovations. Based on the analysis of these factors, the study was based on the indicators mentioned above. Results and Findings. The crisis in the development of the regions of Georgia manifests itself in almost all areas, but differently in space and time. Inclusive development with exclusive elements was identified at the regional level. A similar development model does not consider that the inclusive increase in the welfare of the population of the regions should occur not through a redistribution policy but through their involvement in economic activity. Among the problems of inclusive development of the regions, several priority factors have been identified: 1. Impact of the agglomeration effect on the welfare distribution (most clearly reflected in the regional structure of FDI and wages); 2. Poorly developed regional infrastructure (despite the small size of the area, the distance factor is still relevant, especially in mountainous regions); 3. Existence of subsidy regions (low share of revenues of own regions in budget revenues). It is a result of shortcomings in institutional and political-administrative management. The identified problems, in turn, are due to the weakness of the existing regional management methodological framework, resulting from the lack of complex surveys in the regions. Thus, all the above factors reduce the degree of independence of the regions. Consequently, the region needs to choose an inclusive development strategy and tactics.