Transnational agency and domestic policies: The case of childcare deinstitutionalization in Georgia

Abstract

This article describes a policy adoption case study about deinstitutionalization of childcare in Georgia since independence. It highlights the evolving and non-homogeneous nature of transnational agency in the area of childcare deinstitutionalization, and offers insights into the complex relationship between transnational agency and national policymaking. The analysis draws on national policy documents, reports of United Nations agencies, the European Union, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and non-governmental organizations that contributed to the evolution of childcare deinstitutionalization in Georgia. We trace several developments: evolution of Georgian domestic policy versus the changing role of childcare deinstitutionalization in activities of various transnational actors. We find that Georgian childcare was shifting towards deinstitutionalization at the same time as global policy actors were developing their interventions in this policy area, showing how a lower middle-income country can develop its domestic social policies in conditions of an incoherent external environment.