The adoption of a controversial foreign agents law by Georgia’s ruling party in May marked the lowest point in Tbilisi’s relations with the West since it declared its pro-Western foreign-policy aspirations in the early 2000s. Despite mass protests, a presidential veto overriding the Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence, U.S. sanctions against Georgian officials, and the European Union halting Tbilisi’s membership bid, the government pushed through with the measure.

When the Georgian Dream party government first attempted to adopt the law last year, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets to condemn the legislation, which resembles a foreign agents law that Russia adopted in 2012. Under Georgia’s law, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and independent media that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad are obliged to register as entities acting in the interest of foreign power.

The adoption of a controversial foreign agents law by Georgia’s ruling party in May marked the lowest point in Tbilisi’s relations with the West since it declared its pro-Western foreign-policy aspirations in the early 2000s. Despite mass protests, a presidential veto overriding the Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence, U.S. sanctions against Georgian officials, and the European Union halting Tbilisi’s membership bid, the government pushed through with the measure.

When the Georgian Dream party government first attempted to adopt the law last year, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets to condemn the legislation, which resembles a foreign agents law that Russia adopted in 2012. Under Georgia’s law, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and independent media that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad are obliged to register as entities acting in the interest of foreign power.

This year’s demonstrations failed to stop the legislation, but protesters remain hopeful that the country’s parliamentary elections on Oct. 26 will bring change. While the foreign agents law is perhaps the most eye-opening sign of Georgia’s drift away from the West, it is only one symptom of the issue.

Since adopting the law, Georgia has already lost some of the valuable perks of its close cooperation with the West. Washington, its closest........

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