DEMOCRATIZATION IN POST-SOVIET CENTRAL ASIA: AMERICAN IMPACT
Keywords:
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Central Asia, the U.S., democratization.Abstract
The author analyzes how the Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan) are moving toward democracy, as well as the political and geopolitical reasons behind the United States’ interest in the region triggered by the Soviet Union’s disintegration and Washington’s desire to consolidate its position in the post-Soviet space. It was determined to realize its interests by planting democratic values in the newly independent states and urging them to orientate themselves toward democratic principles when shaping their policies. In this way, the Central Asian countries could count on Washington’s political support and economic aid.
In an effort to enter the world scene as democratic states, the Central Asian countries-built state structures that relied on constitutions describing them as democratic states; they created a party and election system and passed laws on the freedom of speech, glasnost, etc. This, however, has not transformed the post-Soviet Central Asian republics into paragons of democracy: the clan system is very much alive in the corridors of power; Soviet mentality remains predominant among state officials (practically all the top figures preserved their posts in the newly independent states); and the influence of Russia and the authoritarian traditions inherited from the past is still very obvious.
Downloads
References
National Endowment for Democracy Strategy Document, January 1992, Washington D.C., p. 4.
See: “History of Presidential Elections in Kazakhstan since 1991,” Permanent Mission of the Republic of Kazakhstan
to the United Nations, available at [http://www.kazakhstanun.org/press-releases/history-of-presidential-elections-in-kazakh-stan-since-1991.html], 28 August, 2013.
[http://www.akorda.kz/en/category/konstituciya].
See: “Politicheskie partii Respubliki Kazakhstan,” Tsentralnaya Azia i Kavkaz, No. 8, 1997, available at [http://www.
a-c.org/journal/08-1997/st_19_par_kaz.shtml], 29 September, 2013.
See: O. Tokhtanbayev, Kazakhstan: Transition to Democracy? The Institute of Economics and Social Sciences of Bilkent University, Ankara, September 2001, 48 pp.
NDI Pre-Election Report. The March 1994 Elections in Kazakhstan, 22 February, 1994, National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, available at [http://www.ndi.org/files/345_kz_94preelection.pdf], 11 September, 2013, p. 16.
S. Greenhouse, “Clinton and Kazakh Chief Each Filling a Need. Washington,” New York Times, 13 February, 1994,available at [http://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/13/world/clinton-and-kazakh-chief-each-filling-a-need.html], 4 October, 2013.
See: The Parliamentary Elections in Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan, Almaty, 7 March, 1994, 103rd Congress, 2nd Session,A Report Prepared by the Staff of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, p. 15.
See: Khartia o demokraticheskom partnerstve mezhdu respublikoy Kazakhstan i Soedinennymi Shtatami Ameriki,Washington, 14 February, 1994, available at [http://kazakhstan.news-city.info/docs/sistemsi/dok_perbaz.htm], 15 September,2013.
See: S.R. Roberts, Kazakhstan and the United States: Twenty Years of Ambiguous Partnership, The Atlantic Council of the United States, Washington, D.C., 2011, p. 4.
[http://online.zakon.kz/Document/?doc_id=30015965&sublink=20000], 7 October, 2013.
See: S.R. Roberts, op. cit., p. 4.
Kazakhstan Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1998, U.S. Department of State, Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 26 February, 1999, available at [http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_
ights/1998_hrp_report/kazaksta.html], 20 September, 2013.
See: D.V. Dorofeyev, “’Tsvetnye revolutsii’ v Tsentralno-Aziatskom regione v kontekste vneshnepoliticheskoy strategii SShA,” Kultura narodov Prichernomoria, No. 125, 2008, p. 51.
See: M. Laumulin, “U.S. Strategy and Policy in Central Asia,” Central Asia and the Caucasus, No. 4 (46), 2007, p. 50.
See: L. Skakovsky, “Kazakhstan v mezhdunarodnoy politike,” Mezhdunarodnye protsessy, available at [http://www.
ntertrends.ru/nineth/013.htm], 11 December, 2013.
See: E. Huskey, “The Rise of Contested Politics in Central Asia: Elections in Kyrgyzstan, 1989-1990,” Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 47, No. 5, July 1995, p. 828.
Constitution of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan.
Kyrgyzstan: Political Conditions in the Post-Soviet Era, INS Resource Information Center, 1993, p. 1.
See: A. Akaev, “Central Asia’s Democratic Alternative,” Demokratizatsiya, No. 2 (1), 1994, p. 14.
K. Collins, Clan Politics and Regime Transition in Central Asia, Cambridge, New York, 2006, p. 177.
See: Yu.V. Bosin, “Supporting Democracy in the Former Soviet Union: Why the Impact of US Assistance Has Been Below Expectations,” International Studies Quarterly, Vol. 56, 2012, p. 4.
See: Y. Bingol, “Nationalism and Democracy in Post-Communist Central Asia,” Asian Ethnicity, Vol. 5, No. 1,February 2004, p. 50.
See: “Generalnaia prokuratura Kyrgyzskoy Respubliki otnositelno obrashcheniy byvshikh sudey konstitutsionnogo suda Respubliki zaiavliaet sleduiushchee…,” Generalnaia prokuratura Kyrgyzskoy Respubliki, available at [http://www.
rokuror.kg/index.php?option=com_newscatalog&view=article&id=126&Itemid=149&lang=ru], 2 October, 2013.
See: K. Collins, op. cit., p. 236.
See: Kyrgyz Republic Presidential Elections, 29 October, 2000, OSCE/ODIHR Final Report, Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, Warsaw, 16 January, 2001, p. 14, available at [http://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/kyrgyz stan/15802], 20 August, 2013.
Ibid., p. 13.
Kyrgyz Republic Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1998, U.S. Department of State, The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 26 February, 1999, available at [http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/1998_
rp_report/kyrgyzre.html], 24 August, 2013.
See: D.V. Dorofeyev, op. cit., p. 52.
See: “Gosdep SShA: revolutsia v Kirgizii—sledstvie korruptsii, a ne borby Ameriki i Rossii,” Novosti v mire, 28 May,2010, available at [http://www.newsru.com/world/28may2010/kirg.html], 7 December, 2013.
The Referendum on Independence and Presidential Election in Uzbekistan: 29 December, 1991: Tashkent and Sa-markand, Uzbekistan, United States, Congress, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, The Commission, 1992,p. 1.
See: A.A. Trynkov, “Otnosheniya mezhdu Uzbekistanom i SShA,” in: Uzbekistan: obretenie novogo oblika, Vol. 2,ed. by E.M. Kozhokin, Rossiyskiy institut strategicheskikh issledovaniy, Moscow, 1998, p. 226.
F.S. Starr, “Making Eurasia Stable,” Foreign Affairs, Vol. 75, No. 1, January/February1996, pp. 80-92.
See: A.A. Trynkov, op. cit., p. 288.
See: Ibid., p. 229.
See: “Uzbek Opposition Figures Urge Caution on U.S. Support for Karimov,” Eurasianet, 27 March, 2002, available at [http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/civilsociety/articles/eav032702.shtml], 11 August, 2013.
See: B. Tursunov, Security and Stability in Uzbekistan: Challenges, Threats and Solutions, Defense Academy of the United Kingdom, Conflict Studies Research Center, 1998, p. 2.
Uzbekistan Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1998, U.S. Department of State, The Bureau of Democracy,Human Rights, and Labor, 26 February, 1999, available at [http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/1998_hrp_report/
zbekist.html], 14 September 2013.
Republic of Uzbekistan Election of Deputies to the Oliy Majlis (Parliament), 5 & 19 December, 1999, OSCE/ODIHR Limited Election Assessment Mission, Final Report, available at [http://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/uzbekistan/14770].
Uzbekistan Country Report, BTI 2010, available at [http://www.bti-project.de/uploads/tx_jpdownloads/BTI_2010_
zbekistan.pdf], 10 December, 2013.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2014 AUTHOR
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
You are free to:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially.
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
- The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms:
- Attribution — You must give appropriate credit , provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made . You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
Notices:
You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation .
No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.
