States of Protest in Central Asia
The nature of violent protest in Central Asia exhibits variation both in form and state response. In Kazakhstan, violent protest is rare and economically oriented, and it elicits accommodationist state…
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McGlinchey
29 posts
Eurasia 2014: Into Thin Air
(IERES-Central Asia Program Policy Brief) Key Points: Factors that produce democracy can produce violence. Drivers of reform are also drivers of radicalism. Predictable indeterminacy is the surprising suddenness of protest…
Central Asia Grows Wobbly
(Journal Article) (“Russia and Eurasia: October 2012″) Central Asia was, before the Russian Revolution, and is again since the Soviet collapse, imagined as critical to world politics. This, after all,…
Three Perspectives on Political Islam in Central Asia
This memo explores political Islam in Central Asia from three perspectives: that of (1) U.S. government analysts; (2) Central Asian government leaders; and (3) everyday Central Asian Muslims. Drawing on…
Revolutions and Religion in Central Asia
Unable to achieve change through the ballot box, the Kyrgyz and Uzbeks have taken to the streets in an effort to turn out their authoritarian leaders. Despite divergent outcomes, the…
Avoiding the Great Game and Domestic Unrest in Eurasia
Central Asia’s growing instability has opened the region to a host of would-be political entrepreneurs. The March and May 2005 uprisings in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan underscored the weakness of Eurasian…
Patronage, Islam, and the Rise of Localism in Central Asia
While ideologies and elites change, patronage politics remains the preferred strategy of Central Asia’s autocrats. Aspiring presidents-for-life distribute wealth to handpicked appointees who reciprocate by implementing, to varying degrees, executive…
An Opening in Uzbekistan
May 2008 marked the three-year anniversary of the tragic Andijon events in Uzbekistan’s Fergana Valley. My understanding of these events is informed by discussions with Uzbek colleagues both within and…
In For Life: Leadership Succession in Post-Soviet Central Asia
Central Asian rule today is moving more toward dynasty than toward democracy. During the past decade, Central Asian leaders have rewritten, manipulated, even jettisoned constitutions so as to ensure their continued hold…