Understanding the nature of democracy and political institutions in Uzbekistan during the leadership of Islam Karimov

Pages: 1429-1432
Manvi Raina (Department of Strategic and Regional Studies (DSRS), University of Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir)

The disintegration of the Soviet Union led to the independence of Central Asia which comprises of five states namely Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan that remained a part of Soviet Union till its disintegration. Uzbekistan as one of the Central Asian states adopted democracy and established political institutions in the post-Soviet period. The new constitution was enacted which contains the provisions for fulfilling the essential conditions of democracy but in reality, Uzbekistan has been keeping many features of previous Soviet regime such as one party dominance in which president expanded his personal power. However, Islam Karimov who became the first president of Uzbekistan declared his commitment to democratization but his path of development served as an obstacle in the actualization of democracy. He banned the opposition parties and allows only pro-government parties to participate in elections. Judiciary operates according to the will of the president. Many developments in the post-Soviet period lead to a series of questions regarding the nature of democracy and political institutions in Uzbekistan under Islam Karimov regime. How democracy and political institutions undermined by Islam Karimov in the post-Soviet period? Why opposition parties unable to assert their presence in mainstream politics? Why the extra-regional players unable to succeed in establishing democracy in the state? Therefore, in this paper, an attempt has been made to find out the reasons why democracy is not institutionalized yet and political institutions are controlled and regulated by one party. Further, an attempt is also made to analyze the factors that helped Karimov to strengthen his rule in Uzbekistan and why there is an absence of political culture in spite of having political institutions.