Kyrgyzstan: Nationalist firebrand takes ‘all power’
After more than a week in hiding following a disputed election, the president of Kyrgyzstan — Central Asia’s only democracy — on Thursday announced his plans to resign, saying he… Read more »
Category: Kyrgyzstan
Democratic déjà vu: Kyrgyzstan ‘developing immunity to authoritarianism’?
Kyrgyzstan’s President Sooronbay Jeenbekov announced Tuesday that he plans to ask Parliament for a new vote on their prime minister nominee, Reuters reports [HT: Cipher Brief]: The move could be… Read more »
‘Dropping the Democratic Facade’: Nations in Transit 2020
In its latest report, Nations in Transit 2020: Dropping the Democratic Facade, Freedom House warns of a “stunning democratic breakdown” across Central Europe, the Balkans, and Eurasia as many leaders… Read more »
‘Zero Corruption’: feasible or fantasy?
A court in Bishkek has ruled to freeze the bank accounts of RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service, locally known as Azattyk, its correspondent, and the Kyrgyz news site Kloop following their joint… Read more »
Global protest wave rattles governments, but can it advance democracy?
Whether the unprecedented wave of protests leads to sustainable democratic transitions depends in large part on the strategic sophistication of illiberal regimes and democratic actors, including the latter’s ability to… Read more »
Budding social activism, legitimacy crises feed Central Asia’s dramatic transformation
Central Asia is undergoing a dramatic transformation. Its governments face legitimacy crises at a time when long-standing leaders are being replaced by little-known, untested ones. Social contracts, by which citizens… Read more »
Impatient dictators: ‘How to Rig an Election’
Authoritarian states are using all-too familiar constitutional mechanisms to consolidate power, according to activist-journalists Tamara Grigoryeva and Ismail Djalilov. Across Eurasia, snap elections happen rather frequently, they write for Open… Read more »
Kyrgyzstan: optimism tempered by corruption concerns
Kyrgyzstan’s citizens demonstrate sustained optimism over the country’s trajectory and economic performance, tempered by an overwhelmingly high number who think corruption is a problem, according to a nationwide poll by the International… Read more »
Populism’s false promise could ‘reinvigorate liberal democracy’
The resurgence of populism has disrupted the post-Cold War political order and raised the prospect of instability in Europe and Eurasia, according to Nations in Transit 2017, the 22nd edition… Read more »
Kazakhstan’s ‘authoritarian lite’ regime hints at cosmetic change
Kazakhstan’s leader, Nursultan Nazarbayev, is the country’s only president since independence — elected five times with 97.5 percent of the vote. Nazarbayev has created a kind of “authoritarian lite” system… Read more »