Political Processes in the Republics of post-Soviet Central Asia

Abstract

The article analyzes contemporary political processes in the newly  independent states of post-Soviet Central Asia. The peculiarities of  functioning of their centralized political systems, as well as the  interaction of the executive (the president and the government) and  the legislative (parliament) branches of power are considered in the  context of the authoritarian type of government that prevails in most  countries of the region. Attention is drawn to the use by the  ruling elites for the purposes of political mobilization of procedures  for electoral democracy (elections, etc.), which is mostly of a formal  nature. The place in the power structures of both officially  recognized political parties and opposition ones is defined, which are  divided mainly into secular and religious (Islamist). Informal political structures that function in a number of cases in the form of regional  communities, territorial or ethnic clans are considered in the article as a specific characteristic of Central Asian societies. Based on the analysis of the political process in the Central Asian countries, it  was concluded that the whole period of post-Soviet transit has come  to an end and that authoritarian but consolidated regimes of a new  type are emerging in the region; they form a sovereign statehood  and an independent foreign policy strategy.