THE STATE AND CIVIL SOCIETY IN CENTRAL ASIA

Abstract

As research into the Central Asian republics of the former Soviet Union has taken on momentum, various aspects of an encompassing approach tend to crystallise. When considered together, they yield a picture whose central theme is the degree to which these states really govern themselves. Urgent reforms in various spheres are portrayed as necessary. However, the respective states seem too weak to realise them for the state machinery is colonised by interpersonal networks with vested interests. Whether one calls them ‘clientelistic’ or ‘patronage networks’ Olcott, 1993; Khazanov, 1994 , ‘clan-like organisations’ Gleason, 1993 , ‘tribalism’ Abdulvakhidov, 1994 , or simply ‘clan’ Vaisman, 1995 , they are charged with being an impediment to reform. As the political leadership is accounted for on the basis of clientelism, ‘cul-de-sac’ becomes the appropriate term to describe the venture the Central Asian republics tend to undertake.

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