A Horse of a Different Color

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511804939.013

12 - A Horse of a Different Color

Revolution and Regression in Kyrgyzstan

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012

Edited by

Michael McFaul and

Scott Radnitz: Affiliation:
University of Washington
Valerie Bunce: Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Michael McFaul: Affiliation:
Stanford University, California
Kathryn Stoner-Weiss: Affiliation:
Stanford University, California

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Summary

If Ukraine was destined to have a democratic breakthrough because of the dream of a “return to Europe,” and Georgia, a Christian, historically Russophobe country, maintained the possibility of joining NATO and perhaps one day the European Union, then Kyrgyzstan, a small, mostly Muslim country in Central Asia surrounded by repressive authoritarian countries, had few external incentives for a democratic revolution. Neither were the internal conditions especially propitious: Kyrgyzstan is a poor country with a weak civil society that, prior to 1991, had no history as an independent state. President Askar Akaev, once known as a liberalizer, in later years backtracked on his early reforms and pushed Kyrgyzstan in a more autocratic direction. Nevertheless, to the surprise of many, Akaev was overthrown in 2005 following fraudulent parliamentary elections, leading to only the second transfer of power in Central Asia since independence. Kyrgyzstan thus appeared to join the wave of popular uprisings that began in Eastern Europe, traveled east through former Soviet, but still ostensibly European, nations, and finally ended up in the heart of Asia.

How are we to make sense of this case, which, on one hand, lacked most of the structural prerequisites for democracy – a middle class, a high level of development, a tradition of nationalism, and some prior experience with democracy or independent statehood – but on the other hand showed some promising signs of pluralism?

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Type: Chapter
Information: Democracy and Authoritarianism in the Postcommunist World , pp. 300 - 324

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511804939.013 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2009

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