Political Culture and Democratic Development in Central Asia

Contents: Preface. 1. Democratisation and political culture: a theoretical perspective. 2. Democratisation and political culture in pre-Soviet and Soviet Central Asia: a historical perspective. 3. Glasnost and Perestroika: dialectics of political culture in Soviet Central Asia. 4. Democratic development in Central Asia. 5. Clan, corruption and civil society in Central Asia: informal political process, political culture and democratisation. 6. Inter-ethnic relations, radical Islamic resurgence and nature of democratisation process in Central Asia. Conclusion. Postscript. Bibliography. Index.

"The book is an attempt to examine nature of evolving political culture and democratic development in the five states of Central Asia, namely, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. It highlights the historical and cultural factors influencing the political process in these states. The role of institutional as well as informal political factors like clan and civil society in shaping the democratisation process has also been analysed. Radical Islam and inter and intra-ethnic conflicts in these states have also been examined in the present work." (jacket)