POLI 419 Lecture Notes - Islam Karimov, Resource Curse, Central Asia
15 Dec 2013
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All post-soviet; most are resource-rich; majority of population are muslim. Didnt push for independence -> found themselves independent. Ids : nazarbaev, niyazov (turkmenbashi), karimov, rakhmonov, shikhmuradov, Berdimuklhamedov; akaev - bakiev - otunbaeva; atambaev, kulov. All pre-conditions for democracy are absent in central asia: poor per capita; resource rich; Islam as main religion; high levels of ethnic fractionalization; little turnover in power by the elites. Presence of clans has significantly undermined democracy building (kinship networks that act as informal institution that effectively subtitutte formal institution). Politics become much about clan competittion rather than ideology and policy. Elections - count of how many people belong to each clan. Clans make it easier for corruption networks to emerge. East asia, so cant for sure attribute anything to clan. The more natural resoruces u have, the less likely you are to have a democratic regime. Revenue from natural resources allows government to appease public and thus reduce pressure for democratic transition.
