This region’s five republics have just lived through a remarkable first decade of independence that raises questions about “preconditions”-based theories of democratization.
About the Author
Kathleen Collins is associate professor of political science at the University of Minnesota. Her most recent book is Clan Politics and Regime Transition in Central Asia (2006). She has done extensive field research in Kyrgyzstan and its neighbors, and writes frequently about the travails of democratization in the Central Asian region.
Today, there are three parts of the old Soviet bloc—one is democratic, another is wholly authoritarian, and a third “intermediate” group is caught between two worlds. This last should be…
