What Really Happened in Kyrgyzstan?

Issue Date April 2006
Volume 17
Issue 2
Page Numbers 132-146
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This article is an analysis of the causes of Kyrgyzstan’s “Tulip Revolution” of March 2005, and its implications for post-revolutionary politics. The mass mobilization was the result of community support for local elites after disputed parliamentary elections. The government was overthrown when an improvised alliance of opposition leaders and business elites unified uncoordinated protests around the country. Unlike Georgia and Ukraine’s revolutions, civil society networks, students, and urban residents played a minimal role. Localism and informal ties were decisive, and have persisted in shaping politics since the revolution. The advent of “hyper-democracy” has endangered the government’s efforts to ensure stability, reduce corruption, and grow the economy.

About the Author

Scott Radnitz is Herbert J. Ellison Associate Professor of Russian and Eurasian Studies in the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington. He is the author of Revealing Schemes: The Politics of Conspiracy in Russia and the Post-Soviet Region (2021) and coeditor of Enemies Within: The Global Politics of Fifth Columns (2022).

View all work by Scott Radnitz