Constitutional Reforms in Central Asian States

This study is devoted to pivotal issues of systemic transformation in Central Asia. It focuses on the building of constitutional order in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. It analyzes the legal and political determinants of reaching independence, the circumstances in which first constitutions are enacted, constitutional reforms, and the many important implications of these developments for transformational practice. Constitutional reforms merit the most attention chiefly because of the high frequency at which changes are introduced into constitutions – the never-ending adjustments made to suit the needs of the power elites and political practice. The research discussed in the monograph reveals a complex process of building a political and legal order in each of the states of Central Asia. It is based on constitutions and constitutional reforms which form the time of independence-proclamations to date. Equally dramatic are the clashes between oriental tradition and political modernization, so typical of transition-states in this region. The outcome is the trivialization of democracy, armed strife, coup d’états, parliamentary crises, ethnic and religious conflicts, appropriation of power by clans, repression of political opposition, censorship and vote rigging, the instrumental treatment of the constitution, and curtailed human rights and civil liberties.