Mentality
It seems like the Soviet legacy in some form plays a role in shaping Kyrgyzstan’s political consciousness. There is a great deal of debate over the modern effects of Civil Law and Common Law philosophies on the systems they created. However, it seems that the two are relatively similar compared with the notions of legality in post-Soviet countries; rather than simply having a different interpretation of the role of laws, it seems that the notion of law itself is up for debate. While bribes certainly exist in Western society, they are, by and large, not a way of life as they seem to be here. The lack of a notion of government accountability to the citizen (’by the people, for the people’) and of personal capital ownership have made the establishment of democracy much more difficult and may explain why Akayev was allowed to tighten his grip on the country for so long.
Quick Hits
Ben Paarmann is in Kazakhstan and he’s already wading hip-deep through bureaucracy.
Alan Cordova has an interesting post about political consciousness in Kyrgyzstan
T-Moor has photos from a trip to Samarkand.
Last Friday’s Terrorism Monitor …
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