Retreating Rights – Kyrgyzstan: Executive Summary
Kyrgyzstan has just experienced another period of rapid and chaotic change, the third time the country has overthrown an incumbent President in the last 15 years. This publication shows how…
Articles, Briefings and Essays
The views expressed in the articles are those of each respective author and do not necessarily reflect the views or position of the Foreign Policy Centre.
Retreating Rights – Kyrgyzstan: Introduction
Introduction: Examining the pressure on human rights in Kyrgyzstan This publication, Retreating Rights, is an attempt to take stock of another period of rapid and chaotic change in Kyrgyzstan,…
Violent change of government in Kyrgyzstan amidst COVID-19 pandemic: Patronal presidentialism, oligarchisation of politics, and public indignation with corruption and rigged elections
On October 5th 2020, several thousand Kyrgyz citizens poured in the main square of the capital Bishkek to denounce fraudulent elections. By the late evening of that day, this unexpected…
Kyrgyzstan elects a potential strongman: Implications for international partners and the future of Kyrgyz democracy
As I queue to cast my vote at a local polling station in Bishkek, the Kyrgyz capital, I am all eyes and ears. I hope to catch anything irregular on…
Social media mobilisation and the rise of populism in Kyrgyzstan
Nationalist populism and online political mobilisation The rising illiberal populism that imperils even established democracies including the US, Brazil, the UK, Turkey, and many European countries, has become a favourite…
The populist and nationalist threat to human rights in Kyrgyzstan
On the morning of October 6th 2020, Sadyr Japarov was in jail, serving an 11-year sentence for kidnapping the Governor of Kyrgyzstan’s Issyk Kul region. Ten days later Japarov was…
Political crisis: Interethnic relations must be protected
Kyrgyzstan has been nation-building for the last 30 years and it is seen as one of the most politically dynamic post-soviet countries. Kyrgyzstan has an ethnically diverse population, with minorities…
A new big boss? Interethnic patronage networks in Kyrgyzstan
Following the parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan on October 4th 2020, a coup d'état took place on October 5th as a result of popular discontent with the results of parliamentary elections.…
Corruption in Kyrgyzstan healthcare blamed for disastrous response to COVID-19
COVID-19’s impact on the global community revealed many inefficiencies in how the countries responded to the spread of the pandemic across borders. While some states have achieved promising results, others…
Corruption – the only constant of Kyrgyzstan’s faux democracy
Fighting corruption ad nauseam For more than a quarter of a century, a number of Kyrgyz politicians have been using democracy as an ideological play to bamboozle and win the…