Tribal connections within the political processes: the case of kyrgyzstan

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of the year 1991, the fifteen successor states of the Soviet Union have found themselves in a struggle of survival as independent states. The overall process of breaking up from the union and establishing their own states represented a totally harsh circumstance for all the countries under the rule of the Soviet Union for more than 70 years. However, among all these states, Central Asian countries suffered the most because these countries lacked necessary equipment for state-building with regard to social, economic and political aspects. In that sense, since their declaration of independence, each Central Asian republic has been mostly challenged by divergent factors initiated due to their internal dynamics. As for the Kyrgyz case, it has been mainly 'tribalism', which is tempering state formation. Having an important role in distribution of political power, tribal affiliations cause conflicts for the competitive nature of elite selection, and continue its dominancy over the political leaders in political processes of statebuilding.

Kyrgyzstan ,

Clans ,

Central Asian Politics ,

State-building ,

Tribalism ,

Democratisation ,

Political Elite ,