The Republic of Kazakhstan is the largest state in Central Asia with a small portion extending into Eastern Europe. Kazakhstan is a unitary state with the president at its helm holding significant executive power, which includes appointing key government officials and guiding national policies.1 The country declared independence from the […]

For 75 years under the Soviet system, the Kyrgyz Republic was officially a secular state. Experiencing ethnic tensions, political and economic woes since independence, Kyrgyzstan is a parliamentary republic. The population of Kyrgyzstan is estimated at 6.6 million as of 2021.1 These include Kyrgyz 73.5%, Uzbek 14.7%, Russian 5.5%, Dungan […]

A landlocked, mountainous country in Central Asia, Tajikistan is bordered by China, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan. It was part of the Soviet Union from 1929 until it gained independence in 1991. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Tajikistan plunged into civil war, which pitted communist forces against an alliance […]

Turkmenistan is a former Soviet state in Central Asia. Since its independence in 1991, Turkmenistan has been ruled by two repressive authoritarian rulers who rose to power during the communist era. The Democratic Party of Turkmenistan (DPT) is the only registered political party in the country.1 Since 2013, the government […]

In 1991, Uzbekistan emerged as a sovereign country after more than a century of Russian and Soviet rule. A former Communist, Islam Karimov, became the president. He ruled the country as a dictator until he died in 2016. During that time, he exercised a ruthlessly authoritarian approach to all forms […]