In the southern reaches of what was once the USSR, democracy seems far off. Can that change?
About the Author
Charles H. Fairbanks, Jr., is senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. Since 2006, he has been living in Tbilisi, Georgia, where he is also professor of Soviet and post-Soviet systems at Ilia State University.
The November 2000 parliamentary elections, expected to be a step forward for democracy, instead turned into a major setback, casting doubt on the country’s future stability.
Kyrgyzstan’s parliamentary-style constitution was a democratic bright spot in Central Asia. But the legislature quickly devolved into a corrupt bazaar, dimming its democratic prospects.
