Regime-Building through Controlled Opening

Abstract

This article aims to locate the version of authoritarianism developing in post-Karimov Uzbekistan to current debates on the emergence of new forms of authoritarian governance within and beyond post-Soviet Eurasia. To this end, the article re-evaluates Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s policies in light of authoritarian modernisation theory, revealing how the ultimate end of the process of political change currently at play in Uzbekistan is connected with an upgrading of local authoritarian practices rather than to the liberalisation of the domestic political landscape.