Research / Research Fellowships

 

This research project examined political dynamics in Kyrgyzstan since the 2005 “Tulip Revolution.” What were the effects of this event on Kyrgyz political dynamics? Where is the country heading under its new leadership? What is the significance of the institutional changes observable in the country since 2007?

 

From January to May 2009, Kevin Koehler, Research and Teaching Fellow at the OSCE Academy, conducted field research on this topic. The preliminary results of this project are available in the form of a working paper entitled “Authoritarian Institution Building: Electoral Politics and Ruling Party Formation in Post-Revolutionary Kyrgyzstan.”

 

Based on about 20 interviews with members of parliament, opposition leaders, and political analysts, the paper analyzes post-revolutionary consolidating of political power in Kyrgyzstan. Against the background of renewed elite conflict and political protest in 2006 and 2007, a project of institutional reform that aimed at centralizing political power was launched. The constitutional changes of 2007, the creation of Ak Zhol as a single pro-presidential “party of power,” and the early 2007 parliamentary elections are part of this project of authoritarian institution building. Ultimately, this policy aims at reducing the volatility of elite alignments in Kyrgyzstan by stabilizing a presidential support coalition in the form of Ak Zhol and monopolizing access to the formal political system.