Description
Book SynopsisFocusing on the region of post-Soviet Central Asia, Radnitz investigates the causes of elite-led protest in nondemocratic states, where economic and political opportunities create elites who are independent of the regime, yet vulnerable to harassment.
Trade ReviewIn this important study, Radnitz examines the processes of political change in post-Soviet Central Asian states. Based on extensive fieldwork in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, Radnitz sets out to understand the dynamics of mass mobilization in opposition to authoritarian regimes.... He argues that these mass protests, rather than being organized by civil society organizations, result from the incentives created by a system... in which... elite actors are able to provide significant benefits to local communities... [allowing them] to mobilize collective action that challenges the state in order to promote their own interests.
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Table of ContentsIntroduction: Puzzles of People Power1. Institutional Uncertainty and Elite-Led Mobilization
2. The View from Below: Communities as Sites for Collective Action
3. The View from Above: State Influences on Elite Opportunities
4. Linkages across Classes: The Development of Subversive Clientelism
5. Mobilization in Rural Kyrgyzstan
6. Elite Networks and the Tulip Revolution
7. Assessing the Dynamics of Mobilization in Diverse ContextsConclusion: Political Economies, Hybrid Regimes, and Challenges to DemocratizationMethodological Appendix
Index
