Political vs. Everyday Forms of Governance in Uzbekistan: The Illegal, Immoral, and Illegitimate

Abel Polese, Rustam Urinboyev, Mans Svensson, Laura Adams, Tanel Kerikmae

Forskningsoutput: Övriga bidragPeer review

Sammanfattning

Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Uzbekistan, this article looks at the way official state narratives are challenged by silent, unorganized, often unawares, gestures of resistance at the bottom of a society. Footing on a framework suggested by Scott’s definition of infrapolitics (2012), we propose to incorporate informal practices in a definition of informality that is more inclusive, and better explains the anatomy of a modern state, whose functioning rests on a combination of formal and informal practices. We suggest that this everyday dimension is of particular importance here when trying to understand the governance trajectories as it allows to look critically, and from a broader perspective, at situations where individual and state perception of events, but also individual and state morality, diverge. By doing this, we propose that governance in transition states and societies may be regarded as a space where formal institutions and citizens (or informal institutions) compete for power and resources and thereby produce informal, alternative “legal orders” and mechanisms that regulate public life in a given area. We will suggest that such a space of informal negotiation is vital in contexts where collective mobilization and public articulation of social claims is not a preferred, or even available, strategy for citizens.
Originalspråkengelska
Utgivningsår1 jan. 2022
DOI
StatusPublicerad - 1 jan. 2022
Externt publiceradJa
MoE-publikationstypEj behörig

Publikationsserier

NamnInternational Political Economy series
FörlagPalgrave
ISSN (tryckt)2662-2483
ISSN (elektroniskt)2662-2491

Bibliografisk information

First published 2018 in Studies of Transition States and Societies 10(1).

Vetenskapsgrenar

  • 5141 Sociologi
  • 5200 Övriga samhällsvetenskaper

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