Islamic “threat”: the case of UzbekistanYasmin Masood Working Papers - Programa CEI & Países Bálticos from Argentine Center of International Studies Abstract: This essay focuses on the example of Uzbekistan where struggling against the Islamic “ threat” , the government had justified authoritarianism and suppression of political opposition. Islam as a political force and democratic elements of the society constituted a threat to Uzbekistan’ s post-Soviet elite unwilling to lose its privileged positions. Aiming at eradication of opposition of any kind: religious or secular, the government actively used anti-Islamic fundamentalism and anti-opposition propaganda accusing them of attempting to overthrow the legitimate government. Exaggerating oppositional Islam’ s ability to overthrow the secular order in Uzbekistan the elite may have tried to distract the population’ s attention from the worsening socio-economic situation to the external enemy. In fighting against Islamic “ threat” the government could also justify suffocation of freedom and democracy in the country. Benefits the Uzbek government gained after the terror attacks in Uzbekistan made me suggest that those happened not without the awareness of the regime itself. The existence of “ threat” might have helped the ruling elite retain their posts and even strengthen power over society. Keywords: Uzbekistan; society; islam (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from Access Statistics for this paper More papers in Working Papers - Programa CEI & Países Bálticos from Argentine Center of International Studies |
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