Abstract
Transitions towards democratic systems only begin and develop successfully if there is pressure from the population to drive them, because obviously the elites will never give up part of their powers or privileges for the sake of democracy. In Central Asia these mobilizations have generally been very weak, so the processes of accumulation of power in a few elites have been very powerful, building highly concentrated regimes of power, and political systems have acquired a neopatrimonial authoritarian character based on very few people who have managed to become powerful. The configuration of the new systems was the product of competition for power between a very limited number of elites who were not accountable to the population and its demands. In this introductory chapter we analyse these processes from the perspective of the Sociology of Power and Neopatrimonialism.
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Notes
- 1.
We begin from the assumption that the analysis of power relations in a society from a macro-perspective should not only focus on the political system, but should encompass its power regime (Izquierdo Brichs 2009), taking all the power resources into account.
- 2.
- 3.
See Izquierdo-Brichs and Etherington (2017), Farrés Fernández (2012), Izquierdo Brichs (2007b, 2008), Izquierdo-Brichs and Lampridi-Kemou (2013), and (Kemou 2007). A presentation of the different concepts used by the sociology of power, including a comparative analysis with the dominant theoretical perspectives, can be found in (Lampridi-Kemou 2012). This section uses some of the considerations from the earlier texts.
- 4.
- 5.
In his classic text, The Power Elite, C. Wright Mills primarily focuses on the elites who control the state, corporations and the armed forces (Wright Mills 2000 [1956]). However, the sociology of power needs to analyse the competition for control of all the power resources since, depending on the context, resources like ideology, information or the population itself can be even more decisive. Corresponding to this analysis, our conception of power is connected to the competitive process itself, and the definition of power, whether as resource or relationship, is based on how useful it is in terms of accumulating more power.
- 6.
Michal Kalecki introduced this perspective in his analysis of the role of the ‘military-imperialist’ complex in competition with large corporate capital in the US economy (Kalecki 1972, 90–94, 109–112). Jonathan Nitzan and Shimshon Bichler, following Kalecki and analysing the competition for capital, present the concept of differential accumulation and the idea that capital is one of the forms that power adopts (Nitzan & Bichler 2002, 36–38).
- 7.
Here we distance ourselves from Veblen, who focused his study of the elites on the distinction between the ‘leisure class’ and the rest of the population. From our point of view, the driving force in the system is competition between elites, and not their distinction from the lower orders (Veblen 1971 [1899]).
- 8.
- 9.
For instance, the major structural changes that shaped the current power regimes primarily centre around the appearance of capital and the state as central resources in the processes of the accumulation of power, and how these resources and the elites competing for control over them influence the configuration of modern societies. Increasingly, in a system that can only be analysed in global terms at this point, resources like large corporations and international financial institutions, both public and private, and agents like the global elites who control them also become key to the analysis (Izquierdo-Brichs and Etherington 2017).
- 10.
In its 2016 index, Transparency International ranked Kazakhstan at 131, Kyrgyzstan at 136, Tajikistan at 151, Turkmenistan at 154 and Uzbekistan at 156 (out of 176 states, with some having the same points). Transparency International (2017) Corruption Perception Index 2016, https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/corruption_perceptions_index_2016#table
- 11.
- 12.
See Izquierdo-Brichs and Etherington (2017).
- 13.
Without entering the terminological debate, we prefer to use these concepts, which are much more widespread than Henry Hale’s ‘patronalism’ (Hale 2015).
- 14.
See Akchurina and Polese (2018).
- 15.
From the perspective of the sociology of power, however, it is important not to confuse the systemic game with the structure. The system is based on circular and linear power relations. Elite decisions cannot escape the competition for the differential accumulation of power, since if they abandon the priority of maximizing power, they lose their position as elites. However, this competition plays out within a structure that is different in each system.
- 16.
One extreme, but very graphic example of these pressures is the acceptance of war as a legal institution when carried out by states, but not when other organizations are involved.
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Izquierdo-Brichs, F. (2021). Neopatrimonialism, Power and Regimes in Central Asia: A Sociology of Power Analysis. In: Izquierdo-Brichs, F., Serra-Massansalvador, F. (eds) Political Regimes and Neopatrimonialism in Central Asia. The Steppe and Beyond: Studies on Central Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-9093-1_1
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