Review by Choice Review
In this important study, Radnitz (Univ. of Washington) 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 the conventional narratives about "revolutionary" upheavals, such as those witnessed in Kyrgyzstan, often obscure the more complex dynamics of these processes of change when old authoritarian regimes break down and new, more pluralistic political systems replace them. In particular, he argues, the image of the bottom-up, people's movement in key ways misunderstands and mischaracterizes these change processes. Radnitz argues that these mass protests, rather than being organized by civil society organizations, result from the incentives created by a system he calls "subversive clientelism." Subversive clientelism develops in contexts in which formal institutions are weak, economic wealth generation outside state structures is possible, and public goods are undersupplied. When these conditions are present, elite actors are able to provide significant benefits to local communities. These benefits in turn allow these elite actors to mobilize collective action that challenges the state in order to promote their own interests. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate, graduate, and research collections. A. Paczynska George Mason University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
