Abstract
Democracy promotion is a key foreign policy tool for western actors in Tajikistan, yet the prevailing opinion amongst academics is that current efforts have failed to provide meaningful democratisation. Examining two levels of democracy promotion through government and civil society, this article argues that a basic ‘package’ of values that enable democracy, such as economic liberalisation, have been established. Furthermore, a focus has been made upon civil society with the anticipation that the younger generation of Tajiks, who are without the experience of the civil conflict and a drive to seek stability will push the state towards western liberal democracy in the future. Thus, this article acknowledges the failure of fully fledged democracy but demonstrates that the current outcome of democracy promotion in Tajikistan is one of looking forward towards the next generation.
Highlights
Since the end of the Cold War, democracy promotion has been a vital component of western foreign policy
Tajikistan has had over 25 years of sustained attempts by western actors to bring liberal democracy, with allocated funds from the US alone reaching the hundreds of millions of dollars (USAID, 2014, p. 1)
This paper argues that contrary to some academics – notably Olcott (2007, 2012) and Crosston (2008) – the outcome in Tajikistan is not a complete failure
Summary
Democracy promotion is a key foreign policy tool for western actors in Tajikistan, yet the prevailing opinion amongst academics is that current efforts have failed to provide meaningful democratisation. Examining two levels of democracy promotion through government and civil society, this article argues that a basic ‘package’ of values that enable democracy, such as economic liberalisation, have been established. A focus has been made upon civil society with the anticipation that the younger generation of Tajiks, who are without the experience of the civil conflict and a drive to seek stability will push the state towards western liberal democracy in the future. This article acknowledges the failure of fully fledged democracy but demonstrates that the current outcome of democracy promotion in Tajikistan is one of looking forward towards the generation
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