The Tajik civil war and peace process

Abstract

This article examines the causes behind the Tajik civil war and the factors that led to the peace agreement in 1997. The discussion starts with an overview of different concepts of state weakness, and posits that the Tajik civil war was not a conflict over the ‘idea’ of Tajikistan but over power. This dimension allowed common ground to arise between the parties to the civil war to share power. The last part of the article examines the threats that remain to peace in Tajikistan, ranging from the nature of the peace agreement that was struck, the manner of its implementation, to the overall institutional weakness of Tajikistan.