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Imagined democracy? Nation-building and elections in Central Asia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Donnacha Ó Beacháin  and
Rob Kevlihan
Donnacha Ó Beacháin*
Affiliation:
School of Law and Government, Dublin City University, Glasnevin, Dublin 9, Ireland
Rob Kevlihan*
Affiliation:
SAID West Africa, Regional Peace and Governance Office, Accra, Ghana
*
*Corresponding author. Email: donnacha.obeachain@dcu.ie
†Current address: Kimmage Development Studies Centre, Whitehall Road, Dublin 12, Ireland
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Abstract

Is an imagined democracy more important than actual democracy for nation-building purposes? After 20 years of independence, Central Asian countries present a mixed bag of strong and weak states, consolidated and fragmented nations. The equation of nation and state and the construction of genuine nation states remains an elusive goal in all of post-Soviet Central Asia. This paper examines the role that electoral politics has played in nation-state formation. We argue that electoral processes have been central to attempted nation-state building processes as part of efforts to legitimize authoritarian regimes; paradoxically in those few countries where (for brief periods) partial democratization actually occurred, elections contributed, at least in the short term, to nation-state fragmentation.

Keywords

Central Asiaelectionsnation-buildingdemocracypost-Soviet
Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 43 , Issue 3 , May 2015 , pp. 495 - 513
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

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Footnotes

‡

Authors listed in alphabetical order.

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