Alisher Ilkhamov

15 December, 2023

This essay is prompted by a large-scale operation conducted by Uzbek authorities in late November to early December, resulting in the apprehension of over 200 members of the country’s criminal underworld. The author considers this episode as part of a long-term relationship between the autocratic regime and the criminal world, which has witnessed shifts from coexistence and even close relationships between both parties to state crackdowns on criminal networks, a pattern observable in other countries of Eurasia. The article also poses the question of how authoritarian regimes differ from established democracies in the context of combating organized crime. It is noted that, at least in some authoritarian regimes, the lines between the state and organized crime seem to blur, although such a phenomenon can also be observed in certain parts of the collective West.