by Alisher Ilkhamov

The paper presents the concept of duality in almost all authoritarian regimes in terms of their performance. This duality is described as the interplay between two different grand strategies nearly each authoritarian ruler pursues: (1) the agenda of ensuring the ruling regime’s political legitimacy, and (2) the ruler’s intention to maintain autocratic control of power, often for an unrestricted period. Each of these two aspects of the authoritarian governance system rests upon several other constituent factors. The author considers two respective scopes of variables to assess, and even measure, how each authoritarian regime functions and evolves, and how, to which extent it differs from other authoritarian regimes. This concept of duality is believed to advance further the theory of neopatrimonialism and comparative studies of the post-Soviet ruling regimes in Central Asia, with a prime focus in this paper on Uzbekistan. From this theoretical perspective, the author also compares the ruling regimes of the past and the present Uzbek presidents, Islam Karimov and Shavkat Mirziyoev.

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