Rico Isaacs

Gebundenes Buch

Political Opposition in Authoritarianism

Exit, Voice and Loyalty in Kazakhstan

Beschreibung

How might political opposition shape regime outcomes over time in an authoritarian system? Most studies on political opposition in authoritarian contexts tend to focus on the agency of the regime over and above that of the political opposition. Using Albert Hirschman's framework of exit, voice and loyalty, this book examines the case of Kazakhstani opposition agency over 30 years to explore the extent to which political opposition in Kazakhstan has shaped the dynamics of authoritarian regime development in the country. What the analysis reveals is that in Kazakhstan the regime has tended to treat formal institutional political opposition as neither a credible nor non-credible threat. Consequently, the Kazakhstani regime has always responded to opposition exit and voice with sanctions and institutional adaption which strengthened the regime in the short to medium term, but left them exposed to spontaneous, grassroots non-institutional opposition in the longer term. This spontaneous grassroots opposition emerged in Kazakhstan as a series of 'shocks' crystalised in the 2011 events in Zhanaozen, the 2016 land protests, the 2019 election protests and the events of 'qandy qantar' (bloody January) in 2022. What this book illustrates is how authoritarian regimes which treat opposition threats ambiguously are likely to end up in a continuous state of instability because the feedback provided by opposition agency disappears leaving the regime susceptible to spontaneous opposition.

Autor

Rico Isaacs is Professor of International Politics at the University of Lincoln, UK. His research interests lay at the intersection of authoritarianism, culture and political theory in post-Soviet states with a particular focus on the Central Asian Republics. He is the author of Film and Identity in Kazakhstan (2018) and Party System Formation in Kazakhstan: Between Formal and Informal Politics (2011), as well as authoring several co-edited volumes, including most recently The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Central Asia (with Erica Marat, 2021) and a Critical Reader in Central Asian Studies (2022). Rico is also the current serving editor of Central Asian Survey.

Produktdetails

• The Theories, Concepts and Practices of Democracy
• Verlag: Palgrave Macmillan / Springer International Publishing / Springer, Berlin
• Artikelnr. des Verlages: 978-3-031-06535-4
• 1st ed. 2022
• Seitenzahl: 176
• Erscheinungstermin: 14. August 2022
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 216mm x 153mm x 15mm
• Gewicht: 348g
• ISBN-13: 9783031065354
• ISBN-10: 3031065352
• Artikelnr.: 63985718

Rezensionen

"Isaacs' book is recommended for everyone interested in the politics of Kazakhstan. It provides a broad picture of developments within the political regime, rich empirical descriptions and an overview of the relevant literature. At the same time, it contributes to the broader conceptual and theoretical literature with a concise typology of political opposition in authoritarian regimes and with an important causal mechanism explaining the relationship between political regimes and opposition movements over time." (Heiko Pleines, Europe-Asia Studies, August 31, 2023)