Democratization Process in Post-Conflict Period in Tajikistan

Abstract

The Post Soviet period of Tajikistan is always remarked with five years of severe Civil War between various confronting parties for gaining power politic. Eventually, after numerous negotiations and roundtables, the Peace Accord was signed and stability in the region was achieved. Throughout the coming years the socio-political and economic situation of Tajikistan have developed to some degree. However, to what extent such development has contributed towards democratization process in post-conflict period, remains questionable. The aim of this research is to investigate to what extent the Peace Accord led to democratization in Tajikistan? It will also examine how the democratization process in the post conflict period in Tajikistan is being developed. The study covers the effect of specific mechanism and aspects of Peace Accord and democratization standards assessed by the local and international actors in Tajikistan. In particular, it will look at the political evaluation of the democratic process in Tajikistan and try to bring up recommendations on what further paths should be followed in order to promote democracy in the country. The research is based on qualitative research approach. The method involves analysis of the secondary materials as academic journals, articles, interviews, books, newspapers on post-conflict study, peace-building promotion and democratic development in Tajikistan. The qualitative research approach also employs data collection from in depth interview. The result of the study reveals that in the post-conflict period, Tajikistan had met some international norms on democratic development but despite it and unending socio-economic as well as political effort of the West to promote more effective democratic process in Tajikistan, the country turned to become authoritarian. The paper concludes that the Peace Agreement provided room for stability in Tajikistan but at the cost of democracy.