The Impacts of Political Corruption in Kyrgyzstan

Abstract

The following study was conceived right after the second revolution in 2010 to answer the questions why is civil unrest so persistent in Kyrgyzstan? What are the causes of this? Of course, the causes of social instability could be numerous, for example poverty, unemployment or lack of democracy. However, if we take, as an example, either poverty or unemployment as determinants for the civil unrest then these indicators are too extensive throughout the world and hence cannot unequivocally address the problem of social and political instability. For that reason, the researcher wanted to find out other possible causes behind the Kyrgyz civil unrest. Kyrgyz political corruption as the main determinant is therefore proposed to answer the problem of civil unrest in Kyrgyzstan. The general hypothesis of this study is that political corruption is the main cause of civil unrest in Kyrgyzstan in the form of the two revolutions of 2005 and 2010. To substantiate this hypothesis, the thesis analyses and reviews a variety of articles and scholarly journals written about Kyrgyz politicians and presidents during their years of activity while in office. Moreover, to examine the relationship between political corruption and civil unrest, the researcher interviewed people who participated in revolutions to find out the main motivation for their participation. Likewise, the researcher also interviewed local experts who specialise in corruption issues. The research findings reveal that political corruption is one of the main causes behind the civil unrest but not the central one. Moreover, the nature of political corruption is also too broad and has its own Kyrgyz features that formulated in this paper. The information about political corruption is so extensive that further study about Kyrgyz political corruption can be easily built on. This paper based on research findings about political corruption and its effects urgently proposes some recommendation to the decision and policy-makers to tackle this problem on the national level by preventing this “pestilence” from further undermining the Kyrgyz sovereignty.