Islam Karimow - Der ewige Präsident? Perspektiven eines Führungswechsels in Usbekistan

Der usbekische Präsident Islam Karimow hat in einer vielbeachteten Rede im November 2010 mehrere Verfassungsänderungen vorgeschlagen, die u.a. auch Regelungen seiner Nachfolge im Falle der Amtsunfähigkeit betreffen. Unser Autor nimmt dies zum Anlass für kritische Überlegungen zu (über)langen Regierungszeiten und den widersprüchlichen Interessen des usbekischen, wie auch anderer zentralasiatischer Präsidenten, sich einerseits möglichst lange selber die Herrschaft zu sichern, andererseits im eigenen Interesse einen geordneten Personalwechsel für den Fall der Amtsunfähigkeit vorzubereiten. In Usbekistan sieht er im derzeitigen Vorsitzenden des Senats, Ilgisar Sobirow, den durch die vorgeschlagenen Veränderungen für die Nachfolge bevorzugten Kandidaten

Uzbekistans Cotton Sector: Financial Flows and Distribution of Resources

Every year, the government in Uzbekistan forces up to a million of its own citizens to pick cotton without pay. Uzbekistan's cotton industry is crippling the economy, degrading the environment, and creating tensions between Uzbekistan and its neighbors. Given these problems, why does the government of Uzbekistan persist with this abusive and antiquated system? In the context of the hyper-authoritarian system of government in Uzbekistan there are two answers: because the government can and because it profits handsomely from doing so.In order to challenge forced labor in Uzbekistan, advocates and policymakers need a deeper understanding of how the cotton industry works. A new report produced by the Open Society Foundations contributes to this understanding and offers tools and analysis that can help in the planning and financing of major reforms. Uzbekistan's Cotton Sector: Financial Flows and Distribution of Resources provides new insights into how a small circle surrounding President Islam Karimov's government realizes huge profits by ignoring human rights and keeping a centralized business alive.The paper uses data and analysis about the costs of the cotton production system to produce recommendations for allowing farmers and markets to work. This includes strategies for de-monopolizing agricultural service industries such as seed and fertilizer suppliers and cotton gins.

Riforme agrarie e mutamenti sociali nell’Uzbekistan dell’era dell’Indipendenza

Cotton farming in Uzbekistan has been thoroughly reshaped by protracted decollectivization aimed at recovering agriculture from the post-Soviet crisis years. Based on a review of extant literature and on data collected over a socio-anthropological research in cotton-growing Khorezm region, this paper offers an overview over the Soviet-era cotton kolkhoz, post-Soviet agricultural reforms and agropolicies, and the transformations in rural society over the second post-Soviet decade. Agriculture in Uzbekistan is now resurfacing from difficult years, but old problems are perduring and prospects and burdens are more unequally distributed among stakeholders