Democratization from below: Civil society in Tajikistan
| Published date | 01 February 2023 |
| Author | Julie Fisher Melton |
| Date | 01 February 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.2001 |
Received: 15 December 2021
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Revised: 1 December 2022
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Accepted: 8 December 2022
DOI: 10.1002/pad.2001
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Democratization from below: Civil society in Tajikistan
Julie Fisher Melton
Retired Program Officer, Kettering
Foundation, Dayton, Ohio, USA
Correspondence
Julie Fisher Melton, Kettering Foundation,
Dayton, Ohio, USA.
Email: jmelton0729@gmail.com
Abstract
A decade ago an exploration of civil society in South Africa, Tajikistan and
Argentina highlighted its role in supporting democratization. Despite continuing
global autocratic trends since then, South Africa and Argentina have remained
vibrant democracies with strong civil societies. Tajikistan, in contrast, remains
autocratic, and civil society has apparently weakened in recent years. However,
at the grassroots level a combination of traditional grassroots organizations and
Internet organizing provides a more complex picture of the relationships be-
tween local participation, ties with other civil society organizations, democrati-
zation and development. The purpose of this paper is to highlight both these
relationships and the contrast between local democratization and national
autocracy.
KEYWORDS
civil society, democratization, grassroots organizations, NGOs, Tajikistan
1
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INTRODUCTION
From 1973, when the “Carnation Revolution” overthrew the fascist
Estado Novo in Portugal, until the early 21st Century, democratization
had a good run in much of the world. By the turn of the century,
however, political scientists had already begun to write about the
“global democratic recession”, a trend that has continued.
1
Between
2005 and 2020 the number of “free” countries declined from 89 to
82 according to Freedom House (https://freedomhouse.org/coun-
tries/freedom‐world/scores), while the number of “part free” coun-
tries (58–59) remained stable.
Based on extensive in‐country field work between 2005 and
2008, Fisher (2013) charted the emerging trends by investigating the
contributions of civil society to democratization in two flawed de-
mocracies (South Africa and Argentina) and one autocracy
(Tajikistan) on three different continents. She found that in all three
countries both intermediary democratization NGOs and grassroots
organizations (GROs) were strong and often connected with each
other.
2
Argentina and South Africa have since continued to benefit
from lively civil societies, including continuing development of pro-
vincial civil society networks. In the absence of continuing democ-
ratization, Tajik civil society survives, albeit with altered contours, as
described below.
The primary focus of this paper is participation at the grassroots
level in Tajikistan, where traditional GROs, newer GROs and Internet
organizing co‐exist and can impact democratization. The paper also
provides a complex and updated picture of the relationships between
local participation and other Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). Both
local participation and other civil society relationships can impact the
relationship between democratization and development.
The overarching purpose of the paper is to highlight the
continuing contrast between local democratization and national
autocracy.
In this paper I use Robert Dahl's (1972) defining characteristics
of democracy, based on: (1) Law‐Based Civil Liberties; (2) Political
Participation; (3) Loyal Opposition: as well as Fisher's (2013) addition
Work carried out at home. (114 Coyote Ridge Trail, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87507).
1
A few countries, such as Ecuador and Armenia, have bucked the trend and become more democratic. V Dem Institute, 2022.
2
The Kettering Foundation, where I worked, and which sponsored the research, had partner NGOs in over 40 countries at the time.
38
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Public Admin Dev. 2023;43:38–48.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pad© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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