Uzbekistan Initiative Papers No. 14, March 2014
By Mirzokhid Rakhimov
The president plays a crucial role in the political system of Uzbekistan, but its status has changed and some responsibilities have been transferred to the Government and the Parliament.
Political parties slowly but gradually have become an integral part of Uzbekistan’s social and political life. However, their success depends on their modernization and the overall political liberalization of the country.
The next prime minister will be nominated by the political party which has secured the greatest number of deputy seats in elections to the legislative chamber. The parliament now has the right to express a vote of no-confidence in regard to the prime minister.
The mahallas function as a kind of self-government of citizens at the local level. At the same time, mahalla activity is tightly bound with local public authorities.
More than 6,000 NGOs are registered in Uzbekistan. In spite of some achievements they experience difficulties in defining their sector of activities and they are undermined by a lack of professionalism and difficult relations with state institutions.
The study of contemporary history is a relatively new trend in Uzbekistan’s historical scholarship. This discipline did not exist in the Soviet period, and does not have a clear methodology and needs to develop interdisciplinary and comparative approaches.
