Turkmenistán: analýza vnitropolitického vývoje po roce 1991.

Abstract

Turkmenistan: An Analysis of Political Developments after 1991.

This study provides a complex analysis of the situation in Turkmenistan since 1991. It begins with a brief survey of the wider regional kontext following the Soviet Union’s demise. Geopolitical determinants of Turkmenistan’s isolationist foreign policy are identified. Next, the republic’s social structure is explored, including ethnic and national composition, center-periphery relations and traditional clan and tribal divisions. Following chapters focus on Turkmenistan’s institutional design and political practice. Finally, the overarching role of the national ideology, centered on a pervasive personality cult of President Turkmenbashi, is also discussed. The author concludes that given the highly personalized nature of power, Turkmenistan might prove vulnerable to both internal and external pressures, leaving bleak prospects for a peaceful democratic transition.

Keywords: Turkmenistan, domestic policy, government, Saparmurat Turkmenbashi