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Photo of Rustam

Rustamjon Urinboyev

Associate professor

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The impregnable fortress of Islamic public administration in Central Asia : Mahalla institutions in Uzbekistan

Author

  • Rustam Urinboyev

Editor

  • Wolfgang Drechsler
  • Salah Chafik
  • Rainer Kattel

Summary, in English

There was a widespread euphoria in the 1990s in Uzbekistan and other post-Soviet societies at the prospect that introducing Western-style public administration (PA) institutions and traditions would play a pivotal role in promoting the rule of law and democratisation. Like other newly independent post-Soviet states, Uzbekistan has become a “laboratory” for testing various global (Western) PA models and initiatives. As a result of these interventions, Uzbekistan's administrative system has developed hybrid features combining elements both from the Western and Soviet PA models: “Western” when we analyse its institutional and legal landscape, and “Soviet” when observing how public administration institutions work in practice. However, one salient PA tradition under-studied in the scholarly literature on Uzbekistan is the legacy of Islamic public administration (Islamic PA), which can be visualised when observing everyday life in micro-level social arenas. With this in mind, this chapter explores the legacy and context of Islamic PA in Uzbekistan through the ethnographic study of mahalla institutions, an indigenous governance structure originating from Central Asia's Islamic past and administrative traditions.

Department/s

  • Sociology of Law Department

Publishing year

2025-05-20

Language

English

Pages

256-280

Publication/Series

Policy, Administrative and Institutional Change

Document type

Book chapter

Publisher

Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.

Topic

  • Public Administration Studies
  • Other Legal Research

Keywords

  • Islam
  • Islamic Public Administration
  • Islamic Public Value
  • Uzbekistan

Status

Published

Project

  • Multilevel Orders of Corruption in Central Asia
  • Administrative Law Reform and Legal Integration in Hybrid Political Regimes
  • Legal Cultures and Business Environments in Central Asia
  • Understanding Islamic Legal Culture and Migration through Ethnographic and Archival Research
  • MARS: Non-Western Migration Regimes in a Global Perspective
  • The Multilevel Orders of Corruption - Insights from a Post-Soviet Context

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISBN: 9781035333639
  • ISBN: 9781035333646