Authoritarian politics and economic reform in Uzbekistan: past,present and prospects

All the ex-Soviet Central Asian states have super-presidential, authoritarian regimes with poor human rights records. Using the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the article shows that Uzbekistan has sometimes improved, when the economy has been good, and has a mixed record on religious, labor, and language rights. All these states are sensitive to outside pressures if applied tactfully but try to maintain their independence from all outside powers.