Do Institutions Matter In Post-Soviet Countries Case Study
Research Questions
Do Institutions Matter in Post-Soviet Countries?
To what extent have semi-presidential institutions in Central Asia and the Caucasus had an impact on the practice of politics in the region since statehood in the early 1990s? Has the vertical power tradition of the Soviet system supervened on all institutional factors, or has there been sufficient openness and accountability for institutions to have an effect? Is it a waste of time to study the role of institutions in non-democracies or partial democracies? These are some of the questions the country chapters will collectively seek to address.
The countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia all achieved statehood/independence when the USSR collapsed in 1990. The unexpected …show more content…
Each chapter is thus divided into three substantive sections, the first of which focuses on the origins of semi-presidentialism. This section outlines the conditions under which semi-presidentialism was chosen. This involves identifying the constitutional situation in the period immediately following the break-up of the USSR and the onset of statehood/democratisation. It also involves identifying the debates (or non-debates) at the time when the first constitution was adopted. In some countries, there have been multiple constitutions and/or multiple constitutional amendments. If these constitutions and/or amendments affected the constitutional nature of the regime, then the contributors identify the context in which constitutional choices were made. Specifically, contributors identify the extent to which Soviet institutions were transposed on the post-Soviet context. The second section of each country chapter focuses on the formal constitutional situation as it currently stands, identifying the constitutional and legal powers or the president, prime minister, cabinet and the legislature. The authors also discuss how such powers have varied over time, through constitutional or other reform. Each country chapter concludes with a discussion of political practice, focusing on how executive and legislative power has been exercised. This section focuses not solely on the president, but also on the role of the prime minister, the government collectively and the
Do Institutions Matter in Post-Soviet Countries?
To what extent have semi-presidential institutions in Central Asia and the Caucasus had an impact on the practice of politics in the region since statehood in the early 1990s? Has the vertical power tradition of the Soviet system supervened on all institutional factors, or has there been sufficient openness and accountability for institutions to have an effect? Is it a waste of time to study the role of institutions in non-democracies or partial democracies? These are some of the questions the country chapters will collectively seek to address.
The countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia all achieved statehood/independence when the USSR collapsed in 1990. The unexpected …show more content…
Each chapter is thus divided into three substantive sections, the first of which focuses on the origins of semi-presidentialism. This section outlines the conditions under which semi-presidentialism was chosen. This involves identifying the constitutional situation in the period immediately following the break-up of the USSR and the onset of statehood/democratisation. It also involves identifying the debates (or non-debates) at the time when the first constitution was adopted. In some countries, there have been multiple constitutions and/or multiple constitutional amendments. If these constitutions and/or amendments affected the constitutional nature of the regime, then the contributors identify the context in which constitutional choices were made. Specifically, contributors identify the extent to which Soviet institutions were transposed on the post-Soviet context. The second section of each country chapter focuses on the formal constitutional situation as it currently stands, identifying the constitutional and legal powers or the president, prime minister, cabinet and the legislature. The authors also discuss how such powers have varied over time, through constitutional or other reform. Each country chapter concludes with a discussion of political practice, focusing on how executive and legislative power has been exercised. This section focuses not solely on the president, but also on the role of the prime minister, the government collectively and the