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Living Law, Legal Pluralism, and Corruption in Post-Soviet Uzbekistan

Urinboyev, Rustamjon LU and Svensson, Måns LU (2013) In Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 45(3). p.372-390
Abstract
This paper aims to explore the multifaceted meaning, logic, and morality of informal transactions in order to better understand the social context that informs the meaning of corruption and bribery in post-Soviet Uzbekistan. It will be argued that the informal transactions in Uzbek society reflect different cultural and functional meanings from those in most of the Western world, and hence transactions that from a Western-centric perspective would be labelled as bribes can be morally accepted transactions in the Uzbek cultural context. If this is true, there may be reasons to re-evaluate the relevance of the Western-centric interpretations of corruption in the context of Uzbekistan, and possibly other Central Asian countries. These issues... (More)
This paper aims to explore the multifaceted meaning, logic, and morality of informal transactions in order to better understand the social context that informs the meaning of corruption and bribery in post-Soviet Uzbekistan. It will be argued that the informal transactions in Uzbek society reflect different cultural and functional meanings from those in most of the Western world, and hence transactions that from a Western-centric perspective would be labelled as bribes can be morally accepted transactions in the Uzbek cultural context. If this is true, there may be reasons to re-evaluate the relevance of the Western-centric interpretations of corruption in the context of Uzbekistan, and possibly other Central Asian countries. These issues will be investigated with reference to observations and informal interviews from post-Soviet Uzbekistan. This study is based on three periods of ethnographic field research between 2009 and 2012 in the Ferghana Province of Uzbekistan. It draws on concepts of ‘living law’ and legal pluralism to provide a theoretical framework. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Uzbekistan, corruption, legal pluralism, living law, Transparency International
in
Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law
volume
45
issue
3
pages
372 - 390
publisher
Taylor & Francis
external identifiers
  • scopus:84904469976
ISSN
0732-9113
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
We paid for open access fee, so this article could be made freely available.
id
1df9f95a-8fad-4466-875c-ff2648ec2ce8 (old id 4173023)
alternative location
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07329113.2014.867752#.Us6qOrT35o4
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 09:57:23
date last changed
2024-03-09 09:38:06
@article{1df9f95a-8fad-4466-875c-ff2648ec2ce8,
  abstract     = {{This paper aims to explore the multifaceted meaning, logic, and morality of informal transactions in order to better understand the social context that informs the meaning of corruption and bribery in post-Soviet Uzbekistan. It will be argued that the informal transactions in Uzbek society reflect different cultural and functional meanings from those in most of the Western world, and hence transactions that from a Western-centric perspective would be labelled as bribes can be morally accepted transactions in the Uzbek cultural context. If this is true, there may be reasons to re-evaluate the relevance of the Western-centric interpretations of corruption in the context of Uzbekistan, and possibly other Central Asian countries. These issues will be investigated with reference to observations and informal interviews from post-Soviet Uzbekistan. This study is based on three periods of ethnographic field research between 2009 and 2012 in the Ferghana Province of Uzbekistan. It draws on concepts of ‘living law’ and legal pluralism to provide a theoretical framework.}},
  author       = {{Urinboyev, Rustamjon and Svensson, Måns}},
  issn         = {{0732-9113}},
  keywords     = {{Uzbekistan; corruption; legal pluralism; living law; Transparency International}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{372--390}},
  publisher    = {{Taylor & Francis}},
  series       = {{Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law}},
  title        = {{Living Law, Legal Pluralism, and Corruption in Post-Soviet Uzbekistan}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/1423181/4238710.pdf}},
  volume       = {{45}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}