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Beyond Formal Law: Rethinking Anti-corruption Strategies in Central Asia’s Plural and Hybrid Legal Landscapes

Urinboyev, Rustam LU ; Aidarkhankyzy, Albina LU ; Abdurahimov, Ravshanbek ; Vosikov, Ulugbek ; Mukhtarov, Azamat and Rakhmanov, Shukhrat (2026) p.39-79
Abstract
This chapter examines why extensive rule-of-law and anti-corruption reforms in Central Asia—despite decades of institutional redesign, legal transplantation, and governance reform—have failed to produce meaningful changes in everyday governance practices. Focusing on Uzbekistan as a paradigmatic case, this chapter argues that these reform failures cannot be explained by weak institutions or poor enforcement alone. Instead, they reflect a deeper misalignment between formal legal frameworks and the informal legal orders through which legality is actually constructed and enacted in daily life. Drawing on socio-legal perspectives of legal pluralism and the concept of living law, this chapter conceptualises governance in Uzbekistan as operating... (More)
This chapter examines why extensive rule-of-law and anti-corruption reforms in Central Asia—despite decades of institutional redesign, legal transplantation, and governance reform—have failed to produce meaningful changes in everyday governance practices. Focusing on Uzbekistan as a paradigmatic case, this chapter argues that these reform failures cannot be explained by weak institutions or poor enforcement alone. Instead, they reflect a deeper misalignment between formal legal frameworks and the informal legal orders through which legality is actually constructed and enacted in daily life. Drawing on socio-legal perspectives of legal pluralism and the concept of living law, this chapter conceptualises governance in Uzbekistan as operating within hybrid legal landscapes where state law co-exists with community norms, moral economies of reciprocity, Soviet administrative legacies, and pragmatic survival strategies.

Empirically, the analysis is grounded in long-term, multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2009 and 2023 in both urban (Tashkent) and rural (Fergana Valley) settings. Through detailed ethnographic vignettes—ranging from ceremonial life and mahalla-based solidarity to citizen–state interactions with police, inspectors, and reform institutions—this chapter demonstrates how informal practices function as central mechanisms of governance rather than as marginal deviations from legality. Citizens and officials routinely navigate overlapping normative orders, selectively mobilising formal rules, personal networks, and moral claims to resolve problems under conditions of uncertainty and discretionary enforcement.

This chapter shows that informality persists not merely because institutions are weak but also because informal norms often provide more predictable, legitimate, and socially intelligible solutions than formal legal channels. Corruption is thus revealed as a socially differentiated phenomenon, locally evaluated through distinctions between morally sanctioned reciprocity and predatory extraction. This chapter concludes that effective anti-corruption and rule-of-law reforms must move beyond institutional design and punitive enforcement to engage seriously with the lived moral and relational infrastructures through which governance actually operates. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
host publication
The Political Economy of Legal and Governance Reform in Central Asia : Law, Informality and Social Norms - Law, Informality and Social Norms
editor
Ruziev, Kobil and Urinboyev, Rustamjon
pages
39 - 79
publisher
Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN
978-3-032-28163-0
978-3-032-28162-3
DOI
10.1007/978-3-032-28163-0_3
project
Multilevel Orders of Corruption in Central Asia
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
f53958b8-51e2-4a60-8a43-73c8425a6abe
date added to LUP
2026-07-17 19:46:50
date last changed
2026-08-10 13:55:07
@inbook{f53958b8-51e2-4a60-8a43-73c8425a6abe,
  abstract     = {{This chapter examines why extensive rule-of-law and anti-corruption reforms in Central Asia—despite decades of institutional redesign, legal transplantation, and governance reform—have failed to produce meaningful changes in everyday governance practices. Focusing on Uzbekistan as a paradigmatic case, this chapter argues that these reform failures cannot be explained by weak institutions or poor enforcement alone. Instead, they reflect a deeper misalignment between formal legal frameworks and the informal legal orders through which legality is actually constructed and enacted in daily life. Drawing on socio-legal perspectives of legal pluralism and the concept of living law, this chapter conceptualises governance in Uzbekistan as operating within hybrid legal landscapes where state law co-exists with community norms, moral economies of reciprocity, Soviet administrative legacies, and pragmatic survival strategies.<br/><br/>Empirically, the analysis is grounded in long-term, multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2009 and 2023 in both urban (Tashkent) and rural (Fergana Valley) settings. Through detailed ethnographic vignettes—ranging from ceremonial life and mahalla-based solidarity to citizen–state interactions with police, inspectors, and reform institutions—this chapter demonstrates how informal practices function as central mechanisms of governance rather than as marginal deviations from legality. Citizens and officials routinely navigate overlapping normative orders, selectively mobilising formal rules, personal networks, and moral claims to resolve problems under conditions of uncertainty and discretionary enforcement.<br/><br/>This chapter shows that informality persists not merely because institutions are weak but also because informal norms often provide more predictable, legitimate, and socially intelligible solutions than formal legal channels. Corruption is thus revealed as a socially differentiated phenomenon, locally evaluated through distinctions between morally sanctioned reciprocity and predatory extraction. This chapter concludes that effective anti-corruption and rule-of-law reforms must move beyond institutional design and punitive enforcement to engage seriously with the lived moral and relational infrastructures through which governance actually operates.}},
  author       = {{Urinboyev, Rustam and Aidarkhankyzy, Albina and Abdurahimov, Ravshanbek and Vosikov, Ulugbek and Mukhtarov, Azamat and Rakhmanov, Shukhrat}},
  booktitle    = {{The Political Economy of Legal and Governance Reform in Central Asia : Law, Informality and Social Norms}},
  editor       = {{Ruziev, Kobil and Urinboyev, Rustamjon}},
  isbn         = {{978-3-032-28163-0}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{07}},
  pages        = {{39--79}},
  publisher    = {{Palgrave Macmillan}},
  title        = {{Beyond Formal Law: Rethinking Anti-corruption Strategies in Central Asia’s Plural and Hybrid Legal Landscapes}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/255736255/978-3-032-28163-0_3_1_.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/978-3-032-28163-0_3}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}