Explaining the vicious circle of political repression and islamic radicalism in Central Asia

Abstract

AbstractSince gaining independence in 1991, the Central Asian Republics (CARs) have faced various political challenges, including the existence of political Islam and Islamic extremism. This issue has had a slight impact on the entire region, albeit to different extents. Various perspectives have been proposed to elucidate why political Islam in this region has predominantly manifested as religious fundamentalism. Alternatively, the frustration-aggression hypothesis and Merton’s social strain theory provide illustrations of these approaches. Consistent with this concept, severe suppression and authoritarianism do not eliminate political dissent; instead, they can stimulate further disagreement and conflict. The study argues that the severe political suppression of both religious and secular opposition groups has caused them to withdraw from public view and has led to a rise in violence in the Central Asian Republics. This study employs a qualitative research method and a descriptive-analytical methodology to examine the correlation between political repression and the rise of Islamism in five countries in Central Asia. According to the results of the present study, it seems that governments in Central Asia prefer to understand political Islam in a manner that is too simplistic and characterised by a strict division into two opposing categories. Furthermore, they display a lack of acceptance of even moderate and liberal manifestations of Islamism. Inadvertently, this approach has facilitated the expansion of Islamic fundamentalism in CARs. The government in this region should develop new ways to allow conversations for future generations of moderate and secular Muslims to combat Islamic extremism.

Keywords

• Central Asia
• political repression
• Islamic fundamentalism
• Political Islam
• Robert Read, Economics, University of Lancaster, Lancaster, UK
• Central Asian Politics