Introduction

The first chapter presents the research puzzle and the research question of the book, relating to how members of parliaments elected under non-competitive elections represent their citizens. The chapter provides the definitions of terms which are going to be used throughout the thesis and includes a concise literature review (with a focus on comparative authoritarianism, representation, and legislative studies) in order to show how it links to existing research in the field. In this chapter, background information on the two cases – Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan – is provided in order to show how they represent the two most common empirical patterns found among non-democratic regimes.