ABSTRACT
After independence in 1991, the Central Asian regimes sought to undertake much of the authority over their affairs, which had hitherto been exercised by Moscow. Despite their vast mineral wealth and high potential for economic growth, for almost one and a half decades, the economic upheavals and hyperinflation in this post-Soviet Central Asian region was so immense that these States could no longer control their finances. In the three republics, there has been a heavy accentuation on 'State-building' and the creation of symbols that could unite people under political tutelage. Contrary to Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan has decided differently and stands as an example of total dominance of the State and central government over society and the economy. Uzbek ex-President Islam Karimov recurrently shifted his priorities to maintain this Soviet style of monopolisation of State and society. With the post-Communist transition, the state of organised and unorganised crime, including drug trafficking, corruption, violence, contract killings and trafficking in arms, etc.
