ABSTRACT
In each of the Central Asian states old Soviet symbols were abandoned in favor of new ones. Even the names of the countries were changed: Kazakhstan became Kazakstan, replacing the kh with a k; Kirgizia became Kyrgyzstan; Tadzhikistan became Tojikiston; Turkmenia became Turkmenistan; and Uzbekistan became Uzbekiston. The variety of opinion expressed in the Kazakstan press led many supporters of Nazarbaev's government to urge that the autocratic features of the system be seen in terms of Kazakstan's distinctive culture. Kazakstan's democratic experiment, these proponents urge, may not follow the path of European liberalism but nonetheless represents a form of "Asian liberalism." In Uzbekiston, as in all of the Central Asian republics, the transfer of power from the Soviet elite to the national elite was mainly a matter of changing the names on the office doors. Political opposition did emerge upon independence, but the beneficiaries of the old Soviet system used their power to quickly brush it aside.
