Illiberal Spaces

Uzbekistan's extraterritorial security practices and the spatial politics of contemporary authoritarianism

Datos Bibliográficos

ID8102999
AutoresD Lewis (0000-0003-0732-9020), D G Lewis (0000-0002-8655-6178, University of Exeter, autor de correspondencia)
Año2015
Volumen43
Número1
Páginas140-159
Fecha de publicación2015-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaNationalities Papers (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0090-5992 • E-ISSN: 1465-3923
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1080/00905992.2014.980796
OpenAlexW2060219700
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas39
Referencias citadas47

Research on comparative authoritarianism has tended to neglect spatial approaches to the politics of non-democratic states. This article argues that spatial theory offers a useful framework for exploring extraterritorial security practices designed to counter political opposition among migrant and exile communities. A case study of Uzbekistan explores how the state responded to the perceived security threats posed by rapidly growing communities of labor migrants and the activities of many political and religious activists in exile. The security services developed a network of extraterritorial intelligence and security mechanisms – including surveillance, detention, interrogation and forced returns – to pre-empt or respond to any perceived threats to the regime emanating from abroad. These security practices extended the state in complex ways beyond its borders, resulting in new “state spaces” that reproduced elements of domestic repression in other jurisdictions. The article suggests that such extraterritorial practices are typical of contemporary authoritarian regimes, as such states seek to manage the spatial challenges produced by mass global migration, international financial flows, and transnational processes of knowledge production

Authoritarianism · Democracy · Economic system · Economics · Failed state · Opposition (politics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography · China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations · Law · Migration, Refugees, and Integration