Role of regional clans in Tajikistan internal policy

This article examines the role of regional clans in Tajikistan political life. The clan structure istypical for all Central Asian states but only in Tajikistan clan contradictions led to the long internal conflict. The matter of Tajikistannational boundaries has two aspects: external and internal. First, the historical boundaries of modern Tajikistan do not correspond to theterritory settled by ethnic Tajiks. In fact Tajik people are divided between three states: Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. Second,the main problem of modern state is internal heterogeneity and fragmentation. Many researches consider that such isolation of theregions is determined by geographical location, cultural and language differences can also be mentioned, but the most important is thelevel of economic development. There are five main regional clans in Tajkistan: Leninabad (Khujand, Sughd), Kulyab, Hisor, Garm andGorno-Badakhshan (Pamir). During the Civil War the first three were united against the last two organized in the United TajikOpposition (the so-called "democratic and Islamic coalition"). The results of the Civil War were ambiguous. On the one hand, the warended by long negotiations between belligerents resulted in a compromise General Agreement. On the other hand, it was only thechange of the ruling clan: the Kulyabis came to power instead of the Khujandis. The main problem of modern Tajikistan is correlation ofrepublican and local authorities, not in favour of the former . Officially Tajikistan is a unitary state; each region is subordinated to thecentral government (except for Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province), but in reality the central government does not control all theterritory. However, the current political situation is not only inter-clan confrontation. The clan hierarchy was undermined during theEmpire and Soviet periods, but was not destroyed. It all resulted in some mix of modern trends and traditional distribution of power. Inthe long term the clan-winner needs to take into consideration the interests of the opposition to stay in power. Paradoxically, the CivilWar and the long negotiation process helped to establish a relatively free political regime unlike the neighbouring Uzbekistan andTurkmenistan.

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