Constitutional overview : lie of the 'Stans' -- Red origins : doing justice to Soviet constitutionalism -- Natal chart : constituent influcence and processes -- Super-presidents and superpowers -- Talking shop or governing body : parliament -- Honour in the breach : rights, courts, and justice -- Plan to clan : transitions, economic, and social -- Central Asia constitutions and Central Asian difference : the regulation of pluralism.

This book undertakes the first comparative constitutional analysis of the Kyrgyz Republic and Republics of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in their cultural, historical, political, economic and social context. The enquiry probes the regional patterns of neo-Sovietism, plebiscitary elections, weak courts and parliaments, crony capitalism, and constraints on association, as well as the counter-tendencies that strengthen democracy, rights protection and pluralism. It reveals the Central Asian experience to be emblematic of the principal issues and tensions facing contemporary constitutional systems everywhere.