The impact of informal institutions on democracy in transitional countries: the example of aksakals in Kyrgyzstan

Abstract

The main focus of this paper is the examination of informal institutions and their relationships with democracy. Specifically, the thesis attempts to investigate if the informal aksakals institution promotes democracy in Kyrgyzstan. This paper intends to prove that the informal aksakals institution belongs to accommodating and complementary types of informal institutions. Meaning, the aksakals institution supports and complements formal institutions in Kyrgyzstan. The work of Hans-Joachim Lauth is an advantage for research of the informal institution in the framework of political transformation in Kyrgyzstan. The thesis, after comprehensive analysis, draws the pattern of impact of the informal aksakals institution on democracy in Kyrgyzstan. As a result, it concludes that in the country the informal aksakals institution is in line with complementary and accommodating types, since the aksakals institution gives in almost all fifteen, with the exception of only one field, positive results by supporting democracy and democratic institutions.