The Structure of Tajikistan's Political Space: the Party Dimension

Khadyrov Ravshan Yunusovich PhD in Politics Postgraduate student, Department of World Political Processes, MGIMO 115764, Russia, Moscow region, Moscow, ul. Moscow, 63, of. Moscow khadyrov.r.u@mail.ru Other publications by this author

IntroductionDetermining the stability of the institutions of the political system of Tajikistan and the associated political space is an important and urgent task.

This Central Asian country, friendly to Russia, is a co-founder of the SCO, a member of the CSTO and has a long border with Afghanistan, a constant source of military-political tension, religious and ethnic contradictions in the region. Therefore, understanding and taking into account the specifics of the institutional and legal organization and functioning of the party-political space is not only a scientific interest, but also a significant aspect of foreign policy and inter-party relations between Russia and Tajikistan.

The main partThe ontology of the category of political space is generated by the spatial concepts of P. Bourdieu, who saw in it "the space of a political game, a place of competition for power of various parties", the field of politics, in which "a set of objective relations of forces forming the contours and dimensions of this field was manifested" ^{[5, 14-48, 56]}.

In the studies and articles of E.V. Alekhine and S.M. Pavlova ^[4], E.M. Guraria ^[6], A.I. Dugurova ^{[6, 9-13]}, P.N. Plugatarenko ^[13], G.V. Pushkareva ^{[14, 166-176]}, the concepts and topological images of the structure of the multidimensional post-Soviet political space, including party subspace (let's assume the term dimension). These concepts lead us to an understanding of the variety of dimensions in which formal and informal relations and interactions of political actors that fill them are realized.

Let's trace the systemic connections of the party system and the political space. According to M. Duverger, the party system is "a configuration of political parties functioning on the basis of accepted stable practices of political behavior within a structured political space" ^{[7, 251]}. T.V. Shmachkova also sees the party system in a spatial dimension: "The party system is defined by the contours of a political space composed of independent elements (parties), defined by their number, parameters, as well as coalition capabilities" ^{[19, 230]}. Their position is also supported by Tajik political scientists G.R. Murodova, who refers the party system to the structures of the political space that connects society and power ^[10], as well as A.A. Kasymov ^[9], R.S. Nuriddinov ^{[11, 172-178]}, stating that the model of a pluralistic multiparty system comes into conflict with the institution of strong presidential power and the institution of political parties does not have effective mechanisms of influence on the political situation in the country, is not able to actively articulate the interests of society before the state authorities.

Using the example of Tajikistan, we see how the Khatlon regional elite, which won the Civil War, has become the main driving force, a collective actor of the political process since 1997, creating new political institutions, adopting and correcting constitutional norms, legislation, introducing formal and informal rules, norms (institutions), forming a party-political space convenient for itself, giving it the necessary contours of the legal configuration, the boundaries of political and territorial structuring, controlling the alignment of political forces. In the constitutional norms and legislative acts of Tajikistan, instead of the political category "multiparty political system", the formulations of "political", "ideological pluralism" are used ^{[1, Article 8]}, which does not imply systemic ties and relations between the ruling and opposition parties, generally accepted rules of political competition, power struggle inherent in a multiparty political system.

In general, the configuration of the borders and contours of the political space is determined by the constitutional and institutional framework, which is established by the ruling elite, which implements regime practices using either democratic, legal mechanisms, or informational, economic or forceful pressure on opponents. This is how the institutional and legal framework of the party component of the political system is formed, maintaining a certain stability, an "equilibrium" in the construction of the political space, objectively reflecting the disposition of parties as political subjects (program ideology, degree of influence and authority in society), their activities carried out on a single constitutional and legal basis and related to the struggle for power and its withholding.

The framework of Tajikistan's political space is outlined by quite democratic legal restrictions: it is prohibited to create and operate parties whose propaganda and actions are aimed at forcibly overthrowing the constitutional order, inciting national, social, religious hostility, using religious organizations in political activities, creating party cells in the armed forces and law enforcement agencies, party paramilitary groups; military personnel, prosecutors, law enforcement and security officers may not be members of political parties; the activities of regional political parties, the creation of parties with support from abroad, branches of foreign parties are not allowed ^{[2, Article 4]}.

The Ministry of Justice of Tajikistan carries out state registration, issues or denies permission to establish a political party (in 2000, registration of the National Movement Party was refused), issues warnings on the termination of illegal activities in cases of violation of the Constitution, laws of Tajikistan, receiving economic and political assistance from foreign countries. The Supreme Court of Tajikistan banned the activities of the National Unity Party in 1998, the Economic Reform Party in 1999, the Justice Party in 2001, and the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan in 2015, according to the claims of the Prosecutor General's Office. Thus, these institutions of power have shown that they are a powerful tool for regulating the composition of the political space and have legitimate powers to do so.

Let us pay attention to the peculiarities and ambiguity of the results of party building in the period of post-war reconstruction, institutional and political transformation of Tajik society ^{[16],[17],[18]}. The dual function of the policy of the authorities is revealed: integration of Tajik society, previously divided by armed confrontation, segmenting it by political and corporate orientations and contributing to the separation, competition of opposition forces and parties, which have become institutionalized and organized groups of influence of different activity and authority in society.

The power of influence and political potential of parties in Tajikistan largely depends on the support of their regional elites and clans, the territories of origin of their leaders and the residence of the main electorate. This traces the specifics of the topology of the party-political space of Tajikistan, the structure of which is geographically and historically tied to the regions. The formation of the institute of multiparty system did not interrupt the traditional clan ties of new political actors and political subjects – most political movements and parties were initially created on a regional-clan basis, and which maintained stable relations with their regional ethnic structures. Thus, the Pamir and Garm avlods gave birth to the IRPT (1989), the Laali Badakhshon movement and the DPT (1991). The Khatlon (Leninabad) group of Avlods participated in the creation of the Party of Free Labor (1991), in 1993 - the People's Democratic Party (PDPT), the Party of National Unity (1994) ^{[3, 224-232]}. The same regional Khatlon roots are found in the biographies of the leaders of five of the seven parties operating today.

In a system with a strong presidential power, the PDPT has become the main political mechanism for both elite and mass electoral support for a popularly elected president, representing and serving the interests of the executive branch in parliament and public space, ensuring the priority of national interests over regional and private elite ones. From election to election, there was a trend of monocentricity of the party system of Tajikistan with its center – the mass and authoritative PDPT. If there is a dominant and ruling party in Russia (United Russia) If it participates in the formation of power, then in Tajikistan the PDPT is formed by the authorities, it is literally "parties of power" and, moreover, a nationwide institution.

The chairman of the PDPT is President E. Rahmon, candidates from it win all parliamentary and presidential elections. Other parties form the core of the "constructive" opposition - the Agrarian Party (APT), the Party of Economic Reforms (PERT), the Socialist Party (SPT), the Communist Party (KPT) are loyal allies of the government. There are two parties in open opposition – the Democratic (DPT) and the Social Democratic (SDPT). Along with political parties, there are also political movements (for example, the Congress of National Unity of Tajikistan, the Association "Lali Badakhshon", the National Movement of Tajikistan "Chunbish", "Movement of National Unity and Revival of Tajikistan" and a number of others that have limited rights to nominate candidates for deputies). The institutionalization of pluralism and multiparty system, the presence of parliamentary and non-systemic opposition allows the Tajik authorities to declare the democratic status of the country's political system as an important characteristic of its regime.

Let's pay attention to such a feature of the party system: the PDPT is the most massive party (about 500 thousand members), but it is not the center of political and personnel decision-making, its main function is reverse articulation, that is, the promotion of interests and values "from top to bottom" - from the political leader E. Rahmon and the ruling elite into society. This is explained by the fact that in the political space, only the institution of a strong presidency determines the degree and boundaries of the participation of both the ruling party, the opposition, and civil society in the political process. At the same time, the PDPT declares the expression of the interests of the whole society as a whole, reflecting in its ideology understandable and accepted by the people goals, ideas, slogans that other parties can only support in their programs in one interpretation or another.

The Institute of opposition parties (6 parties) is part of the political system and political space of Tajikistan, officially the opposition is considered an important element of democratic electoral processes. But the potential of the Tajik opposition after the prohibition of the IRPT is very insignificant today, it is not a cohesive and organized force that does not have the weight and influence comparable to the PDPT. The formal balance of power, political weight and authority of the parties are determined by the results of the 2020 parliamentary elections: NDPT - 50.4%; PERT - 16.6%, APT - 16.5%, SPT - 5.2%, DPT - 5.1%, CPT - 3.1%, SDPT - 0.3% ^[12]. The alignment of political forces in parliament demonstrates the leading role of the party in power, the positions of the other parties are distributed according to the degree of loyalty to the government and real authority in society.

Summarizing the mechanisms of influence of the ruling elites on the formation of the party system, it can be stated: the initial strategy of incorporation, co-opting opposition forces into power gradually gave way to their gradual legal, political weakening and displacement to the periphery of the political space. The PDPT completely dominates, and the other parties of various ideological spectrum have no political authority and are oppositional only formally, outwardly demonstrating the implementation of the constitutional norm of pluralism and multiparty system. The very plurality of parties is not evidence of the existence and functioning of a multi–party political system in Tajikistan with the complete dominance of the party in power - the PDPT.

The established party system in Tajikistan according to J. Sartori can be attributed to a system "... with a dominant party, where for many years, despite the existence of basic democratic procedures and many parties, one party regularly wins elections and dominates power structures" ^{[15, 14-25]}. The conclusion of B. Magaloni is also confirmed, who, based on the study of multiparty systems dominated by one party, stated that over time some of the opposition parties become supporters, satellite parties of the ruling party ^{[20, 715-741]}.

ConclusionIt can be reasonably argued that the Constitution and legislation of Tajikistan nominally provide the democratic foundations for building its pluralistic party-political space, and the practice of interaction between the authorities, parties, and social movements shows that there is space for a competitive political struggle by peaceful methods.

The Constitution of Tajikistan and the constitutional field outlined by it have formed the structure and boundaries of the modern political space of the country, in which the established illiberal, but formally democratic political system of the country functions. The ruling elites form the filling of the political space through constitutional and institutional fields, change the composition of the arrangement of subjects and actors, providing a favorable environment for their political survival.

The party dimension of the political space reflects the actual alignment, political, electoral "weight", ideological differentiation of parties. The ruling PDPT party completely dominates, while the other parties of various ideological spectrum have no political authority and are oppositional only formally, outwardly demonstrating the implementation of the constitutional norm of pluralism and multiparty system. The peculiarity of the multiparty system in Tajikistan is determined by the strategy of incorporation, co-opting opposition forces into power, the instability of constitutional legislation, the lack of experience in organizing parties, inter-party dialogue, disunity of the opposition. The lack of deep, popular political support for opposition leaders has led to the fact that today there is no united opposition in Tajikistan, there are only forces of different geopolitical orientations aimed at Russia, Europe, Iran, and the United States.