Public Law in a Hybrid State

"Public Law in a Hybrid State is an outstanding and timely study of how administrative and constitutional reforms are reshaping public authority in Uzbekistan. It offers a must-read guide for scholars and practitioners examining governance, state building, and legal change across post-Soviet and hybrid political systems."—Timur Dadabaev, Professor of International Relations, University of Tsukuba, Japan "This important work examines Uzbekistan's constitutional developments through a legal sociology lens, masterfully linking global forces to domestic transformations and local realities. Essential reading for scholars interested in comparative law, post-Soviet studies, and the complex relationship between constitutionalism, authoritarianism, and postcolonial governance."—Lynette J. Chua, Jernal Singh Khosa Professor of Law, National University of Singapore "Blending vivid fieldwork with sharp socio-legal analysis, this richly researched volume examines Uzbekistan as a key case of hybrid constitutionalism, revealing how legal reforms function amid security pressures, postimperial legacies, and shifting state-society dynamics. Essential reading for anyone interested in comparative public law and the global sociology of constitutions."—Agnieszka Kubal, Associate Professor of Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford "A very important contribution to a neglected topic, namely the socio-legal aspects of the transformation in postsocialist Uzbekistan. Written by a group of leading experts, this book breaks new ground in that it combines deeply grounded empirical findings with sophisticated theoretical explorations to provide a coherent picture of the opportunities and challenges ahead."—Peter Finke, Professor of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies, University of Zurich A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit to learn more. Public Law in a Hybrid State presents a broad sociological analysis of legal developments in contemporary Uzbekistan, using this example to assess why states with some authoritarian features may promote legal reforms and why the modernization of legal institutions may generate benefits for governments. It examines how, alongside constitutional changes, reforms in administrative law play an important role in polities with hybrid constitutions, shaping the architecture of government and constructing procedures to manage exchanges between government and citizens. Placing these reform processes in the longer-term context of postimperial history, it also shows how changes to legal systems acquire distinctive importance in societies with recent experiences of decolonization, uncertain sovereignty, and unstable patterns of citizenship.

Pages: 228, Paperback, University of California Press