Emomali Rahmon

Rustam Emomali is also the chair of Tajikistan’s National Assembly and the son of the country's president. His recent trip to Moscow is stirring talk, once again, of dynastic transition.

A 2018 amendment had opened the door to criminal prosecution, and up to 15 years in jail, for “liking” or reacting online with an emoji to content deemed to be extremist.

A first-of-its-kind Central Asian summit boosts regional connectivity and authoritarian domestic agendas.

Authoritarian consolidation might have accelerated border deal-making on the paper, but it may also impede deal-making on the ground.

Dushanbe’s parliamentary polls, held on March 2, took place without external scrutiny and turned up an expected landslide for the ruling party.

Without guarantees that observers would be accredited, and an apparent lack of engagement by Dushanbe, the OSCE has chosen to cancel its monitoring mission.

Given the classified nature of the trial, the details of the alleged plot are unknown.

Prosecutors are asking for 20-30 year sentences for eight defendants presumably accused of a coup plot about which there are very few details available.

The alleged coup plot features every one of President Emomali Rahmon’s personal bêtes noires.

As long as people have limited opportunities in the socioeconomic and political arenas, and adherence to a religious lifestyle is restricted, pilgrimages will remain as an accessible means of self-fulfillment. 

Although they don’t share a border, budding autocratic dynasties Turkmenistan and Tajikistan are close political neighbors.

Conflicts have intensified across the former Soviet Union, now in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. It’s a worrying and disillusioning development for the region.