Legal Pluralism in Central Asia

The process of “modernization” in Central Asian countries tends to be viewed as a process of moving away from “outdated approaches”, with most scholars focusing on what needs to be done to “modernize”, with traditional approaches not being taken very seriously. This book, on the contrary, based on extensive original research in Kyrgyzstan, examines customary legal practices and relates them to wider societal developments in Central Asia and further afield. It examines how a range of problems including violence, accidents and crimes are dealt with and redress, including punishment and compensation, provided. Overall, the book demonstrates that there is a spectrum of approaches, which can be labelled “legal pluralism”; and that traditional approaches are highly effective and by no means redundant.