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Notes
This is the continuation of a process which Akiner (Citation2001) describes as ‘Kulobisation’ of Tajikistan's state and society which has increasingly narrowed to indicate the hegemony of a close circle of Rahmon, key family members and associates from the Kulob region of the country. By late 2006 all former opposition commanders who had been awarded senior state positions in the peace accords (such as Mirzo Ziyoev and Mahmudruzi Iskandarov) together with an increasing number of former governmental commanders (such as Ghaffor Mirzoyev) had been removed and in many cases tried and imprisoned (see Heathershaw Citation2009, esp. pp. 119–24).
However, it must also be added that recent years have seen the reversal of some of the specific gains in Islamic–Secular dialogue (Seifert & Kraikemayer Citation2003; Bitter et al. Citation2004) with the introduction of a new school textbook on Islam which is opposed by leading Islamic scholars such as Hoji Akhbar Turajonzoda, and the 2009 religious law which is much more restrictive on the practices and institutions of all religious groups.
Wilson draws a distinction between ‘spin doctors’ in the Western (particularly British) context who manage the message and ‘political technologists’ who apply their techniques ‘for the construction of politics as a whole’. This includes the management of the media, but also ‘the construction of parties, the destruction of others, the framing of general campaign dynamics and the manipulation of results’ (2005a, p. 49).
Some exceptional scholars in International Relations have resourced themselves with Baudrillard's work including Debrix (Citation1999), Der Derian (Citation1994), Luke (Citation1989) and Weber (Citation1995).
Power and presence are notoriously slippery concepts in semiotic theory. Moreover, Baudrillard criticised Foucault for his understanding of power yet never really developed an alternative approach.
Such an exercise may—but one can only speculate—be compatible with Baudrillard's desire for a renewal of symbolic politics.
These cases are discussed in Heathershaw (Citation2009, ch. 5).
See Heathershaw (Citation2009) for a further discussion of the decline of the IRP as an opposition party (especially pp. 105–06) and the role of ‘constructive opposition’ adopted by the CP which has even led to its members also being members of the PDP to retain their positions in the state apparatus.
For a further discussion of these various initiatives, particularly in the context of the 2005 parliamentary elections, see Heathershaw (Citation2009, ch. 5).
Author's interview with Jan Malekzade, Dushanbe, Tajikistan, 10 May 2005.
Author's interview with Stephanie Wheeler, IREX, Dushanbe, 23 February 2005.
Author's interview with Stephanie Wheeler, IREX, Dushanbe, 23 February 2005.
Author's interview with OSCE officer, Khujond, Tajikistan, 18 June 2005; author's interview with political party representative, Khujond, Tajikistan, 21 June 2005.
Author's personal observation, 20 February 2005.
Author's interview with OSCE officer, Khujond, July 2004.
Literal translation. Figurative sense: ‘it's as if everyone carries on regardless’.
Author's interview with Dilbar Samadova, Khujond, 21 June 2005.
Author's interview with Latifahon Rahmonova, Kulob, 2 June 2005.
Author's interview with Latifahon Rahmonova, Kulob, 2 June 2005.
Author's interview with Latifahon Rahmonova, Kulob, 2 June 2005, p. 6.
Author's interview with Shokirjon Hakimov, Dushanbe, 4 August 2005.
Author's interview with Shokirjon Hakimov, Dushanbe, 4 August 2005, p. 4.
Asia Plus Blitz, Dushanbe, Tajikistan, email bulletin, 1207, 12 March 2003.