The Uzbek Ministry of Education recently banned all its universities from teaching political science. The primary reasoning behind the decree was that political science, as a “pseudoscience,” does not abide by scientific methods.

Uzbekistan has been ruled by President Islam Karimov since 1989. During his regime, Uzbekistan declared its independence from the Soviet Union and affirmed its status as a highly authoritarian state. Karimov was elected for office once again in March of 2015 in an election process with no legitimate opposition.Considering the nation’s history, it came as no surprise that the Minister of Education decided to omit the first two words of a current political science course titled “Political Science: Theory and Practice of Building a Democratic Society in Uzbekistan.” Although political science considers Uzbekistan to be an authoritarian regime, the academic discipline has been discarded as propaganda of Western thought that does not support the “Uzbek political model.”Backlash to the prohibition quickly followed. Many university professors, political scientists, and researchers wrote an open letter urging the government to revoke the decree: “There is no such thing as Western and Eastern political science, just like there is no Western and Eastern physics, mathematics, etc.” Scholars also maintained that, “Now, more than ever, Uzbekistan needs political science.”Back in 2010, Uzbek universities stopped enrolling students into political science courses, but the discipline students could still study the discipline through elective courses. However, this most recent decision puts an end to all teachings in this field of study.Not only have political scientists been targeted by the government, but the media’s influence has been marginalized, and a Russian anthropologist, Sergey Abashin, has recently been expelled from the country. Abashin’s study included the building of national and ethnic identities in Central Asia.This article was written by Lana Kugli. Send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: Millicent Wong