Authoritarian legal harmonization in the post-Soviet space

Lemon, Edward; Antonov, Oleg

doi:10.1080/13510347.2020.1778671

Cited by 60Political Conflict and GovernancePolicy Transfer and LearningPost-Soviet Geopolitical Dynamics

Authoritarian legal harmonization in the post-Soviet space

Lemon, Edward, Antonov, Oleg·2020·Democratization

DOI 10.1080/13510347.2020.1778671

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Abstract

Faced with common threats to their regimes from independent civil society, organized opposition groups and protest movements, authoritarian governments in the former Soviet Union have learned from one another and adopted similar policies to consolidate their power. This article examines the process of authoritarian policy transfer in three fields: peaceful assembly, civil society and political participation, focusing on Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The article examines the role played by the Commonwealth of Independent States- Inter-parliamentary Assembly, the body charged with legal harmonization in the former Soviet Union and ignored thus far by scholars of authoritarian diffusion.Through causal process tracing and the use of document comparison software, we compare 34 laws and decrees. Our findings indicate that diffusion is no illusion in the former Soviet Union. Autocrats have adopted similar legislation in all three fields, with the greatest degree of convergence in laws related to extremism, terrorism and operational searches, all of which are used to pursue political opponents. Russia is usually, but not always, the policy innovator. The region’s poorest states – Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan – both dependent on Russia in economic, political and security spheres display the highest levels of legal harmonization with the former Soviet centre.

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“Edward Lemon and Oleg Antonov found that legal harmonisation via the CIS has been particularly successful in the ﬁ elds of countering terrorism and extremism, with higher levels of harmonisation being seen in weaker regimes such as those in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan (Lemon & Antonov, 2020).”
InfluentialSelf-citation
International Financial Institutions and the Promotion of Autocratic Resilience
Cottiero, C., & Schneider, C. J. (2026) · International Organization · doi:10.1017/s0020818325101276 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
The OSCE ODIHR and Regional Organisations as Norm Entrepreneurs: The Case of Post-pandemic Kyrgyzstan
Anghelescu, A.-M., & Dzardanova, S. (2022) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-16659-4_3 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
The problem of state countering extremism: world and Russian experience
Borisenkov, V. V. (2021) · Российский гуманитарный журнал · doi:10.15643/libartrus-2021.5.4
Actorness of Regional Organizations in an Authoritarian Context: A Conceptual FrameworkPreprint
Libman, A., & Gawrich, A. (2021) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.4012062
“Indeed, in some parts of the world like the post-Soviet Eurasia (Ambrosio 2008; Allison 2008; Roberts 2017; Russo and Stoddard 2018; Libman and Vinokurov 2018; Libman and Obydenkova 2018b; Obydenkova and Libman 2019; Lemon and Antonov 2020) and the Middle East (Kamrava 2012; Beck 2015; Magued 2019; Zumbrägel und Demme…”
Background
Autokratisierung und internationale Politik
Libman, A. (2022) · Springer Reference Sozialwissenschaften · doi:10.1007/978-3-531-19954-2_60-1
Autokratisierung und internationale Politik
Libman, A. (2024) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-658-33953-1_60
The Political Economy of Central Asian Law: A Law and Society Analysis
Urinboyev, R. (2024) · International political economy series · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-55341-7_1
Regional Organizations
Debre, M. J. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198871996.013.27
Companion Website
Debre, M. J. (2025) · doi:10.1093/9780198903635.002.0007
The Effects of Membership in Dictator Clubs on Regime Survival
Debre, M. J. (2025) · doi:10.1093/9780198903635.003.0004
Patterns of Authoritarian Membership in Regional Organizations
Debre, M. J. (2025) · doi:10.1093/9780198903635.003.0003
List of Figures
Debre, M. J. (2025) · doi:10.1093/9780198903635.002.0005
How Dictator Clubs Empower Autocratic Incumbents
Debre, M. J. (2025) · doi:10.1093/9780198903635.003.0005
How Dictator Clubs Shield from External Pressure
Debre, M. J. (2025) · doi:10.1093/9780198903635.003.0007
How Dictator Clubs Constrain Regional Challengers
Debre, M. J. (2025) · doi:10.1093/9780198903635.003.0006
List of Tables
Debre, M. J. (2025) · doi:10.1093/9780198903635.002.0006
Conclusion
Debre, M. J. (2025) · doi:10.1093/9780198903635.003.0008
Dedication
Debre, M. J. (2025) · doi:10.1093/9780198903635.002.0004
The Dictators’ Club
Debre, M. J. (2025) · doi:10.1093/9780198903635.003.0002
Introduction
Debre, M. J. (2025) · doi:10.1093/9780198903635.003.0001
A BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF CENTRAL ASIAN STUDIES
Kocatepe, Ö. F., & Şahin, M. C. (2025) · Akademik Hassasiyetler · doi:10.58884/akademik-hassasiyetler.1714259
Transnational Authoritarianism
Cooley, A. A., & Dukalskis, A. (2026) · Government and Opposition · doi:10.1017/gov.2026.10045
“Furthermore, research shows how the region’s elites are learning from one another how best to sustain autocracy (Hall 2023; Lemon and Antonov 2020).”
Limits of autocratic learning: institutional constraints on policy diffusion in Eurasian autocracies
Duvanova, D. (2026) · Contemporary Politics · doi:10.1080/13569775.2026.2731048
Repression as an instrument of poverty management: the bolivarian national guard between protest suppression and control of the informal economy under conditions of mass UN-employment (2014–2026)
Cvijanović, M. (2026) · Military Studies Journal for Strategy Technology and Defense Sciences · doi:10.65932/military-studies-2026-2-5
Attending to control? International parliamentary institutions and parliamentary oversight of foreign affairs
Bien, P. (2026) · Journal of International Relations and Development · doi:10.1057/s41268-026-00397-6
“They affect the harmonisation of policy across member states (Lemon & Antonov, 2020; Serra-Silva, 2022), improve representation (Malang, 2018), and align foreign policy preferences among members (Koenig-Archibugi & Bareis, 2022).”

The impact of the commonwealth of independent states on legal harmonization in the Post-Soviet space
Helwig, J. (2023) · Open Research (Auckland University of Technology) · doi:10.60644/5844
Grooming the next generation: harmonisation of youth laws in post-soviet states
Antonov, O., Lemon, E. J., Podolian, O., & Petersson, B. (2025) · Contemporary Politics · doi:10.1080/13569775.2025.2503769 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Self-citation
Democracy Promotion and Authoritarian Diffusion: The Foreign Origins of Post-Soviet Election Laws
Bader, M. (2014) · Europe Asia Studies · doi:10.1080/09668136.2014.939521 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Policy convergence in authoritarian regimes: A comparative analysis of welfare state trajectories in post‐Soviet countries
Panaro, A. V. (2024) · Review of Policy Research · doi:10.1111/ropr.12600 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Converging party systems in Russia and Central Asia: A case of authoritarian norm diffusion?
Roberts, S. P. (2015) · Communist and Post-Communist Studies · doi:10.1016/j.postcomstud.2015.06.004 · Cited by 19 · see citing works

Authors: Lemon, E., & Antonov, O.
Affiliations: Department of Regional Studies, Daniel Morgan Graduate School, Washington, DC, USA
Södertörn University (SE)
Corresponding author: Lemon, Edward
ORCID: Lemon, Edward
Venue: Democratization
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Published: 2020-06-17
Volume: 27
Issue: 7
Pages: 1221-1239
ISSN: 1351-0347 (ISSN-L)
1743-890X
DOI: 10.1080/13510347.2020.1778671
OpenAlex: W3036637816
Cited by: 60
References: 72
Citations by year: 2026: 10 · 2025: 28 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 1
FWCI: 4.67
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Locations: Democratization (publishedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Political Conflict and Governance
Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Policy Transfer and Learning
Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Post-Soviet Geopolitical Dynamics
Keywords: policy diffusion, policy transfer, civil society restrictions, political participation, operational-search activity, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, post-Soviet states, regime consolidation

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Authoritarian legal harmonization in the post-Soviet space

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