Change in the policy of the Uzbek authorities regarding cotton farming as a consequence of civil disobedience

Abstract

The article looks at the issue of civil disobedience in Uzbekistan. The aim of the article is to find an answer to the question of whether a civil society has emerged in Uzbekistan capable of influencing the ruling elite. The confirmation of this thesis was the history of the long-term struggle against the state monopoly on cotton trading, known as white gold. As the main source of the emergence of civil disobedience, the author adopted the economic issue, in particular the regulations that inhibit the possibility of the free sale of cotton, which is the main source of income for half of Uzbekistan's population. In the article, the author presents the actions of the first president of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, and his successor, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, regarding the approach to the cotton farming sector. The separation of thirty years of independence was aimed at rearranging the length of the process of forming civil disobedience in relation to the law limiting the free-market cotton trade. The article also discusses the influence of an external factor in the form of Kazakhstan's attitude, which made it possible to break the current legal order, as well as the importance of Swiss investments in Uzbek textiles. In the final conclusions, the author states that the process of creating a civil society and popularizing civil disobedience began in Uzbekistan. He confirms this by describing the behavior of both the authorities and society. It shows the negative impact of maintaining the cotton monoculture after the collapse of the Soviet Union on the financial condition of the society.