ABSTRACT

This article demonstrates the role of non-elites in the struggle for transparency and accountability in Kyrgyzstan’s mining sector. Most existing accounts foreground elite strategies and political machines in the governance of post-Soviet societies. Drawing on recent anthropological work on post-Soviet politics and applying it critically to the literature on neopatrimonialism, this article sheds light on the adoption of political game strategies by community members (non-elites) to advance their interests and challenge elite dominance within the case study’s mining communities. This finding responds to recent calls to interrogate the activities of non-elites at the margins of neopatrimonial contexts. The article advances a research agenda on how practices by non-elites shape the multiple meanings and enactments of transparency and accountability by elites in natural resource governance. It also points to the need to explore how and why “communities” exert their “agency” in governing natural resources within post-Soviet contexts.

摘要

本文展示了非精英在吉尔吉斯斯坦采矿业争取透明度和问责制的斗争中的作用。在后苏联社会的治理中，大多数现有账户都采用了精英策略和政治机制。本文借鉴后苏联政治方面的最新人类学工作并将其批判性地应用到有关新世袭主义的文献中，以阐明社区成员（非精英）采用政治博弈策略以提高他们的利益并在案件中挑战精英统治地位研究的采矿社区。这一发现是对最近要求在新世袭背景下询问非精英人士活动的回应。本文提出了一个关于非精英人士的实践如何塑造精英人士在自然资源治理中的透明性和问责制的多重含义和作用的研究议程。它还指出有必要探索“社区”如何以及为何在后苏联时期内发挥“机构”的作用来管理自然资源。