Informal civil society initiatives in non-Western societies: mahallas in Uzbekistan

Despite the extensive literature on nexus between civil society and democratization in non-democratic regimes, most existing scholarship focuses politically oriented claim-making organizations. While these accounts provide useful insights, they appear to rely Western-centric understandings of society. Undoubtedly, little space exists regimes within which organizations may engage overt political activism due governmental restrictions. Notwithstanding restrictions, there are less threatening social arenas, where it is possible identify informally organized initiatives with potential redefine influence long-term state–society relations. This article argues that what we might think as cannot be satisfactorily understood through lens Instead, should focus informal initiatives. These processes will illustrated case study mahalla institutions Uzbekistan.