Shattered Transition

This chapter examines shifts in Kyrgyzstan's ideological landscape. It considers public events that are suggestive of the rhythms of Kyrgyz political life, and the issues that fueled collective action, along with the more slow-paced ideological currents that informed them. To gain an overview of these slower trends, three statues that successively occupied the Ala-Too Square's central 15-meter-high pedestal are discussed: the statue of Vladimir Lenin, the Erkindik (Liberty) statue, and the statute of the national hero Manas. The chapter also discusses the trajectories of socialism, (neo) liberalism, and nationalism in the post-Soviet period and explores how these ideologies translated into political practice, along with the tensions between rhetoric and reality that has characterized Kyrgyzstan's so-called transition. By connecting the succession of statues to the political events unfolding on the Ala-Too Square and beyond, the chapter shows how Kyrgyzstan's unraveling transition became interspersed with recurrent eruptions of political turmoil.