Kyrgyzstan’s 2021 Constitution: A Brief Comparative and Historical Analysis

Abstract

This short article will begin the process of placing Kyrgyzstan’s new Constitution (adopted
on 10 April 2021) in comparative and historical perspective. It will argue that the most important
changes are structural and move Kyrgyzstan away from a checks-and-balances system of semipresidentialism toward a form of presidentialism that is close to the authoritarian-style “crownpresidentialism” in the post-Soviet Eurasian space. Although Kyrgyzstan’s new 2021
Constitution does not fully embrace a system of crown-presidentialism, it does, from a historical
perspective, return Kyrgyzstan to a system of strong presidential power and therefore is a return
to its tradition of executive centralism.

Keywords: constitutional law, comparative law, history

JEL Classification: K00, K39