Nation-Building and Personality Cult in Turkmenistan: The Turkmenbaşy Phenomenon

Turkmenistan is a country which is almost sealed off from the rest of the
world but it has attracted foreign attention due to the eccentricities of its
late president Saparmurat Niyazov Türkmenbașy, whose ideological
construction and dynamics of power have remained in place after his
death.
This book offers a thorough analysis of why this personality cult
developed in Turkmenistan in a way that has not been seen in other newly
developed Central Asian countries. In assessing the Türkmenbașy
phenomenon, this book explains the causes and origins of the personality
cult by drawing a comparison with Qadhdhafi’s Libya. The author
understands the Niyazov cult not as a discrete phenomenon but as a
system deriving from specific historical functions and functioning in a
determined social and historical context. Using accounts of the
Türkmenbașy and Qadhdhai cults and the speeches and books written by
these personalities, this book focuses on the institutional side of the
personality cult.
A fascinating analysis of the political situation in Turkmenistan under
Saparmurat Niyazov, this book will be of interest to scholars of Political
Science, Comparative Politics and, in particular, Central Asian Studies.
Fabio De Leonardis received his PhD from University of Bari, Italy. He
was previously a visiting scholar at the Center for Russian, East European
and Eurasian Studies, Stanford University, USA, and is currently a teacher
at Academy Union Education, Shenzhen, the People’s Republic of China.