30 October 2000 Uzbekistan: Transition to Authoritarianism on the Silk Road by Neil Melvin. United Kingdom: Harwood Academic Publishers, 2000. 129 pages, in English. Western governments regularly criticize the strong-arm tactics of Uzbek President Islam Karimov and urge that he loosen his grip on the system. Karimov retorts that he must maintain tight control, so […]