Public Law in a Hybrid State presents a broad sociological analysis of legal developments in contemporary Uzbekistan, using this example to assess why states with some authoritarian features may promote legal reforms and why the modernization of legal institutions may generate benefits for governments. It examines how, alongside constitutional changes, reforms in administrative law play an important role in polities with hybrid constitutions, shaping the architecture of government and constructing procedures to manage exchanges between government and citizens. Placing these reform processes in the longer-term context of postimperial history, it also shows how changes to legal systems acquire distinctive importance in societies with recent experiences of decolonization, uncertain sovereignty, and unstable patterns of citizenship.
Chris Thornhill is Professor of Law at the University of Birmingham.
Rustam Urinboyev is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology of Law at Lund University.
Tolibjon Mustafoev is a PhD Candidate in Sociology of Law at Lund University.
200 pp.6 x 9Illus: 2 b/w figures
9780520425460$95.00|£80.00Hardcover
Jul 2026