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Abstract

This paper explores academic freedom in the higher education sector within the context of a cluster of four consolidated authoritarian countries in Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Drawing on qualitative data from key stakeholders in state and private universities, think tanks and the media, we investigate whether academic freedom has become part of the ‘authoritarian survival toolkit’ in Central Asia. We find evidence of repression, co-optation and legitimation where academia is not always seen as a domain of scholarly enquiry but rather a mechanism to reinforce state narratives, restrict academic freedom, and promote external legitimacy of the four authoritarian regimes. The case studies reposition academic freedom within authoritarian survival theory.