‘Central Asia has a centuries-old tradition of bringing Europe and Asia together’ states the EU’s Central Asia Strategy (2007). One promising avenue for bridging the European Union and Central Asian countries is via civil society. As one of the most traditional and least likely candidates, Uzbekistan has recently shown signs of opening to Civil Society Organisations. Before this background, this Briefing Paper asks if the opening by the government is genuine or pure chicanery? If the latter, how can we explain that one of the most authoritarian countries on Earth raises expectations it cannot satisfy?
