It has always been my dream to become a politician. After finishing school I looked for a place where I could get an education in such matters. At this time, my country was still a part of the Soviet Union. During my research I discovered that there was a Department of the History of the Communist Party at Tashkent State University, the aim of which aim was to prepare future politicians. One of the requirements for admittance was a letter of reference from the Komsomol (the young communists) Committee in Tashkent. I tried to do my best for the Komsomol—I was very active, participating in several different Olympiads and winning three of them—and finally I got what I wanted. I passed all my exams, presented the letter of recommendation, entered University, and started to study all aspects of the History of the Communist Party.

When I was in my third year my country became independent. That year we began to study political science, which was prohibited before as bourgeois. The lecturer who came to teach us was very honest. He showed us a thin textbook, asked us to make a copy for ourselves, and said: “This is all the information about political science that I have. I do not know anything about this subject and I am going to read this book as you are. Please read it and we will discuss it together. Perhaps together we will understand what political science is.”

Since then we have been trying to develop political science in independent Uzbekistan. Political science is considered important here because the goal is to build a democratic regime. Democracy requires competition among parties for the votes of the population, as well as respect toward political opposition. This is completely different from the Soviet practice where there was only one ideology, one party, and no competition. We have not achieved our goal to have a developed political science so far, as well as to build up democracy here, but certain positive changes have been taking place.

Since independence, 67 specialists have graduated with a Ph.D. and 19 have defended a postdoctoral thesis (the next level after Ph.D. in accordance with local rule) in political science. The system of defending a Ph.D. thesis as well as conducting a postdoctoral fellowship in Uzbek Republic is different from that in the American system. There are three special scientific centers across the republic where Ph.D. theses are defended: the Academy of State and Social Construction under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Tashkent State Institute of Oriental Studies, and the University of World Economy and Diplomacy. If you are studying for a Ph.D. on Uzbek's domestic issues, then you will defend it in the Academy of State and Social Construction under the President of Republic of Uzbekistan; you will defend your work on the relations of Uzbekistan with South Asian, Far Eastern, or Arabic countries at Tashkent State Institute of Oriental Studies; and you will defend your thesis on the integration of Uzbekistan into the world community at the University of World Economy and Diplomacy.

One of the necessary conditions for the high-grade development of political science in Uzbekistan is the creation of a professional society. There were two attempts to organise political science in my country. The first, which took place in 1992, sought to build a professional organization on the foundation that already existed at that time, the Institute of Management. The second, which occurred in 2001, built upon the success of the Institute of Strategic and Interregional Studies. This second attempt established a special committee consisting of 11 persons responsible for organizing the association and for publishing its journal, Political Studies in Uzbekistan. Unfortunately, both the first and second attempts were unsuccessful and the association is still unformed. Consequently, the journal was never published.

Almost all Uzbek universities publish their own journals. Generally, they have a special section devoted to political science and the issues related to it. In addition, several journals publish political science articles. However, no Uzbek journal is specifically devoted to political science.

Conferences on political topics have been held regularly. Mainly, they take place in Tashkent or in Samarqand—the Uzbekistan's second city. As a result, scholars from more remote regions are not often involved in scientific life and the professional network.

Two Uzbek universities have a department of political science (National University of Uzbekistan) and department of world politics (Tashkent State Institute of Oriental Studies). These universities prepare political scientists as both analysts and experts. In addition there are departments of political science and international relations at the University of World Economy and Diplomacy and at the Tashkent State Institute of Oriental Studies. Actually, the courses and the lecturers who teach them in these different departments are very similar.

For example, the department of world politics at Tashkent State Institute of Oriental Studies was formed in 2000 while the institute's department of international relations began in 1997 as the department of the history of international relations. At present there are 154 undergraduate and 13 graduate students in the department of world politics and 358 undergraduate and 76 graduate students in the department of international relations. The number of students in the department of world politics is on the rise. The department accepted 36 students its first year, 58 the second year, and 82 the third year. The majority of students are of Uzbek ethnicity (92%), with the remainder ethnic Russian or Korean. Uzbeks also comprise the majority (73%) of students in the department of international relations, with ethnic Russians, Ukrainians, Tadzjiks, Tatars, Kazaks, and foreign students from China, South Korea, etc., comprising the remainder. Initially, male students outnumbered female students 31 to 24 in the department of world politics, but the second year saw the situation reversed with 27 females to 11 males. Men still outnumber women in the department of international relations. Tuition is the same for both departments and considered to be very expensive. At about $528 per year (for citizens of Uzbekistan) not every family can afford it. The lowest salary in Uzbekistan is $6. The state helps the best students pay their tuition, but for the rest of the students the way to attend university is to borrow money from the bank.

The University of World Economy and Diplomacy has had a department of political science since 1992 and a department of international relations and foreign policy since 1997. The students that graduate from this university obtain a degree in international relations and geopolitics.

The Centre for Political Studies, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), was formed in 2003 with the explicit purposes of fostering research and arranging conferences and symposiums in the field of political science.

Two state organisations also sponsor research in political science. The first is the Institute of Strategic and Interregional Studies under the President of Uzbekistan, the purpose of which is to prepare analytical materials on very significant issues of usually foreign but sometimes domestic politics. This analytical information is forwarded to the President's office as a complementary source of information for that done by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The second organisation is the Academy of State and Social Construction under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan. This organisation provides additional educational material to legislators and civil servants and sponsors research in the sphere of domestic politics.

In addition, an introductory political science course spanning methodology, types of political regime, institutions, leadership, and democratic processes is now mandatory for every four-year university student in Uzbekistan.

We now must ask: Is this embrace of political science enough to change and benefit the Republic of Uzbekistan? This is not just a question of quantity, but also of quality. Uzbekistan is the largest country in terms of population in Central Asia with about 25 million people. Since the early Russian and then Soviet times, the capital of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, has been a cultural, scientific, and educational centre of the region. Tashkent attracted attention to itself as the center of cultural life in Central Asia when it established the region's first modern university. It has also been the focus of international events, e.g., the Indian-Pakistani peace negotiations took place in Tashkent in the 1970s. In addition, Uzbek universities have hosted a diverse foreign student life (for example, among the 9,000 students of Tashkent State University in 1978, 1,200 were foreign).

The drive to be pre-eminent in the region is strong in Uzbeks. This includes the desire to develop an innovative and strong political science. Admittedly, the political science theories known here during the Soviet period were absolutely embryonic. In Uzbek universities, as in the other universities of the Soviet Union, all subjects were taught in the context of the communist system: the rules of Marxism and Leninism applied to society, economics, philosophy, and history. Lectures about Western scholar's falsification of soviet policy and history were common and perhaps mandatory in those classes, and students had little possibility to study the theories and positions of western political scientists.

The formation of democratic society has necessitated the specialized knowledge of elections, political advertisements, conflict management, etc. The lack of any kind of democratic foundation in Uzbekistan is the main reason for the underdevelopment of applied political science here. However, since 1991, two state organisations and one NGO have been providing information and analytical support for government and two departments of political science graduate experts and analysts in political science. As a rule, the scholars and lecturers who work in these organizations and universities are sociologists, philosophers, lawyers, former scientific communist specialists, and political scientists. Still, no professional organisation that can establish a strong scientific society exists.

Uzbekistan has been independent for only 13 years. This, in itself, explains much. However, it can not justify all of the problems facing Uzbek political science and society. Our goal is to build democracy. How can we achieve this goal? Do we have enough experts to manage this? We have five political parties. Who are their leaders and their activists?

These questions show the importance of developing political science in Uzbekistan. In addition, Uzbekistan's significance in the region involves us in the relations of the world's most powerful countries and their competition. This interaction presents another reason for developing political analysis here: to carry out the policy which would best benefit and assist Uzbekistan in establishing democracy.

We hope that two interrelated tendencies will play out here: that political science will develop, and that political processes will progress in a way that necessitates a more developed political science.

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