KYRGYZSTAN TODAY Policy briefs on - Department of Geography

- Professionalization: small and medium entrepreneurs need to introduce good
business practices and work ethics–specifically, through gradual introduction of the
knowledge and use of key laws, accounting and financial reporting, social deductions
and contributions, employee remuneration, benefits, training, and development, etc.
- Encompassing Middle Class meaning: capacity building for entrepreneurs
should be offered that includes the perspective of state support to the “New Middle
Class” formation by supporting the legalisation of small enterprises;
- Benefits of formalising the informal: government needs to be armed with key
arguments on the benefits of formalising the informal sector. Small businesses need
to be convinced that the process is thought-through and includes guarantees that the
legalisation process will be standardized, transparent, and accountable.
The following discussion demonstrates the importance of these three principles in
framing policymaking as part of the process of formalising the informal economy of
Bishkek by shifting perspectives from “dependent rural masses” to “formation of a new
middle class.”
Rural migrants’ aspirations linked to urban middle classes
Undoubtedly, the process of elite formation in Kyrgyzstan since independence in
1991 has partly been driven by popular aspirations for living standards comparable
to those in industrialised countries (i.e., modern urban utilities and employment/
occupational structure) that have been diffused with globalisation (i.e., internet,
television, consumer industry). During the Soviet era, when previous generational
elites of Kyrgyzstan were formed, the middle class elites were produced through the
production of national cadre policy. The modernisation project of the Communist
Party brought about a middle class that “not only contributed its special skills to the
economic development but also was generally committed to modern ways of living”
(in Bottomore, 1993:75). Unlike the process of elite formation during the first industrial
revolution in Britain, the formation of elites in Kyrgyzstan during the transformation
to a market economy included concurrent formation of such groups as intellectuals,
leaders of political movements, an established upper class, military officers, bureaucrats,
business leaders (as in Bottomore 1993:83).
In developing countries, including Kyrgyzstan, the amalgamation of masses is
formed much more by the identity created by people than their employment, labour
status, occupation or wages, which have proven elusive in an economic crisis (as
found by Manuel Castells [1983] in his study of South American development). A new
class identity then gives people new tools and ideas for accessing the resources they
need. In this paper, the definition of “class” is similar to Michael Lipton’s definition
(1976:109) of class as a “politically relevant social group with lasting common interest,
actual or potential awareness of it, and actual or potential capacity for action to
further it.” Internal migrants represent a self-organising labour force in contemporary
Bishkek and, besides aspirations for life improvements, they follow the example of the
“chattering classes” taking on role models and following the lives of the successful, and
celebrities: i.e., they aspire to the lifestyles and status in the Kyrgyz society that are not
only limited to trading on the markets, selling used cars from abroad, and starting up
“lagman” (noodle) cafes. Instead, recent-immigrant new urbanites aspire to becoming
“entrepreneurs”, shuttling between markets in Kyrgyzstan and Russia, to leading
business associations, power clubs, election-backing technicians and administrative
resources, as well as voters.
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