Prime Minister Robert Fico shakes hands with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev during a visit to Uzbekistan in early June 2025. (source: Facebook - Robert Fico)
Prime Minister Robert Fico has arrived at a major discovery: dictatorships and autocracies are easier to govern than democracies. European prime ministers, who break into a sweat trying to cobble together coalitions only to be replaced by voters four years later, would surely pay dearly for such insight.
Of course, Fico hasn’t discovered anything new, even if his remarks upon returning from Uzbekistan suggested otherwise: “This is simply a country built on a strong, wise and educated president. I’m talking about democratic and free parliamentary elections in Slovakia and about changing the system by reducing the number of political parties.”
While Uzbekistan retains certain outward features of democratic systems, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev controls all branches of power. He stifles the opposition, controls the media, and blocks access to online platforms. Although he has promised a more democratic electoral system, he included in the reforms a clause allowing him to remain in power until 2040.
His predecessor, Islam Karimov, was such a notorious autocrat that even the positive changes introduced by Mirziyoyev fall far short of democratic standards – more a modernisation of autocracy than a genuine shift toward democracy.
