Local elites, prokurators and extraction in rural Uzbekistan

Examining the politics of local-level extraction in Uzbekistan, this article identifies the emergence of two rent-seeking strategies among local prokurators. Using case study material from Samarkand Province and Navoii Province, it demonstrates how concentrated economic resources under rural elites and dense patronage ties to regional politicians determine the limits placed on rent seeking. As this analysis seeks to emphasize, state capabilities within Uzbekistan's territorial infrastructure, and their effects on extraction, are multi-faceted, highly fluid, and intimately local.