American Journal Of Social Sciences And Humanity Research
76
https://theusajournals.com/index.php/ajsshr
VOLUME
Vol.05 Issue04 2025
PAGE NO.
76-82
10.37547/ajsshr/Volume05Issue04-16
Dialogue Between Authorities and Citizens in New
Uzbekistan
Nafosathon Tojiboeva
PhD Candidate, Shanghai University, Peoples Republic of China
Received:
14 February 2025;
Accepted:
13 March 2025;
Published:
11 April 2025
Abstract:
Observation of everyday life and numerous studies show that over the last two decades, communication
between people has increasingly moved to the sphere of social media (World Economic Forum, 2015). This also
applies to the practice of using these platforms by the authorities, which implement their strategies of influencing
citizens (European Commission, n.d.). However, current technological solutions create different conditions for
communication than before (OECD, 2021). In this article, the authors present an analysis of the communication
process between the authorities and society in Uzbekistan - a country that is undergoing a process of political
transformation after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The subject of the study was social media, which is the main
channel of communication in the modern world. The analysis covers the years 2023-2024, and the primary data
was collected in the form of an online survey and interviews with a questionnaire based on two groups: users of
a popular news portal and representatives of central and regional authorities.
The study results indicate:
- a fundamental discrepancy between the expectations of citizens (public opinion) in contemporary Uzbekistan
and the media activities currently implemented by the authorities of this country;
- limited or low effectiveness of the content and the way it is presented, in particular the deficiency of such aspects
as the attractiveness of the content (its usefulness, importance for the recipient) and the transparency of the
message (providing sources, credibility);
- confirm the principle known in the literature that in order for the authorities to influence society in order to
engage it, it is necessary to build trust.
Keywords:
Trust, transparency, responsiveness, engagement, communication, social media, institutions,
Uzbekistan.
Introduction:
Social media has influenced the way of
social communication in almost all countries in the
world (OECD, 2021). It has changed the way in which
public discourse takes place and the development goals
of a given country are formulated. The authorities of
Uzbekistan, like the authorities of many other countries
in the world, actively participate in the process of
communicating with the citizens of their country. The
aim of the authorities in this process is to engage
society in the postulated actions, which is part of a
nationwide project called "New Uzbekistan". The
government focused on the country's next stage of
socioeconomic enhancement with the implementation
and execution of its ambitious New Uzbekistan
Development Strategy 2022-2026 (Uzbekistan Special
Report, 2022).
However, in Uzbekistan, as in many other countries,
there are differences in positions and views between
the typical citizen and the authorities, which results
from, among other things, historical and cultural
conditions. Uzbekistan is a country with a long and rich
history. However, the country only gained its statehood
in 1991, which has a significant impact on limited
institutional development, both in terms of formal and
informal institutions and their synergies (Freedom
House, 2022).
Particular attention in the study was paid to the issue
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American Journal Of Social Sciences And Humanity Research (ISSN: 2771-2141)
of building citizens' trust and their involvement in
public activities proposed by the government. For the
purposes of the study, an own theoretical model was
defined.
In the case of assuming that the path to such
engagement is to build trust among members (World
Bank Group Management, 2019). However, it should be
taken into account that in the country it is only building
civil society, this level of trust is low. It can be assumed
that Uzbekistan is such a case. Due to the fact that
access to them is limited, and access to the security of
views that operate between them and the authorities,
they will be particularly difficult to obtain and will
require basic equipment. Attention should be paid to
the element of the communication process. This is also
in relation to such detailed requirements as the
currency of content produced by the authorities and
distributed in social media, the use of this content for
public opinion, the way the authorities respond to
inquiries and demands from the side.
Literature review
There is a large div of literature on the role of social
media in government-public communication in
different countries and under different political and
economic conditions (OECD, 2014). All over the world,
in all countries, both developed and developing,
governments use social media to inform, persuade,
engage, and gain insight into views.
A number of studies (e.g., Bonsón et al., 2012) have
shown a correlation between government use of social
media and increased citizen engagement in the affairs
of the same government. Furthermore, government
use of social media has been found to have a positive
impact on citizens’ interaction with the government via
social media. This is important because encouraging
citizens to express their opinions in government is a key
goal of participatory democracy (Seigler, 2017; Song &
Lee, 2013).
It is crucial that the government provides citizens with
the opportunity to express their opinions and that
there are easily accessible and effective channels for
citizens to provide feedback (Wu, Ma, & Yu, 2017). The
effectiveness of this two-way communication process
is influenced by such process features as transparency
(e.g. citing sources) and real involvement of citizens in
the decision-making process (even at the city and local
level).
Still other studies emphasize that the so-called
participatory democracy is an essential element for
effective development (Bennett & Manoharan, 2017;
Buell, Porter & Norton, 2021; Omar et al., 2013). It is
crucial for the government to regularly maintain open
communication with society, and ensure transparency,
readiness for dialogue, and provide a forum where
citizens can express their opinions without fear of
restrictions (Kim & Lee, 2012; Liao et al., 2020).
Studies also indicate that governments are currently
trying to use social media to "warm up their image", i.e.
to create bonds with society by humanizing the image
of the authorities (Eom, Hwang, and Kim, 2018;
Guillamón et al., 2018).
The literature indicates that Uzbekistan - like other
states that emerged after the collapse of the USSR - is
going through a process of searching for and
formulating its own identity. In the case of Uzbekistan,
we are dealing with the creation of structures,
traditions, and functions of an independent state from
scratch. The authorities must therefore build the myth
of statehood and their legitimacy to rule at an
accelerated pace.
On the other hand, there is a multinational society,
speaking different languages (apart from Uzbek - Tajik,
Russian, Kazakh and others), religiously diverse, with a
strong territorial identity (places of residence of clans).
The process of moving away from the imposed Soviet
system creates a kind of void that favors the influence
of other systems - including Islamism and pan-Turkism.
All these elements indicate possible discrepancies
between such a diverse society and the authorities
implementing the process of central management of
media content.
METHODOLOGY
The study used a mixed approach, which consisted of
qualitative and quantitative methods.
The qualitative study, in addition to literature analysis,
was based on collecting interviews with a group of
government representatives involved in creating
content for the media and analyzing their statements.
A total of 30 statements were obtained, and the "Word
Cloud" method was used for analysis. The aim was to
identify the components of the communication process
in social media that are important in Uzbekistan for
building trust and engaging society.
On the basis of these interviews, three such
components were selected: "Communication content"
with two subcomponents "Significance" (i.e. how
important a given content is to the recipient) and
"Credibility" of a given content, "Transparency of
communication" with two subcomponents "Source
transparency"
and
"Source
diversity"
and
"Responsiveness"
with
two
subcomponents
"Responding regardless of how and when" and "Speed
of response".
The above-mentioned elements were included in the
theoretical model (Figure 1) as independent variables.
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American Journal Of Social Sciences And Humanity Research (ISSN: 2771-2141)
The dependent variables were “Trust in the
authorities” and “Citizen engagement”.
Fig. 1. Government-Citizen Dialog Theoretical Framework (Own eleaboration)
After identifying key concepts and indicating the most
important fields of analysis, the quantitative study was
started. The quantitative study consisted of collecting
responses in an online survey and covered two groups:
280 people in the "General public" group and 49 people
in the "Government representatives" group. The
obtained data were subjected to statistical analysis
(SSPS).
Research hypotheses
In the study that is the basis of this article, several
research hypotheses were adopted. The first three
hypotheses concerned the impact of the selected three
components on gaining public trust in the content
distributed by the authorities (which can be interpreted
as trust in the authorities - in general).
Hypothesis 1: "Content in social media affects public
trust in the government".
Hypothesis 2: "The transparency of the communication
process in social media affects public trust in the
government".
Hypothesis 3: "The government's response (speed of
response) to citizens' inquiries affects public trust in the
government".
The next hypotheses concerned the impact of the
discussed variables on gaining public engagement in
the actions proposed by the authorities.
Hypothesis 4. "Content in social media affects citizens'
engagement in the actions proposed by the
government".
Hypothesis 5. "The transparency of the communication
process in social media affects citizens' engagement in
the actions proposed by the government".
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The study confirmed that the main goal of the
authorities' activity in social media is to build trust and
achieve public involvement in the actions proposed by
the authorities. At the same time, the analysis showed
that of the three components of the communication
process selected for the study (variables "Content",
"Transparency" and "Responsiveness"), only the first
two have an impact in relation to the two expected
results: "trust" and "engagement". It was also found
that the detailed components of the communication
process have different meanings and different impact
on building trust and public involvement in the current
conditions of Uzbekistan.
The first three hypotheses concerned the impact of the
selected three components on gaining public trust in
the content distributed by the authorities (which can
be interpreted as trust in the authorities in general).
The hypothesis that "Social media content has an
impact on public trust in government" was confirmed
by the following results: in the General Public research
group, the "General content" category showed a
correlation of +0.61 with "General trust", and in the
Government Representatives group, this correlation
was +0.76.
The second hypothesis, "The transparency of the
communication process in social media has an impact
on public trust in government", was also confirmed: in
the General Public research group, the "General
transparency" category showed a correlation of +0.62
with "General trust", and in the Government
Representatives group, +0.76.
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However, the hypothesis "The government's response
to citizens' inquiries has an impact on public trust in
government" was not confirmed for both research
groups.
The next hypotheses concerned the impact of the
discussed variables on achieving public involvement in
the actions proposed by the authorities.
The hypothesis “Social media content has an impact on
citizens’
engagement
in
government
-proposed
activities” was confirmed. In the General Public
research group, the “General content” category
showed a correlation of +0.43 with “G
eneral
engagement”, and in the Government Reps group
+0.39.
The
hypothesis
“The
transparency
of
the
communication process in social media has an impact
on citizens’ engagement in government
-proposed
activities” was also analyzed. The hypothesis was
confirmed: in the General Public research group, the
“General content” category showed a correlation of
+0.46 with “General engagement”, and in the
Government Reps group +0.33.
Also in this aspect of the research, the specific
hypothesis “The government’s response to citizens’
inquiries has an impact on citizens’ engagement in
government-
proposed activities” was not confirmed
for both research groups.
Therefore, it can be concluded that the government
can build trust among citizens through social media, in
particular through valuable content and ensuring
transparency in the communication process. However,
the aspect of responsiveness, including the speed of
response to citizen requests, is not that important.
Now that we know what influences the achievement of
public trust (valuable content and transparency of the
message, which can be understood as its credibility),
we can ask to what extent trust is important for
achieving commitment to the proposed actions.
The data were analyzed to verify the main hypothesis:
"Trust is an important component of the process of
public involvement in the actions proposed by the
authorities". In both research groups, the correlation
between a positive attitude (demonstration of trust)
towards three components of the communication
process (variables "Content", "Transparency" and
"Reactivity") and the declaration of commitment ("I am
involved in the actions proposed by the government")
was analyzed. The general conclusion from the
research is that this hypothesis was confirmed.
In the General Public research group, a positive
correlation was found for the answers to the first two
variables: 1) "I trust the content" +0.53 and "I am
involved" +0.43. 2) "I trust transparency" +0.55 and "I
am involved" +0.46. For the third variable, “I trust
responsiveness,” no correlation was found.
Also in the Government Reps research group, a positive
correlation was found for the responses to the first two
variables, although with different strengths: 1) “I trust
content” +0.70 and “I am engaged” +0.39. 2) “I trust
transparency” +0.80 and “I am engaged” +0.33. In this
research group, no correlation was found for the
“Responsiveness” variable.
It should be added that in the entire study, no
statistically significant correlation was observed for
such indepen
dent variables as “gender,” “age,”
“education,” and “profession.”
Another interesting phenomenon that the data showed
is the fact that public officials in Uzbekistan declare a
higher level of trust in the content and transparency of
social media, and at the same time a lower willingness
to engage in activities proposed by the government
they themselves represent. Perhaps this can be
interpreted as a potential source of the problem of lack
of authenticity and sincerity, or perhaps even a certain
cynicism and distance towards the tasks they perform
in the media.
The final research problem in the conducted study was
to understand the positions and expectations of both
sides of the government-society dialogue in relation to
individual aspects of communication in social media.
The research question was: "What opinions do
representatives of the authorities and representatives
of the general public express on individual aspects of
the process of communication in social media?" The
obtained results allow us to conclude that the positions
of the parties in the government-society dialogue are in
many respects divergent, and even contradictory.
The group of social media professionals with whom the
focus group interviews were conducted indicated that
providing citizens with access to current, relevant and
useful information is the driving force behind the
development of social media platforms in this country.
At the same time, it was noted that a common practice
in Uzbekistan was that messages from the authorities
mainly serve to disseminate information about
politicians themselves, their achievements and to
encourage citizens to support the government.
The media experts who participated in the study
indicated that in order to effectively respond to the
voice of citizens, the best solutions are hotlines,
complaint registers and citizen portals. Thanks to them,
society can feel that its voice will be heard.
The requirement that the authorities communicate
with society in such a way as to ensure a two-way flow
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of information is always relevant. However, this also
means a demand for civic activity, so each side has its
role to play here. Of course, one can expect more from
the authorities, i.e. from the stronger side, because it is
equipped with material and human resources.
However, in the statements it was indicated that the
authorities of Uzbekistan do not have sufficient
structures and the right people to deal with the
appropriate response to citizens' questions or
demands.
On the other hand, social media are equipped with
numerous functions that allow monitoring the
communication
process
(tracking
threads,
documenting dates, authors, keywords, etc.). This
means that with the current development of
information technology, citizens have a greater
opportunity to exert pressure on the authorities. They
have access to such tools as electronic archives,
preserved copies, communication statistics, and
influential networks of contacts, including international
ones. As a result, both sides should strive for
increasingly higher competences in this dialogue,
understanding
the
importance
of
mutual
understanding, which is ultimately beneficial for the
overall development of the country. In this way,
attempts to obtain one-sided benefits, such as short-
sighted manipulation of public opinion, gaining
applause, or spreading false news, will be avoided.
Novelty of the work
It is necessary to emphasize the importance of the
theoretical layer of this study. An original, new model
of the process called "Government-Society Dialogue"
for social media was formulated. In addition, variables
that have previously been studied separately (Bennett
& Manoharan, 2017; Liao et al., 2020; Omar et al.,
2013) were included in a unified study.
The study sheds valuable light on the extent of social
media used by the Uzbek government and then relates
these factors to Uzbek citizens’ trust in the
government
and Uzbek citizens’ engagement in proposed activities.
Limitations of the study
In addition to important theoretical and practical
implications, the study also has some limitations, which
mainly result from the fact that it was conducted in only
one country in its specific conditions. Therefore, the
formulated conclusions may not have full reference to
other societies or to another moment in history,
especially taking into account dynamic changes.
Therefore, it can be recommended to continue similar
studies in different countries based on different
research samples. In this way, it is possible to
significantly expand the basis for formulating analyses
of the communication process in different cultural and
economic conditions.
The second limitation results from the fact that the
analysis concerns social media, a relatively new
phenomenon based on extremely fast-developing
technology. All parties to this process are in the process
of learning individual applications and understanding
the meaning and consequences of the undertaken
activity.
CONCLUSIONS
The results of the study indicate that the process of
communication via social media implemented in
contemporary Uzbekistan is not satisfactory for either
party - i.e. citizens and authorities. Citizens indicate
that the content provided by the authorities does not
sufficiently
meet
quality
criteria
and
the
communication process itself is not transparent. As a
result of the above shortcomings, the influence of the
authorities' messages on citizens is limited and does
not build trust or the expected involvement of Uzbek
citizens in public affairs. There is no feedback from
society, despite the formally declared openness on the
part of the authorities (which was repeatedly
mentioned in the speeches of the President of this
country).
Based on the results of the study, a number of
recommendations can be formulated regarding the
conduct of the Government-Society Dialogue. They
refer to the specific situation in Uzbekistan, but can
probably be applied to other countries and societies.
The authorities should be expected to include the
following elements in their communication:
- the content conveyed should be of value to the
recipient
- the content conveyed should be credible (true,
verified, up-to-date)
- to ensure transparency of communication, provide
sources and dates
- ensure diversity of sources, including providing
dissenting and opposing opinions.
An additional postulate, although not as high a priority
as the first one mentioned above, will be: "ensuring the
highest possible responsiveness, i.e. appropriate
representatives of the authorities should respond to
citizens' demands, complaints and other reports".
However, as the study has shown, the speed of
response is not that important.
It is worth noting their particular importance in the face
of the widespread use of modern technologies,
including social media platforms. On the one hand, they
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significantly facilitate the role of the broadcaster for
anyone who wants to be active in social media.
Speaking in the media is not reserved exclusively for
people such as a spokesperson or a press office, so you
can expect responses from many representatives of the
authorities. It should be emphasized that this
technology (the so-called Internet 3.0 generation)
creates the possibility of action for both parties, what
is more, it even forces such action. Both parties can and
should therefore be both senders and recipients. If one
of the parties does not use both of these functions -
such media cease to be "social". Instead of dialogue, we
have a monologue, i.e. a one-way message. It is
therefore something that is associated with the
concept of propaganda, and in the post-Soviet society
such
associations
have
particularly
negative
connotations.
In addition, the study emphasizes the important role of
transparency, providing sources and counter-opinions.
Transparency can play a significant role in
strengthening positive connections and networks
between various government entities and citizens. An
important task will be to continue raising awareness of
the functioning of the media both among the
authorities and among the citizens of Uzbekistan,
especially since the country is striving to disseminate
digital literacy and even export digital services (source).
Ministry of Digital Technologies, 2023).
Without in-depth knowledge of communication
processes and without digital literacy, it will not be
possible to implement the vision of civil society in this
country. It should be emphasized that in recent years,
the Uzbek government has initiated numerous projects
and programs aimed at creating and testing new
technologies, as well as overcoming the digital divide
that still exists in the context of gender and location. Of
course, a significant challenge remains the issue of
building the technical conditions for the Internet, as
well as other regulations that will support the vision of
e-government
and
e-society
in
practice.
A
communication system that is open, valuable,
transparent and participatory will serve to build
institutions of mutual trust and optimal use of social
potential, which ultimately leads to the development of
a given country.
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