TFollowing the collapse of the Soviet system, clan and faction networking has gained considerable attention in Central Asia. Far reaching changes in politics, economics and society have reshaped clan relations to meet pressing needs, revealing an adaptability that confirms the endurance of the clan system. What are the implications for ongoing democratization efforts? This research project explores the extent to which social group identity, specifically clan identity, shapes people's political preferences leading them to support authoritarian behavior or particular elements of liberal democracy. After developing an integrative cross-disciplinary framework to link identity to political attitudes, case study analyses in the post-Soviet republics of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan demonstrate that strong clan identity is correlated with a particular set of political preferences.  The multi-method research program included interviews and a small social survey in each country in 2005 together with an analysis of recent scholarship on the subject societies. The theoretical framework combines concepts from social identity theory, institutionalism literature, and political science.

Research results show that those with a strong clan identity have a higher tolerance for selected authoritarian behaviors associated with preserving order and stability. At the same time, however, clan members place a high value on citizen freedom of expression and power sharing in government. The cluster of preferences seems to reflect a combination of cultural predisposition, acceptance of elite framing of group interests, and reaction to recent experience. The results also refine our understanding of how social identity works by showing that clan identity salience in any given context is contingent on the interplay between socialization into group norms, active participation in the clan community and practical benefits received from group membership. Furthermore, as one among several relevant social group identities, clan membership sometimes reinforces and sometimes cross-cuts other attachments such as ethnicity, religion, rich-poor affiliation and regionalism.