Tracking Protests
Mapping Patterns of Dissent in Central Asia
Tracking and categorizing protests across Central Asia through reports, datasets, and visualizations.
The Oxus Society tracks and categorizes protests across Central Asia, building a comprehensive record of civic unrest and dissent in the region. This project combines quantitative data collection with qualitative analysis to identify patterns, triggers, and government responses to popular mobilization.
Key Reports
In-depth research and analysis from this project
Covid-19, Worker Strikes and the Failure to Protect Citizens: An Update on the Central Asian Protest Tracker
Central Asia experienced a surge in protests during the first half of 2021 as the Delta variant spread through the region, with 954 registered demonstrations driven primarily by economic grievances, labor strikes over wages, drought-related water shortages, and demands for government accountability during political transitions.
Read report
Understanding Disorder in Central Asia
Central Asia's five countries face escalating political instability marked by authoritarianism, corruption-driven economic decline, and rising public unrest, with Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan experiencing significant election-related protests while state violence persists across the region. This joint report by ACLED and the Oxus Society combines conflict event data with protest tracking to analyze patterns of political violence, demonstrations, and disorder across the five republics.
Read report
Revolution and Rising Discontent: An Update on the Central Asia Protest Tracker
Central Asian protest activity surged from September to December 2020, with 596 recorded demonstrations driven primarily by economic grievances and pandemic-related hardships, particularly in Kyrgyzstan where protests destabilized the political system following a disputed election. The report analyzes patterns of discontent across the region using the Central Asia Protest Tracker dataset to understand how protests shaped political outcomes and reflected underlying social tensions.
Read report
Ten Years Gone: The Legacy of the 2010 Revolution and Ethnic Violence in Kyrgyzstan: A Roundtable
A roundtable of scholars reflects on the 2010 Kyrgyz revolution and ethnic violence that killed over 400 people, examining its political legacy and connections to recurring cycles of instability in the country's contested southern borderlands.
Read report
Mapping Patterns of Dissent in Eurasia: Introducing the Central Asia Protest Tracker
The Central Asia Protest Tracker dataset documents 981 protest incidents across Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan from 2018-2020, revealing that dissent is driven by diverse grievances—from pandemic lockdowns and leadership transitions to land disputes and labor rights—with significant regional variation in protest frequency and primary causes.
Read reportAbout the Data
The protest tracker covers over three years of protest events across all five Central Asian republics, from January 2018 through June 2021. Events are categorized by type, cause, location, and outcome, providing a structured resource for researchers studying political dynamics in the region.
The full dataset is available for download in Excel format.