Author: Jeff Sahadeo
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 9780253219046
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
For its citizens, contemporary Central Asia is a land of great promise and peril. While the end of Soviet rule has opened new opportunities for social mobility and cultural expression, political and economic dynamics have also imposed severe hardships. In this lively volume, contributors from a variety of disciplines examine how ordinary Central Asians lead their lives and navigate shifting historical and political trends. Provocative stories of Turkmen nomads, Afghan villagers, Kazakh scientists, Kyrgyz border guards, a Tajik strongman, guardians of religious shrines in Uzbekistan, and other narratives illuminate important issues of gender, religion, power, culture, and wealth. A vibrant and dynamic world of life in urban neighborhoods and small villages, at weddings and celebrations, at classroom tables, and around dinner tables emerges from this introduction to a geopolitically strategic and culturally fascinating region.
Author: Sunatullo Jonboboev
Publisher: Cuvillier Verlag
ISBN: 3736947321
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 448
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Book Description
This collection of descriptions and analyses from scholars from Central Asia, Xinjiang, Kashmir, and Siberia gives first a general overview about the geopolitics, economics, and politics of the Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgizstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) plus a details description of their foreign policy towards their neighborhood, the region, and the further abroad (Russia, India, China). This is complemented by studies on the relations between Central Asia on the one side and China, India, and Russia on the other hand. Secondly, the history, problems, and pers-pectives of the Central Asian regionalization and trans-regional (SCO, OSCE) process is discussed and evaluated. Third, problems such as Islamism in Central Asia are studied. The book is not only a coherent handbook on Central Asia but presents the views of the academic generation of the newly independent Central Asian countries. It gives a comprehensive overview about foreign policies and Central Asian relations with the big neighbors China, Russia, and India as well as a differentiated discussion on the regionalization process.
Author: Ahmad Hasan Dani
Publisher: Sang-E-Meel Publication
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 216
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Book Description
Author: Asian Development Bank
Publisher: Asian Development Bank
ISBN: 9292547593
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 547
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Book Description
This atlas brings together a wealth of information related to living and nonliving natural resources in the five countries of Central Asia---Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. It contains an array of maps based on geographic information systems and remote sensing images, numerous photographs, tabulations of important data, and extensive descriptive text that together illustrate and describe the region's bountiful natural resources, its diversity of peoples, and their progress toward sustainable development. Highlights include geographic and climatic features; environmental, economic, and social profiles; energy, minerals, and water resources; ecoregions and ecosystems; major fauna and flora; agriculture and fisheries; peoples and cultural traditions; and economic and social statistics.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789383246717
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 354
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Book Description
Author: Bayram Balci
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 019091727X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 260
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Book Description
With the end of the Soviet Union in 1991, a major turning point in all former Soviet republics, Central Asian and Caucasian countries began to reflect on their history and identities. As a consequence of their opening up to the global exchange of ideas, various strains of Islam and trends in Islamic thought have nourished the Islamic revival that had already started in the context of glasnost and perestroika--from Turkey, Iran, the Arabian Peninsula, and from the Indian subcontinent; the four regions with strong ties to Central Asian and Caucasian Islam in the years before Soviet occupation. Bayram Balci seeks to analyse how these new Islamic influences have reached local societies and how they have interacted with pre-existing religious belief and practice. Combining exceptional erudition with rare first-hand research, Balci's book provides a sophisticated account of both the internal dynamics and external influences in the evolution of Islam in the region.
Author: Eric McGlinchey
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Pre
ISBN: 0822977478
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 234
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Book Description
In the post-Soviet era, democracy has made little progress in Central Asia. In Chaos, Violence, Dynasty, Eric McGlinchey presents a compelling comparative study of the divergent political courses taken by Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan in the wake of Soviet rule. McGlinchey examines economics, religion, political legacies, foreign investment, and the ethnicity of these countries to evaluate the relative success of political structures in each nation. McGlinchey explains the impact of Soviet policy on the region, from Lenin to Gorbachev. Ruling from a distance, a minimally invasive system of patronage proved the most successful over time, but planted the seeds for current “neo-patrimonial” governments. The level of direct Soviet involvement during perestroika was the major determinant in the stability of ensuing governments. Soviet manipulations of the politics of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in the late 1980s solidified the role of elites, while in Kyrgyzstan the Soviets looked away as leadership crumbled during the ethnic riots of 1990. Today, Kyrgyzstan is the poorest and most politically unstable country in the region, thanks to a small, corrupt, and fractured political elite. In Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov maintains power through the brutal suppression of disaffected Muslims, who are nevertheless rising in numbers and influence. In Kazakhstan, a political machine fueled by oil wealth and patronage underlies the greatest economic equity in the region, and far less political violence. McGlinchey’s timely study calls for a more realistic and flexible view of the successful aspects of authoritarian systems in the region that will be needed if there is to be any potential benefit from foreign engagement with the nations of Central Asia, and similar political systems globally.
Author: Dilip Hiro
Publisher: Abrams
ISBN: 159020378X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 464
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Book Description
“For those who still get their ‘-stans’ mixed up, Hiro’s book provides a detailed and nuanced overview of the region.” —Financial Times (Best Books of the Year) The nations of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Iran—the majority of them former Soviet republics—remain little understood in the West even in the post-Cold War era. This book delves into these Central Asian countries: their histories, cultures, economics, politics, militaries, and relationships with regional neighbors, Russia in particular. Ultimately, Inside Central Asia is an outstanding, in-depth introduction to this part of the world, “full of dependable history-telling and analysis” (The Economist). Praise for the work of Dilip Hiro “The writing is clear and informative.” —The New York Times “Hiro’s mix of lively writing and serious detail should draw in readers.” —Choice “Intriguing analysis.” —Publishers Weekly “[An] eminent historian.” —Kirkus Reviews
Author: Rein Mullerson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131779253X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256
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Book Description
This is an important analysis of a key but little-known region, in the wider context of world politics. Central Asia has huge oil and gas resources, divided between five independent states - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan - each with their own problems and interests. The region is energy-rich and, being situated between Russia and China and close to Afghanistan and other potential trouble-spots, it has acquired immense geo-strategic importance. History is seen and felt everywhere. Old legacies, whether they go back to Genghis Khan or stem from the recent Soviet past, have a profound effect on contemporary issues and political choices. Concentrating on today's problems against a complex historical background, the book draws on the author's extensive involvement with the region. Considerable attention is paid to Central Asian Islam, human rights issues in the region, and Central Asia's place in the 'war against terrorism'.
Author: Jed C. Snyder
Publisher: The Minerva Group, Inc.
ISBN: 0898757649
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 265
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Book Description
When the Soviet Union collapsed, fifteen sovereign states suddenly appeared on the geopolitical landscape. None were less prepared for independence than the five republics of Central Asia. The peoples of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan had existed for seven decades in a semi-feudal state of suspension. The region, so dependent upon Soviet largesse that its rich cultural history was nearly smothered, had been the object of imperial competition for centuries - Soviet domination being merely the latest. This book incorporates research papers and discussions originally presented at a conference of leading scholars from the United States, Russia, Europe, and the Middle East who gathered to examine the regions political, economic, social, and security evolution since 1989. As the papers illustrate, the Wests image of Central Asia as a homogeneous belt of Islamic countries with uniform views of the regions future orientation is false. The papers also illustrate that hyperbolic prognoses of an "Islamic implosion" threatening to embroil the region in violent insurrections, possibly spreading throughout the former Soviet Union and the Middle East, are false as well. They have simply not materialized. Islam, in fact, has yet to emerge as a potent political force in Central Asia. This region is now lifting itself from economic obscurity and political isolation. Although distinct national identities are only in formative stages today, each of the five Central Asian states is likely to move in an individual direction, motivated by distinct national interests. The key issue is the extent of Russias influence in Central Asia and its long-term implications for the regions security. After Empire makes an important contribution to the better understanding of this very complex, indeed mysterious, region.
