Download or read book Borders and Orders in Central Asia written by Bernd Kuzmits and published by Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft. This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Central Asia is characterised by state fragility and associated with drug traffic and instability. Social Orders and the defining borders have often changed in this region. What are the functions of borders today in the light of parallel state and nation building processes? How do borders impact the attitudes of the borderland population? And most notably: What are the drivers of and the constraints for transborder interactions? The author analyses these questions along the rather new state border between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and at border strips between these states and Afghanistan -- once separating two geopolitical regions. The authoritarian regimes in Tajikistan and, even more so, in Uzbekistan contain their state building projects against allegedly destabilising influences from abroad. However, in border regions far from state influence interdependencies may also be the basis for legal interactions.
Download or read book Dictators Without Borders written by Alexander Cooley and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2017-01-01 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A penetrating look into the unrecognized and unregulated links between autocratic regimes in Central Asia and centers of power and wealth throughout the West Weak, corrupt, and politically unstable, the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan are dismissed as isolated and irrelevant to the outside world. But are they? This hard-hitting book argues that Central Asia is in reality a globalization leader with extensive involvement in economics, politics and security dynamics beyond its borders. Yet Central Asia's international activities are mostly hidden from view, with disturbing implications for world security. Based on years of research and involvement in the region, Alexander Cooley and John Heathershaw reveal how business networks, elite bank accounts, overseas courts, third-party brokers, and Western lawyers connect Central Asia's supposedly isolated leaders with global power centers. The authors also uncover widespread Western participation in money laundering, bribery, foreign lobbying by autocratic governments, and the exploiting of legal loopholes within Central Asia. Riveting and important, this book exposes the global connections of a troubled region that must no longer be ignored.
Download or read book Border Work written by Madeleine Reeves and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2014-03-04 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Central Asia’s Ferghana Valley, where Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan meet, state territoriality has taken on new significance in these states’ second decade of independence, reshaping landscapes and transforming livelihoods in a densely populated, irrigation-dependent region. Through an innovative ethnography of social and spatial practice at the limits of the state, Border Work explores the contested work of producing and policing “territorial integrity” when significant stretches of new international borders remain to be conclusively demarcated or effectively policed. Drawing on extensive ethnographic fieldwork, Madeleine Reeves follows traders, farmers, water engineers, conflict analysts, and border guards as they negotiate the practical responsibilities and social consequences of producing, policing, and deriving a livelihood across new international borders that are often encountered locally as “chessboards” rather than lines. She shows how the negotiation of state spatiality is bound up with concerns about legitimate rule and legitimate movement, and explores how new attempts to secure the border, materially and militarily, serve to generate new sources of lived insecurity in a context of enduring social and economic inter-dependence. A significant contribution to Central Asian studies, border studies, and the contemporary anthropology of the state, Border Work moves beyond traditional ethnographies of the borderland community to foreground the effortful and intensely political work of producing state space.
Download or read book Nationalism in Central Asia written by Nick Megoran and published by University of Pittsburgh Press. This book was released on 2017-10-04 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nick Megoran explores the process of building independent nation-states in post-Soviet Central Asia through the lens of the disputed border territory between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. In his rich "biography" of the boundary, he employs a combination of political, cultural, historical, ethnographic, and geographic frames to shed new light on nation-building process in this volatile and geopolitically significant region. Megoran draws on twenty years of extensive research in the borderlands via interviews, observations, participation, and newspaper analysis. He considers the problems of nationalist discourse versus local vernacular, elite struggles versus borderland solidarities, boundary delimitation versus everyday experience, border control versus resistance, and mass violence in 2010, all of which have exacerbated territorial anxieties. Megoran also revisits theories of causation, such as the loss of Soviet control, poorly defined boundaries, natural resource disputes, and historic ethnic clashes, to show that while these all contribute to heightened tensions, political actors and their agendas have clearly driven territorial aspirations and are the overriding source of conflict. As this compelling case study shows, the boundaries of the The Ferghana Valley put in succinct focus larger global and moral questions of what defines a good border.
Download or read book Boundary Issues in Central Asia written by Necati Polat and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-09-06 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Boundary Issues in Central Asia provides detailed answers to: What was the legal framework within which the new states of Central Asia attained statehood? How did the administrative divisions of the former Soviet Union evolve, almost over night, into inter-state frontiers, and on what legal basis? Are Central Asian states content with the post-independence border arrangements? What outstanding border issues with states adjacent to the former Soviet Central Asia were inherited by Central Asian states from the USSR, the predecessor state? What became, in particular, of the perennial border disputes of the predecessor state with China? What border issues with the latter have since been settled by Central Asian states and what issues are pending resolution? as well as to a host of other boundary-related questions, such as the minority, self-determination and ethno-border issues, with significant bearings on the stability of the existing territorial arrangements, the legal regimes for the use of transboundary watercourses in the region, including the dispute over the legal status of the Caspian Sea with its vast hydrocarbon resources. Published under the Transnational Publishers imprint.
Download or read book Ethnic Challenges Beyond Borders written by Yongjin Zhang and published by Palgrave Macmillan. This book was released on 1998 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book gathers a rare collection of essays by leading Chinese and Russian Central Asian specialists. The contributors address the problems and challenges posed by the resurgence of Central Asia to China and Russia. Both countries are in search of a post-communist and post-Cold War order. The editors explore uncertain transformations in Central Asia and their implications for Chinese and Russian foreign policies and speculate on the possible outcome of the current search for a regional order.
Download or read book Borders Social Spaces and Identities in Central Asia written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Central Asian Nations Border Issues written by Mirzohid Rahimov and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 23 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Central Asia written by Kulbhushan Warikoo and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Papers presented at a seminar held on January 21-22, 1993 at Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Download or read book The Uzbekistan Kyrgyzstan Border written by U. S. Military and published by . This book was released on 2018-08-17 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examining the political and social consequences of coercive border enforcement, this thesis hypothesizes that unilateral border hardening erodes institutional legitimacy and undermines regional stability. Relying on a case study of the Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan border in Central Asia's Ferghana Valley, the thesis finds that border hardening is likely to change local perceptions of the border, diminish its overall institutional legitimacy, and weaken regional stability. Border institutions depend on a mixture of willing obedience and coercion by the state to obtain social compliance. Coercive and illegitimate means of border enforcement may have unintended consequences, undermining perceptions of legitimacy and leading to a logic of escalation of border hardening measures. This may in turn necessitate increasing levels of coercive border enforcement in order to achieve social compliance. Perceptions of border legitimacy influence the extent to which individuals voluntarily comply with border rules. Methods of border hardening are nearly always regarded as illegitimate and coercive when they adversely affect the local population. Policy-makers and military leaders must move beyond simple assumptions about borders as barriers in order to balance short- and long-term factors of security, strengthen a border's institutional legitimacy, and promote regional stability. Do hardened borders enhance or undermine regional stability? While economic or security concerns may drive unilateral hardening of borders, little is known about the long-term impact of this policy in light of popular support and local perceptions of the border. An underlying theme of this thesis is the role of unintended consequences on the legitimacy of the border institution. The opening question considers whether the policy of hardening- while intended to improve security-undermines regional stability by weakening the institutional legitimacy of the border. Under specific circumstances and in a particular historical context, the hardening of a border may drive local perceptions of illegitimacy because it contradicts local expectations for the meaning and purpose of the political border. The border is not only perceived as illegitimate but also complicates the everyday life of borderland people. This perception of illegitimacy-which is often associated with feelings or beliefs that include annoyance, unfairness, suspicion, corruption, and fear-may also shape local behavior and influence whether people willingly obey the border rules or comply merely owing to the state's coercive use of force. As a concept, the political, social, economic, and cultural dynamics of a region affect stability both internally and among states. "Defined as the orderly and peaceful operation of the balance-of-power system," according to American political theorist G. John Ikenberry, stability "requires the ability of states to recognize and respond to shifting power distributions." Consistent with most rationalist, realist, and pragmatist approaches to international politics, the pursuit of stability involves the balance of legitimacy with security and prosperity. Without denying the importance of economic and military stability, the focus of this thesis is decidedly on elements of political and social stability. Border hardening is usually aimed at immediate security concerns, and policy-makers and scholars lack consensus on whether it is constructive for future prosperity and stability. As a result of its complex borders as well as its geopolitical importance to Russia, China, the United States, and the European Union, Central Asia's Ferghana Valley is a particularly useful case for examining the connection between border hardening and regional stability.
Download or read book Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Central Asia written by Rico Isaacs and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-09-14 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Central Asia offers the first comprehensive, cross-disciplinary overview of key issues in Central Asian studies. The 30 chapters by leading and emerging scholars summarise major findings in the field and highlight long-term trends, recent observations and future developments in the region. The handbook features case studies of all five Central Asian republics and is organised thematically in seven sections: History Politics Geography International Relations Political Economy Society and Culture Religion An essential cross-disciplinary reference work, the handbook offers an accessible and easyto- understand guide to the core issues permeating the region to enable readers to grasp the fundamental challenges, transformations and themes in contemporary Central Asia. It will be of interest to researchers, academics and students of the region and those working in the field of Area Studies, History, Anthropology, Politics and International Relations. Chapter 23 of this book is available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at www.routledge.com. It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.
Download or read book Exit from Hegemony written by Alexander Cooley and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2020 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ""We live in a period of uncertainty about the fate of American global leadership and the future of international order. The 2016 election of Donald Trump led many to pronounce the death, or at least terminal decline, of liberal international order - the system of institutions, rules, and values associated with the American-dominated international system. But the truth is that the unravelling of American global order began over a decade earlier. Exit from Hegemony develops an integrated approach to understanding the rise and decline of hegemonic orders. It calls attention to three drivers of transformation in contemporary order. First, great powers, most notably Russia and China, contest existing norms and values, while simultaneously building new spheres of international order through regional institutions. Second, the loss of the "patronage monopoly" once enjoyed by the United States and its allies allows weaker states to seek alternative providers of economic and military goods - providers who do not condition their support on compliance with liberal economic and political principles. Third, transnational counter-order movements, usually in the form of illiberal and right-wing nationalists, undermine support for liberal order and the American international system, including within the United States itself. Exit from Hegemony demonstrates that these broad sources of transformation - from above, below, and within - have transformed past international orders and undermine prior hegemonic powers. It provides evidence that that all three are, in the present, mutually reinforcing one another and, therefore, that the texture of world politics may be facing major changes""--
Download or read book Cross border Exchanges written by Pierre Chabal and published by New International Insights/Nouveaux Regards sur l¿International. This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines how logistics feeds into region-building. The angle of approach is to reach resolutely beyond logistical and material aspects of border-crossing in order to tackle cultural, symbolic, identity-based as well as institutional, legal and political dimensions of the contemporary 'pooling' of sovereignties in today's Eurasia.
Download or read book The Return of Foreign Fighters to Central Asia written by Thomas Lynch and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-02-03 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Central Asia is the third largest point of origin for Salafi jihadist foreign fighters in the conflagration in Syria and Iraq, with more than 4,000 total fighters joining the conflict since 2012 and 2,500 reportedly arriving in the 2014-2015 timeframe alone. As the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) continues to lose territory under duress from U.S.-led anti-ISIL coalition activities, some predict that many may return home bent on jihad and generating terror and instability across Central Asia. Yet several factors indicate that such an ominous foreign fighter return may not materialize. Among these factors are that a majority of Central Asians fighting for ISIL and the al-Nusra Front in Syria and Iraq are recruited while working abroad in Russia, often from low-wage jobs under poor conditions making the recruits ripe for radicalization. In addition, many of those heading for jihad in Syria and the Levant expect that they are on a "one way journey," some to martyrdom but most for a completely new life, and do not plan a return. Most Central Asian states face their greatest risk of domestic instability and violent extremism as a reaction to political repression and counterterrorism (CT) policies that counterproductively conflate political opposition and the open practice of Islam with a domestic jihadist threat. If improperly calibrated, greater U.S. CT assistance to address foreign fighter returns may strengthen illiberal regime short-term focus on political power consolidation, overplay the limited risks of foreign fighter returns, and increase the risks of domestic unrest and future instability. The United States has few means to pressure Central Asian regimes into policies that address the main drivers of domestic radicalization, such as political inclusion and religious freedom. Although an imperfect instrument, U.S. security assistance-and the specific subset of CT assistance-is a significant lever. U.S. CT assistance for Central Asia should eschew additional general lethal assistance and instead scope security attention toward border security intelligence and physical capacity enhancements. This CT aid should be paired with important, complementary socioeconomic programs that help with countering violent extremism, including greater religious and political openness along with support for the Central Asian diaspora.
Download or read book Engaging Central Asia written by Bhavna Dave and published by CEPS. This book was released on 2008 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In July 2007, the European Union initiated a fundamentally new approach to the countries of Central Asia. The launch of the EU Strategy for Central Asia signals a qualitative shift in the Union's relations with a region of the world that is of growing importance as a supplier of energy, is geographically situated in a politically sensitive area - between China, Russia, Iran, Afghanistan and the south Caucasus - and contains some of the most authoritarian political regimes in the world. In this volume, leading specialists from Europe, the United States and Central Asia explore the key challenges facing the European Union as it seeks to balance its policies between enhancing the Union's energy, business and security interests in the region while strengthening social justice, democratisation efforts and the protection of human rights. With chapters devoted to the Union's bilateral relations with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan and to the vital issues of security and democratisation, 'Engaging Central Asia' provides the first comprehensive analysis of the EU's strategic initiative in a part of the world that is fast emerging as one of the key regions of the 21st century."--BOOK JACKET.
Download or read book Order at the Bazaar written by Regine A. Spector and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2017-08-15 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Order at the Bazaar delves into the role of bazaars in the political economy and development of Central Asia. Bazaars are the economic bedrock for many throughout the region—they are the entrepreneurial hubs of Central Asia. However, they are often regarded as mafia-governed environments that are largely populated by the dispossessed. By immersing herself in the bazaars of Kyrgyzstan, Regine A. Spector learned that some are rather best characterized as islands of order in a chaotic national context. Spector draws on interviews, archival sources, and participant observation to show how traders, landowners, and municipal officials create order in the absence of a coherent government apparatus and bureaucratic state. Merchants have adapted Soviet institutions, including trade unions, and pre-Soviet practices, such as using village elders as the arbiters of disputes, to the urban bazaar by building and asserting their own authority. Spector’s findings have relevance beyond the bazaars and borders of one small country; they teach us how economic development operates when the rule of law is weak.
Download or read book Globalizing Central Asia written by Marlene Laruelle and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-02-12 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this global era, Central Asia must be understood in both geo-economic and geopolitical terms. The region's natural resources compel the attention of rivalrous great powers and ambitious internal factions. The local regimes are caught between the need for international collaborations to valorize these riches and the need to maintain control over them in the interest of state sovereignty. Russia and China dominate the horizon, with other global players close behind; meanwhile, neighboring countries are fractious and unstable with real potential for contagion. This pathbreaking introduction to Central Asia in contemporary international economic and political context answers the needs of both academic and professional audiences and is suitable for course adoption.
