Download or read book Central Asia written by David W. Montgomery and published by University of Pittsburgh Press. This book was released on 2022-05-31 with total page 879 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Central Asia is a diverse and complex region of the world often characterized in the West as exotic, remote, and difficult to understand. Central Asia: Contexts for Understanding offers the most comprehensive introduction to the region available for students and general readers alike. Combining thematic chapters with detailed case studies, readers will learn to appreciate the richly interconnected aspects of life in Central Asia. These wide-ranging, easy-to-understand contributions from many of the leading scholars in the field provide the context needed to understand Central Asia and presents a launching point for further reading and research.
Download or read book Central Peripheries written by Marlene Laruelle and published by UCL Press. This book was released on 2021-07-01 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Central Peripheries explores post-Soviet Central Asia through the prism of nation-building. Although relative latecomers on the international scene, the Central Asian states see themselves as globalized, and yet in spite of – or perhaps precisely because of – this, they hold a very classical vision of the nation-state, rejecting the abolition of boundaries and the theory of the ‘death of the nation’. Their unabashed celebration of very classical nationhoods built on post-modern premises challenges the Western view of nationalism as a dying ideology that ought to have been transcended by post-national cosmopolitanism. Marlene Laruelle looks at how states in the region have been navigating the construction of a nation in a post-imperial context where Russia remains the dominant power and cultural reference. She takes into consideration the ways in which the Soviet past has influenced the construction of national storylines, as well as the diversity of each state’s narratives and use of symbolic politics. Exploring state discourses, academic narratives and different forms of popular nationalist storytelling allows Laruelle to depict the complex construction of the national pantheon in the three decades since independence. The second half of the book focuses on Kazakhstan as the most hybrid national construction and a unique case study of nationhood in Eurasia. Based on the principle that only multidisciplinarity can help us to untangle the puzzle of nationhood, Central Peripheries uses mixed methods, combining political science, intellectual history, sociology and cultural anthropology. It is inspired by two decades of fieldwork in the region and a deep knowledge of the region’s academia and political environment. Praise for Central Peripheries ‘Marlene Laruelle paves the way to the more focused and necessary outlook on Central Asia, a region that is not a periphery but a central space for emerging conceptual debates and complexities. Above all, the book is a product of Laruelle's trademark excellence in balancing empirical depth with vigorous theoretical advancements.’ – Diana T. Kudaibergenova, University of Cambridge ‘Using the concept of hybridity, Laruelle explores the multitude of historical, political and geopolitical factors that predetermine different ways of looking at nations and various configurations of nation-building in post-Soviet Central Asia. Those manifold contexts present a general picture of the transformation that the former southern periphery of the USSR has been going through in the past decades.’ – Sergey Abashin, European University at St Petersburg
Download or read book Institutional Reform in Central Asia written by Joachim Ahrens and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The countries of Central Asia are increasingly the focus of intense international attention due to their geopolitical and economic importance as well as their unsettled transition processes. The region faced enormous challenges when the Soviet Union disintegrated, and this book focuses on the reforms of the institutional environment that have been largely neglected. Through an interdisciplinary approach, the book explores key aspects of institution building as well as economic and political governance in Central Asia. Contributors from a variety of disciplines, such as economics, political economy, political science, sociology, law, and ethnology, investigate the challenges of institutional transition in a non-democratic region. The book discusses how the lack of effective institution building as well as rule enforcement in the economic and political realms represents one of the key weaknesses and drawbacks of transition, and goes on to look at how crafting market institutions will be of utmost importance in the years ahead. Making an important contribution to understanding of political-economic developments in Central Asia, this book is of interest to students and scholars of political economy, comparative economics, development studies and Central Asian studies.
Download or read book The European Union China and Central Asia written by Bart Dessein and published by Rethinking Asia and International Relations. This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction: The EU and China in Central Asia: (Un)natural Partners? / Fabienne Bossuyt and Bart Dessein -- Part 1. Historical and Contemporary Contexts of China and the European Union in Central Asia. Central Asia between China and Europe: Reflections on historical identity -- The Context of China's Pursuits in Central Asia: The role of historical memories in Chinese foreign policy making -- Sketching the Context: A Comparative overview of the EU's and China's engagement with Central Asia -- Part 2. Geopolitical Implications of the European Union's and China's Engagement with Central Asia. European Engagement with China's Belt and Road Initiative: A Central Asian perspective -- The Other Actor: Gauging Russian reactions to potential EU-China cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative in Central Asia -- Varieties of Hierarchy and Central Asian Resilience -- Central Asian Countries and Their Trade Relations with the European Union and China: Towards cooperation or competition? -- The EU and China in Central Asian Energy Geopolitics -- Part 3. Soft Power and Governance Perspectives on the European Union's and China's Engagement with Central Asia. Soft Power Vehicles: An assessment of China's soft power and Sinophobia in Central Asia -- Between the EU, Russia, and China: Cultural diplomacy competition in Central Asia -- Russia, China and the European Union in the Framework of 'Greater Eurasia': An emerging Eurasian governance system -- Towards a New Model of Transnational Governance in Anti-corruption: Hopeful new beginnings in Central Asia? -- EU-China Relations in Central Asia in the Context of the Belt and Road Initiative: A regional(ist) perspective -- Conclusion: What Scope for EU-China Cooperation in Central Asia in the Context of the Belt and Road Initiative and Beyond?
Download or read book Central Asia in World History written by Peter B. Golden and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011-01-26 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A vast region stretching roughly from the Volga River to Manchuria and the northern Chinese borderlands, Central Asia has been called the "pivot of history," a land where nomadic invaders and Silk Road traders changed the destinies of states that ringed its borders, including pre-modern Europe, the Middle East, and China. In Central Asia in World History, Peter B. Golden provides an engaging account of this important region, ranging from prehistory to the present, focusing largely on the unique melting pot of cultures that this region has produced over millennia. Golden describes the traders who braved the heat and cold along caravan routes to link East Asia and Europe; the Mongol Empire of Chinggis Khan and his successors, the largest contiguous land empire in history; the invention of gunpowder, which allowed the great sedentary empires to overcome the horse-based nomads; the power struggles of Russia and China, and later Russia and Britain, for control of the area. Finally, he discusses the region today, a key area that neighbors such geopolitical hot spots as Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and China.
Download or read book Central Asia in International Relations written by Nick Megoran and published by Hurst & Company. This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The republics of Central Asia re-emerged as independent actors in the global interstate system in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, their varied histories and geographies offering many different possible opportunities and course of action. In order to explain their often confusing and complicated foreign policy alignments, many analysts have turned again to the theories of Sir Halford Mackinder (1861-1947), the British geographer who is widely regarded as the founding father of geopolitics. This book brings together historical geographers and political scientists to explore this remarkable renaissance of Mackinder's thinking. It charts his own engagement with the region, in both his writings and his visit to Central Asia as a British envoy in the aftermath of World War I. It outlines and evaluates how his ideas have been used by Central Asian, Russian, and American scholars to explain the region's international relations, and it traces how his writings actually reached Central Asia and the manner in which they have been dynamically reworked by scholars 'in transit'. The book is thus an important contribution not only to theorising the international relations of Central Asia, but also to our understanding of the historical geography of how ideas are ex- changed and reworked in the process.
Download or read book The Music of Central Asia Ebook 2 written by Theodore Levin and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2016-12-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This beautiful and informative enhanced ebook—so comprehensive it had to be split into two volumes, ebook 1 and ebook 2—offers a detailed introduction to the musical heritage of Central Asia for readers and listeners worldwide. Music of Central Asia balances "insider" and "outsider" perspectives with contributions by 27 authors from 14 countries. This stunning electronic book allows readers the opportunity to deeply engage with source material through over 180 embedded audio and video, pop-up study questions, transliterations and translations of performed texts, and direct links to the companion website (www.musicofcentralasia.org). The audio and video examples include transliterations and translations of the performed texts and a follow-along feature highlights the song lyrics in the text, as the audio samples play. This generously illustrated book is supplemented with boxes and sidebars, musician profiles, and an illustrated glossary of musical instruments, making it an indispensable resource for both general readers and specialists. Ebook 1 includes part I, "Music and Culture in Central Asia," an introductory overview of the music and musical instruments of Central Asia, and part II, "The Nomadic World," which focuses on music and musical life in historically nomadic regions of Central Asia. Ebook 2 contains part III, "The World of Sedentary Dwellers," which focuses on music and musical life in historically settled regions of Central Asia, and part IV, "Central Asian Music in the Age of Globalization," which addresses "the future of the past," focusing on cultural revitalization and renewal, tradition-based popular music, and contemporary music inspired but not constrained by tradition.
Download or read book Warriors of the Cloisters written by Christopher I. Beckwith and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2012-09-16 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In this provocative book, Christopher I. Beckwith traces how the recursive argument method was first developed by Buddhist scholars and was spread by them throughout ancient Central Asia. He shows how the method was adopted by Islamic Central Asian natural philosphers - most importantly by Avicenna, one of the most brilliant of all medieval thinkers - and transmitted to the West when Avicenna's works were translated into Latin in Spain in the twelfth century by the Jewish philosopher Ibn Dā'ūd and others. -- Book jacket.
Download or read book Dictators Without Borders written by Alexander A. Cooley and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2017-02-07 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 The Rise and Fall of Khoqand 1709 1876 written by Scott Levi and published by University of Pittsburgh Press. This book was released on 2018-03-07 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book analyzes how Central Asians actively engaged with the rapidly globalizing world of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In presenting the first English-language history of the Khanate of Khoqand (1709–1876), Scott C. Levi examines the rise of that extraordinarily dynamic state in the Ferghana Valley. Levi reveals the many ways in which the Khanate’s integration with globalizing forces shaped political, economic, demographic, and environmental developments in the region, and he illustrates how these same forces contributed to the downfall of Khoqand. To demonstrate the major historical significance of this vibrant state and region, too often relegated to the periphery of early modern Eurasian history, Levi applies a “connected history” methodology showing in great detail how Central Asians actively influenced policies among their larger imperial neighbors—notably tsarist Russia and Qing China. This original study will appeal to a wide interdisciplinary audience, including scholars and students of Central Asian, Russian, Middle Eastern, Chinese, and world history, as well as the study of comparative empire and the history of globalization.
Download or read book The Central Asian Revolt of 1916 written by Alexander Morrison and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2019-10-02 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 1916 Revolt was a key event in the history of Central Asia, and of the Russian Empire in the First World War. This volume is the first comprehensive re-assessment of its causes, course and consequences in English for over sixty years. It draws together a new generation of leading historians from North America, Japan, Europe, Russia and Central Asia, working with Russian archival sources, oral narratives, poetry and song in Kazakh and Kyrgyz. These illuminate in unprecedented detail the origins and causes of the revolt, and the immense human suffering which it entailed. They also situate the revolt in a global perspective as part of a chain of rebellions and disturbances that shook the world’s empires, as they crumbled under the pressures of total war.
Download or read book Civil Society in Central Asia written by M. Holt Ruffin and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2011-05-01 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Central Asia, known as the home of Tamerlane and the Silk Road, is a crossroads of great cultures and civilizations. In 1991 five nations at the heart of the region—Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan— suddenly became independent. Today they sit strategically between Russia, China, and Iran and hold some of the world’s largest deposits of oil and natural gas. Long-suppressed ethnic identities are finding new expression in language, religion, and occasional civil conflicts. Civil Society in Central Asia is a pathbreaking collection of essays by scholars and activists that illuminates the social and institutional forces shaping this important region’s future. An appendix provides a guide to projects being carried out by local and international groups.
Download or read book The History and Culture of Iran and Central Asia written by D. G. Tor and published by University of Notre Dame Pess. This book was released on 2022-04-15 with total page 398 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume examines the major cultural, religious, political, and urban changes that took place in the Iranian world of Inner and Central Asia in the transition from the pre-Islamic to the Islamic periods. One of the major civilizations of the first millennium was that of the Iranian linguistic and cultural world, which stretched from today’s Iraq to what is now the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China. No other region of the world underwent such radical transformation, which fundamentally altered the course of world history, as this area did during the centuries of transition from the pre-Islamic to the Islamic period. This transformation included the religious victory of Islam over Buddhism, Nestorian Christianity, and the other religions of the area; the military and political wresting of Inner Asia from the Chinese to the Islamic sphere of primary cultural influence; and the shifting of Central Asia from a culturally and demographically Iranian civilization to a Turkic one. This book contains essays by many of the preeminent scholars working in the fields of archeology, history, linguistics, and literature of both the pre-Islamic and the Islamic-era Iranian world, shedding light on some of the most significant aspects of the major changes that this important portion of the Asian continent underwent during this tumultuous era in its history. This collection of cutting-edge research will be read by scholars of Middle Eastern, Central Asian, Iranian, and Islamic studies and archaeology. Contributors: D. G. Tor, Frantz Grenet, Nicholas Sims-Williams, Etsuko Kageyama, Yutaka Yoshida, Michael Shenkar, Minoru Inaba, Rocco Rante, Arezou Azad, Sören Stark, Louise Marlow, Gabrielle van den Berg, and Dilnoza Duturaeva.
Download or read book Post Conflict Tajikistan written by John Heathershaw and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009-05-07 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book provides a critical analysis of why peace has been consolidated in Tajikistan, and what role international peacebuilding has had in this. It will be of interest to academics working on Peace Studies, International Relations and Central Asian Studies.
Download or read book Central Asian Security written by Roy Allison and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is the first comprehensive scholarly analysis of the strategic reconfiguration of Central Asia as Russia has become more disengaged from the nations in the region and as these nations have developed new relations to the south, east, and west. The international implications are enormous because of the rich energy sources —oil and natural gas —located in the Caspian Sea area.The authors assess a variety of internal security policy challenges confronting these states —for example, the potential for conflict arising from such factors as a mixed ethnic population, resource scarcity, particularly in relation to water management, and an Islamic revival. They also examine the security policy content of relations between the Central Asian states and regional and international powers —specifically the stakes, interests, and policies of Russia, China, Iran, Turkey, and the United States.These internal challenges and the evolution of relations with external powers may result in new cooperative relationships, but they may also lead to destabilizing rivalry and interstate enmity in Central Asia. It is important to identify new patterns of relevance for future security cooperation in the region, but the potential for a new security system or for new institutions to manage security in the region remains uncertain. These issues are explored by a team of prominent specialists from Western Europe, the United States, Russia and China.
Download or read book Everyday Life in Central Asia written by Jeff Sahadeo and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2007-07-12 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Education in Central Asia written by Denise Egéa and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-09-14 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book brings together internationally prominent scholars renowned for their work on post-Soviet republics, as well as outstanding emerging scholars native of Central Asia in order to discuss the state of education in the Central Asian Republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Drawing on their individual contexts and research, the authors offer analyses and critiques of some of the social, political, and economic issues in education in their respective countries, and some insights about how local actions engage with the challenges and problems, as well as with the possibilities and opportunities they face. Since gaining their independence in 1991, the five republics of Central Asia have been undergoing some enormous political, social, linguistic, cultural, and economic changes, even as we write. This collection shows that researchers are increasingly interested in exploring the development of education in this part of the world. In these countries, education plays a significant role in transitioning from centrally planned to market economies and is seen as the key resource to facilitate entry into the global competitiveness sphere. This book will be of particular interest to educators, researchers, and policy makers engaged in research or with a particular interest in curricula, and education systems and reforms, and to undergraduate and graduate students studying and researching education in Central Asia or in other post-Soviet contexts.
