Download or read book The Transformation of Central Asia written by Pauline Jones Luong and published by Manas Publications. This book was released on 2005 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Talks about States and societies from Soviet rule to independence. This volume compares State building and State society interactions in the five post Soviet central Asian States. It offers insights about national, religious identities.
Download or read book Soviet Central Asia written by WILLIAM. FIERMAN and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2022-06-30 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book highlights some of the main problems in the politics, social relations, culture, and economy of Central Asia in the period immediately preceding the crisis of 1988-1990, focusing on the failure of the Soviet leadership to integrate the peoples of Central Asia into a common Soviet whole.
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 Understanding Central Asia written by Sally N. Cummings and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-01-25 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since Soviet collapse, the independent republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have faced tremendous political, economic, and security challenges. Focusing on these five republics, this textbook analyzes the contending understandings of the politics of the past, present and future transformations of Central Asia, including its place in international security and world politics. Analysing the transformation that independence has brought and tracing the geography, history, culture, identity, institutions and economics of Central Asia, it locates ‘the political’ in the region. A comprehensive examination of the politics of Central Asia, this insightful book is of interest both to undergraduate and graduate students of Asian Politics, Post-Communist Politics, Comparative Politics and International Relations, and to scholars and professionals in the region.
Download or read book Central Asia and the World written by Michael Mandelbaum and published by Council on Foreign Relations. This book was released on 1994 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991, its fifteen constituent republics suddenly found themselves sovereign states. Among the new countries are the five republics of Central Asia - Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan - that comprise the region to the south of the great Russian heartland. Each of these countries now faces the task of creating its own foreign policy: with one another, with its former imperial ruler to the north, with the Islamic countries to the south, and with the West. In Central Asia and the World, eight experts on the region address the historic power struggles between east and west and north and south that have shaped the region and the prognosis for success in overcoming a turbulent past and an uncertain, divided present. In addition to its continuing strong ties to Russia, Central-Asia's links with its southern neighbors and the potential role of Islam are also examined. The authors advance the case that these countries are critical to the West insofar as they affect Western interests in Russia and the Middle East. The ongoing civil war in Tajikistan and Central Asia's relationship with China are also addressed. The first book to examine the complex issues facing the region Central Asia and the World provides a comprehensive overview of the developing foreign policies of these five new countries, including a look at the internal political, economic, and military issues confronting each country.
Download or read book Soviet Central Asia written by William Fierman and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-07-09 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book would never have materialized without the cooperation of all of the contributors, each of whom, certainly, also has a list of people to thank for help. As editor, however, I have the privilege of naming a few whose contributions were especially important. My understanding of Central Asian society has benefited enormously from the opportunities I have had to work and conduct research in the region, especially in Uzbekistan. I would therefore like to thank the International Research and Exchanges Board and the University of Tennessee for making several stays in Central Asia possible over the past few years.
Download or read book Clan Politics and Regime Transition in Central Asia written by Kathleen Collins and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2006-04-03 with total page 15 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a study of the role of clan networks in Central Asia from the early twentieth century through 2004. Exploring the social, economic, and historical roots of clans, and their political role and political transformation in the Soviet and post-Soviet periods, it argues that clans are informal political actors that are critical to understanding politics in this region. The book demonstrates that the Soviet system was far less successful in transforming and controlling Central Asian society, and in its policy of eradicating clan identities, than has often been assumed. In order to understand Central Asian politics and their economies, scholars and policy makers must take into account the powerful role of these informal groups, how they adapt and change over time, and how they may constrain or undermine democratization in this strategic region.
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 Globalization on the Margins written by Iveta Silova and published by IAP. This book was released on 2011-01-01 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The essays in Globalization on the Margins explore the continuities and changes in Central Asian education development since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Reflecting on two decades of post-socialist transformations, they reveal that education systems in Central Asia responded to the rapidly changing political, economic, and social environment in profoundly new and unique ways. Some countries moved towards Western models, others went backwards, and still others followed entirely new trajectories. Yet, elements of the “old” system remain. Rather than viewing these post-Soviet transformations in isolation, Globalization on the Margins places its analyses within the global context by reflecting on the interaction between Soviet legacies and global education reform pressures in the Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Instead of portraying the transition process as the influx of Western ideas into the region, the authors provide new lenses to critically examine the multidirectional flow of ideas, concepts, and reform models within Central Asia. Notwithstanding the variety of theoretical perspectives, methodological approaches, and conceptual lenses, the authors have one thing in common: both individually and collectively, they reveal the complexity and uncertainty of the post-Soviet transformations. By highlighting the political nature of the transformation processes and the uniqueness of historical, political, social, and cultural contexts of each particular country, Globalization on the Margins portrays post-Soviet education transformations as complex, multidimensional, and uncertain processes.
Download or read book Modern Central Asia written by Yuriy Malikov and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2019-12-04 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Modern Central Asia: A Primary Source Reader is an academic resource that discusses the basic political, social, and economic evolution of Central Asian civilization in its colonial (1731–1991) and post-colonial (1991–present) periods. Among other aspects of Central Asian history, this source reader discusses resistance and accommodation of native societies to the policies of the imperial center, the transformation of Central Asian societies under Tsarist and Soviet rule, and the history of Islam in Central Asia and its role in nation and state-building processes. This primary source book will be instrumental for familiarizing students with the nationality policies of imperial Russian, Soviet, and post-Soviet governments as well as the effects produced by these policies on the natives of the region. The documents collected in this reader challenge the traditional approach, which has viewed Central Asians as passive recipients of the policies imposed on them by central authorities. Modern Central Asia: A Primary Source Reader demonstrates the active participation of the indigenous peoples in contact with other peoples by examining the natives’ ways of organizing societies, their pre-colonial experience of contact with outsiders, and the structure of their subsistence systems. The source book will also help students situate the major events and activities of Central Asia in a global context. In addition to the value of this collection to the Central Asian historical record, many of the included texts will be essential for comparative analyses and cross-disciplinary approaches in the study of world history.
Download or read book Central Asia written by Adeeb Khalid and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2022-11-29 with total page 576 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A major history of Central Asia and how it has been shaped by modern world events Central Asia is often seen as a remote and inaccessible land on the peripheries of modern history. Encompassing Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and the Xinjiang province of China, it in fact stands at the crossroads of world events. Adeeb Khalid provides the first comprehensive history of Central Asia from the mid-eighteenth century to today, shedding light on the historical forces that have shaped the region under imperial and Communist rule. Predominantly Muslim with both nomadic and settled populations, the peoples of Central Asia came under Russian and Chinese rule after the 1700s. Khalid shows how foreign conquest knit Central Asians into global exchanges of goods and ideas and forged greater connections to the wider world. He explores how the Qing and Tsarist empires dealt with ethnic heterogeneity, and compares Soviet and Chinese Communist attempts at managing national and cultural difference. He highlights the deep interconnections between the "Russian" and "Chinese" parts of Central Asia that endure to this day, and demonstrates how Xinjiang remains an integral part of Central Asia despite its fraught and traumatic relationship with contemporary China. The essential history of one of the most diverse and culturally vibrant regions on the planet, this panoramic book reveals how Central Asia has been profoundly shaped by the forces of modernity, from colonialism and social revolution to nationalism, state-led modernization, and social engineering.
Download or read book Social and Cultural Change in Central Asia written by Sevket Akyildiz and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-10-15 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focusing on Soviet culture and its social ramifications both during the Soviet period and in the post-Soviet era, this book addresses important themes associated with Sovietisation and socialisation in the Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The book contains contributions from scholars in a variety of disciplines, and looks at topics that have been somewhat marginalised in contemporary studies of Central Asia, including education, anthropology, music, literature and poetry, film, history and state-identity construction, and social transformation. It examines how the Soviet legacy affected the development of the republics in Central Asia, and how it continues to affect the society, culture and polity of the region. Although each state in Central Asia has increasingly developed its own way, the book shows that the states have in varying degrees retained the influence of the Soviet past, or else are busily establishing new political identities in reaction to their Soviet legacy, and in doing so laying claim to, re-defining, and reinventing pre-Soviet and Soviet images and narratives. Throwing new light and presenting alternate points of view on the question of the Soviet legacy in the Soviet Central Asian successor states, the book is of interest to academics in the field of Russian and Central Asian Studies.
Download or read book Islam Society and Politics in Central Asia written by Pauline Jones and published by University of Pittsburgh Press. This book was released on 2017-07-20 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the 1990s, there was a general consensus that Central Asia was witnessing an Islamic revival after independence, and that this occurrence would follow similar events throughout the Islamic world in the prior two decades, which had negative effects on both social and political development. Twenty years later, we are still struggling to fully understand the transformation of Islam in a region that's evolved through a complex and dynamic process, involving diversity in belief and practice, religious authority, and political intervention. This volume seeks to shed light on these crucial questions by bringing together an international group of scholars to offer a fresh perspective on Central Asian states and societies. The chapters provide analysis through four distinct categories: the everyday practice of Islam across local communities; state policies toward Islam, focusing on attempts to regulate public and private practice through cultural, legal, and political institutions and how these differ from Soviet policies; how religious actors influence communities in the practice of Islam, state policies towards the religion, and subsequent communal responses to state regulations; and how knowledge of and interaction with the larger Islamic world is shaping Central Asia's current Islamic revival and state responses. The contributors, a multidisciplinary and international group of leading scholars, develop fresh insights that both corroborate and contradict findings from previous research, while also highlighting the problem of making any generalizations about Islam in individual states or the region. As such, this volume provides new and impactful analysis for scholars, students, and policy makers concerned with Central Asia.
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 Conflict Transformation in Central Asia written by Christine Bichsel and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009-01-13 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides the first systematic analysis of peace-building in Central Asia for inter-ethnic conflicts over water and land in the Ferghana Valley based on concrete, in-depth and on-site investigation. The core analysis centres on peace-building projects in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan by three international aid agencies –an international NGO, a bilateral governmental donor and a multilateral agency – and the shared approach which the donors developed and used for conflict transformation. Using ethnographic case material, the author critically examines both the theoretical assumptions guiding this approach and its empirical outcomes when put into practice. Building on existing work in conflict transformation and the ethnography of international assistance in Central Asia, the book sheds light on Western attempts to transform the post-socialist societies of Central Asia and provides fresh empirical data on and insights into irrigation practices, social institutions, and state and identity formation in the Ferghana Valley. The book provides a novel and innovative approach to the study of development assistance and peace-building. It will be of interest to researchers in the field of Central Asian Studies, post-Soviet Studies, Development and Peace and Conflict Studies.
Download or read book The Post Soviet Decline of Central Asia written by Eric W. Sievers and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-12-02 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sievers draws on his experience of Central Asia to take on the task of explaining the remarkable economic declines of the post-Soviet Central Asian states (Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) in the past decade, and the turn of these states towards despotism.
Download or read book Development in Central Asia and the Caucasus written by Sophie Hohmann and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2014-06-25 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After the final collapse of the Soviet Union, the so-called 'last empire', in 1991, the countries of Central Asia - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan - and of the Caucasus - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia - became independent nations. These countries, previously production centres under the socialist planning system of the Soviet Union, have made enormous economic adjustments in order to develop - or attempt to develop - along capitalist lines. As this study will show, however, inequality in Central Asia and the Caucasus is widening, as the Soviet systems of healthcare and state provisions disappear. Rejecting the Cold War-era East/West paradigm often used to analyse the development of these nations, this study analyses development along the North-South lines which characterise the migration patterns and poverty levels of much of the rest of the developed world. This opens up new avenues of research, and helps us understand why it is, for instance, that this region is better characterised as a 'new South' - as skilled workers flood out of the territories and into Russia and Western Europe. Development in Central Asia and the Caucasus draws together detailed analyses of the development of migration economics as the region's oil wealth further enhances its strategic and economic importance to Russia, the US, the Middle East and to the EU.
