scholarly journals 25 Years of Rural Development in post-Soviet Central Asia: Sustaining Inequalities

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Max Spoor

Abstract To show that post-Soviet rural development in Central Asia has been confronted with sustained inequalities, three particular factors are analysed in this paper have being viewed as fundamental in influencing national and rural development. Firstly, most countries have based their growth models on economic nationalism (not only creating borders and national institutions, but also choosing inward-looking strategies), while leaning one-sidedly on their natural resource wealth (carbohydrates such as oil, natural gas and minerals, but also industrial crops like cotton). Secondly, and related to the first explanatory factor, the region has been struck by hidden and open resource-based conflicts, in particular on land and water. Inter-state tensions have emerged, in particular between downstream (irrigation water dependent) countries, such as Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and the upstream (hydropower energy dependent, and carbohydrate-poor) ones, such as Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Thirdly, all the countries analysed here have followed a rather unequal capital city-centric growth model, using the proceeds of exports of mineral wealth (or cotton) for rapid urbanisation with little or no investment in rural development, resulting in a growing urban-rural divide and increasing rural-urban and cross-border migration. While it is recognised that this region is indeed a bridge between West and East (also re-emphasised by the Chinese ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative), it is argued in this paper that there is a need to reduce these inequalities and unbalanced growth, being that they will be an obstacle to the sustainable growth and development of rural areas.

Author(s):  
Jun Zhang ◽  
Xiaodie Yuan ◽  
Xueping Tan ◽  
Xue Zhang

As one of the most important methods for limiting urban sprawl, the accurate delineation of the urban–rural boundary not only promotes the intensive use of urban resources, but also helps to alleviate the urban issues caused by urban sprawl, realizing the intensive and healthy development of urban cities. Previous studies on delineating urban–rural boundaries were only based on the level of urban and rural development reflected by night-time light (NTL) data, ignoring the differences in the spatial development between urban and rural areas; so, the comprehensive consideration of NTL and point of interest (POI) data can help improve the accuracy of urban–rural boundary delineation. In this study, the NTL and POI data were fused using wavelet transform, and then the urban–rural boundary before and after data fusion was delineated by multiresolution segmentation. Finally, the delineation results were verified. The verification result shows that the accuracy of delineating the urban–rural boundary using only NTL data is 84.20%, and the Kappa value is 0.6549; the accuracy using the fusion of NTL and POI data on the basis of wavelet transform is 93.2%, and the Kappa value is 0.8132. Therefore, we concluded that the proposed method of using wavelet transform to fuse NTL and POI data considers the differences between urban and rural development, which significantly improves the accuracy of the delineation of urban–rural boundaries. Accurate delineation of urban–rural boundaries is helpful for optimizing internal spatial structure in both urban and rural areas, alleviating environmental problems resulting from urban development, assisting the formulation of development policies for urban and rural fringes, and promoting the intensive and healthy development of urban areas.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-44
Author(s):  
Irina Bancescu

Rural areas in Romania are underdeveloped, with the main economic activity being agriculture. Urban-rural income gap and poverty levels are indicative of an underdeveloped rural area. Urban-rural absolute income gap for average monthly income increased from 352 RON in 2007 to 663 RON in 2017. Moreover, the work poverty rate is higher in rural areas than in urban areas. Economic rural development can be achieved by improvements of the labour market and introduction of new value-added products. Agricultural and non-agricultural activities are dependent on each other for a successful rural development leading to poverty alleviation. An industry that combines the two types of economic activities is agriculture biomaterial industry. In this paper, the authos investigates the factors influencing rural poverty and analyses the current stage of the bioplastics market in Romania and its economic implications. Bioplastics industry can reduce urban-rural income gaps and poverty in rural areas.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-118
Author(s):  
Kumar Bhatta

Multi functionality of agriculture in the developed countries is employed as a means of rural revitalization and economic circulation. Although farm diversification in the developing countries is much more crucial, in most of the rural areas of the developing countries, it is not performed, and it is delayed. In this regard, the main objective of this study is to explore the possibilities of the multi functionality of agriculture for the sustainable rural development for the implementation of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in the developing countries. The empirical study was conducted in two of the rural districts of Nepal called Nuwakot and Rasuwa. The author intentionally chose these districts because it is one separate area north of the capital city Kathmandu and bordering to China. Further, even though the location is nearby the capital city, and the rural villages have excessive potentials for tourism activities, the farmers are still focusing on subsistence farming without getting benefits from tourism. Based on the macro data of Nepal government and field visit, the author conducted a case study. This study explored that most of the household heads are working in the agricultural sector, which can be one of the opportunities to launch multi functionality of agriculture. However, due to their weak educational background, they are expecting external supports in terms of knowledge, technology, and more importantly, supportive policy. The federal and central government should give subsidy to the farmers so that they canstart multi functionality in their farms, which lead to sustainable rural development.


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (22) ◽  
pp. 305
Author(s):  
Ntiedo B. Ekpo

The study examined the effects of informal capital markets on people-oriented development at the grassroots level in Nigeria. It was motivated by the prevalent speculations and differences of opinion in the literature about the effects of the markets on rural development in most third world countries, including Nigeria. The study adopted the exploratory survey research design and used mean score and Mann-Whitney U test in analyzing the data. The outcome of the analysis, among others, shows first, that all the benchmarks for rural developments, such as poverty reduction, women empowerment and housing development, were significantly related to informal capital market participation. Second, the utilization of micro credits was a major factor in the profitability and growth of business in the rural areas. It is recommended that the monetary authorities and other policymakers recognize the cooperative finance efforts of this group of financial institutions, and devise appropriate means of integrating it with the formal financial sector for improved financial intermediation and wellbeing of the rural poor as well as sustainable growth of the national economies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-433
Author(s):  
Eren Tasar

Abstract This paper traces the development of the historiography of Islam in Soviet Central Asia from the Cold War’s outset to the present by illustrating its uncritical reproduction of modernist and communist templates for describing Muslim religiosity, and its debt to two foundational frames of Soviet antireligious propaganda: “survivals” and “nationalized Islam.” It highlights the important implications of these frames for this scholarship’s development, i.e., its assumptions concerning “normativity” and the “poverty” of Central Asian Islam, as well as the urban-rural divide’s salience in religious life. The essay concludes with a survey of recent scholarship on the subject.


2001 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 320-322
Author(s):  
OWEN WRIGHT

As the first general introduction to the musical worlds of the successor states to Soviet Central Asia, this admirable work fills an important gap. Moreover, it does so in an individual and highly attractive way, eschewing the would-be objectivity of a dryly analytical monograph in favor of a looser framework of travel accounts, each rich in specific and revelatory detail but, at the same time, developing a series of thematic constants. To cover all of Central Asia in this way would have been an impossible task, however, and what we are presented with is in essence an exploration of widely separated and contrasting urban and rural areas of Uzbekistan supplemented by forays into northern Tajikistan. Beginning in Tashkent, the itinerary proceeds successively through Bukhara, Surxandarya, and Qashkandarya in the south, and Khorezm; then to Tajikistan (the Upper Zaravshan and Yagnâb, and Shahristan); and finally (following the fortunes of Bukharan Jewish émigré musicians) to New York.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 2597 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meishu Wang ◽  
Hui Gong

Water pollution control is a great challenge for China. Compared with urban regions, the wastewater treatment in rural areas is much undeveloped, which is highly related with the much delayed legislation for rural wastewater. Imbalanced urban-rural development and the economic burden of urban and rural wastewater treatment in China was investigated from the perspective of discharge limit legislation. For now, the national discharge limit for rural wastewater is still vacant, although the national discharge limit for urban wastewater had been released for more than ten years. Recently, local rural wastewater discharge limits from several provinces were released, however, based on quite different principles. Some categories emphasized environmental sensitivity with the discharge limit equal and were more strict than urban standards, while some focused on resource recovery for rural regions with loose discharge limits. This study compared the financial burden between rural and urban regions in 31 provinces under different discharge limit legislation conditions. It was revealed that the resources recovery category discharge principle helped to decrease the financial burden imbalance with a reduced Gini coefficient from 0.37 to 0.17. The reduced economic burden from the implementation of a suitably designed rural discharge limit promoted balancing the rural-urban gap and lowering uncertainties and risk of sustainable rural wastewater treatment. This study also revealed the urgency of rural water legislation and proposed development with a balanced financial burden for urban and rural residents under suitable discharge limits, providing a profound insight for environmental management with a focus on balanced urban-rural development for the policy-makers in developing countries.


2012 ◽  
Vol 178-181 ◽  
pp. 1761-1764
Author(s):  
Li Hui Li ◽  
Jun Wang

Urban - rural public transportation is meaningful for promoting the urban and rural turnover, making the benefit of passenger resources comprehensive maximization. Equalization of urban-rural public transportation is important for coordinating of urban and rural development, promoting the integration of urban and rural areas, eliminating the urban and rural development imbalance .But it' not equal between urban and rural public traffic at present due to the demand, the management model different in China. It’s necessary to clear and improve the position of urban –rural public transportation in the social security system, to establish financial support system combine fairness and efficiency, establish the assessment and evaluation mechanism of urban-rural public transportation development level to promoting the development equally of urban-rural public transportation


Author(s):  
Yurie Kobashi ◽  
Sophathya Cheam ◽  
Yoshifumi Hayashi ◽  
Masaharu Tsubokura ◽  
Veyleang Ly ◽  
...  

Background: Regional disparity is an imperative component of health disparity. In particular, providing emergency care that is equally available in rural areas is an essential part of reducing the urban–rural disparity. The objective of this study was to examine the worsening admission rate among Cambodian emergency patients in a rural area and determine their background characteristics that cause this decline. Methods: To investigate the disparity among patients who visited Sunrise Japan Hospital (SJH), a major general private hospital in the capital, patient data from November 2016 to September 2019 were obtained from the electronic reception patient database. The primary outcome was defined as the proportion of admission patients as an indicator of illness severity. The patients’ addresses were classified into 4 areas based on distance from the capital. Results: A total of 6167 patients who visited the emergency department at SJH between January 2017 and September 2019 were included in the analysis. The proportion of patients who needed to be hospitalized or transferred increased with the distance from the capital. The proportion of patients who finished consultation decreased with the distance from the capital (P<.01: Chi-square test). The results of the logistic regression analysis showed that the admission rate in rural areas was significantly higher only among males as compared to that of the capital in multivariate analyses adjusted for age, time, and season. Conclusion: The admission rate of emergency patients who visited a private general hospital in Cambodia’s capital city increased with distance from the capital city. To improve regional disparity among emergency patients, further research is necessary to identify the issues among emergency patients, especially those who are vulnerable.


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