scholarly journals Central Asian States: Difficulties on the Path of Rapprochement

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 300-311
Author(s):  
G. Ch. Akunova
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Water Distribution ◽  
The United States ◽  
Multilateral Cooperation ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Independent States ◽  
The Common ◽  
Asian Economic Community

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the new independent states of Central Asia had faced serious problems, such as the lack of experience in building state system, border demarcation, severe economic situation, threat of interethnic conflicts. However, that period was appropriate for integration initiatives in Central Asia. The economies of the post-Soviet republics in the region had been formed by the common Soviet system, the states depended from each other. In addition, the geopolitical situation in the region was favorable for rapprochement; Russia, China, the United States were not actively involved in regional processes. In the period from 1994 to 2005, the Central Asian republics initiated several integration projects, such as the Common economic space (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan), the Central Asian Economic Community (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan), the Central Asian Cooperation Organization (all republics of Central Asia, except Turkmenistan). It should be noted that the integration process in the region implied all republics of Central Asia, except Turkmenistan, which had been ignoring any initiatives of neighbor countries. These structures did not achieve their goal, such as the creation of a free trade zone as well as customs, currency and payment unions. After a prolonged period of integration initiatives, there were no real close relationships between the countries. The states still prefer to build their relations in a bilateral format. The article considers the reasons that prevent the Central Asian states from effectively pursuing a multilateral format of cooperation in the region. The main reasons that determine the unpreparedness of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan for cooperation in a multilateral format are identified. Attention has been paid to such factors as the collision of interests of outside players, leadership issues between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, water distribution policy and cross-border cooperation. The steps that Central Asian countries need to take to establish effective multilateral cooperation in the region are analyzed.

Clan Politics and Regime Transition in Central Asia

2007 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 802-804
Author(s):  
Nilgun Onder
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
Historical Study ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
Regime Transition ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Independent States ◽  
Central Asian Republics

Clan Politics and Regime Transition in Central Asia, Kathleen Collins, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006, pp. 376.The long isolation of Central Asia finally ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Five new independent states emerged from the ashes of the Soviet Union, the very first time in history that the peoples of Central Asia gained their own independent states modelled on the modern state. This development caught the world, including Central Asians themselves, by surprise. It changed the geopolitics of the entire Eurasia. In the ensuing years, the Central Asian republics have undergone simultaneous multiple transformations: state building; political regime transformation; and transition from Soviet communism. Thus the new states in Central Asia have provided scholars with new cases of multiple economic and political transitions to study and compare. In recent years, there has been a significant proliferation of English-language publications on Central Asia. Kathleen Collin's book, a comparative historical study of political development in Central Asia, is a major contribution. While its focus is on Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, it often provides examples from the other two Central Asian republics, namely Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. It is thoroughly researched and rich in information and details. It also makes a significant contribution to the political science literature on democratization, regime transition and consolidation.

Ideology of the relationship of the Central Asian States to the common history of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union

2020 ◽  
pp. 79-87
Author(s):  
A. M. Mustafabeyli
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Asian People ◽  
Relationship Of

After collapse of the USSA the process of new national self-identifi cation actively started off in the former soviet republics of the Central Asia and it was actually the basis of the ideological doctrines of the countries which were in the course of building. The idea of this was the self-affi rmation of the nations who became independent and gained the statehood for the fi rst time in their history or after the interval of hundreds years. As the modern Central Asian ideologists imagined the past had to create in the minds of their people the sense of pride and patriotism that had to make the national states stand up stronger. At such a background the common history of the Central Asia with the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union is interpreted as the period of invasion and enslavement of the Centrale Asian people.

Central Asia since the Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Economic Reforms and eir Impact on State-Society Relations

2007 ◽  
Vol 6 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 313-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Pomfret
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
Economic Reforms ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
The Common ◽  
Autocratic Regimes ◽  
Central Asian Republics ◽  
Sudden Collapse

AbstractIn late 1991, with the sudden collapse of the Soviet Union, the five Central Asian republics became independent countries. The completely unexpected challenges of nation-building were superimposed on the transition from a centrally planned economy. Within the common bounds of resource-based economies and autocratic regimes, the five countries gradually became more differentiated as their governments introduced diverse national strategies for transition to a market-based economy. This article describes the different economic polices adopted by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan and analyzes the outcomes.

Faith and Culture

2019 ◽  
pp. 303-314
Author(s):  
Atola Longkumer
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Religious Expression ◽  
Traditional Medicines ◽  
Nation States ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Global Christianity

Of the two Asian regions, socio-economically, South Asia presents both prosperity and abject poverty, embedded in varying traditions. Central Asian states are well-endowed with natural resources and sustain a diverse cultural heritage against a backdrop of Islam. The indigenous shamanic cultures that have sustained myriad indigenous people (often described by terms such as tribals, Adivasis, minorities) for generations across South Asia need to be recognised along with its globalisation. Healing, use of traditional medicines, the position and role of women, caste hierarchy and the relationship with the other are incorporated into South Asian Christianity. ‘Anonymous Christians’ have also contributed to concepts such as ‘insider movements’ to discuss embedded followers of Jesus. In Central Asia, Charismatic Christianity is finding particular resonance. The relative freedom of religious expression has given opportunities for Christians to witness to the gospel. The potential ecumenical relationship with the existing Orthodox Church presents an opportunity for global Christianity. Christianity has received fresh interest in Central Asia since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the formation of the nation-states of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Theological creativity along with prophetic proclamation will be needed to balance these challenges of culture and faith in the region.

scholarly journals Increasing Relevance of Treaties: The Case of the Arctic

AJIL Unbound ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 108 ◽  
pp. 52-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timo Koivurova
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Polar Bear ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Soviet Leader ◽  
International Treaty ◽  
Multilateral Cooperation ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Cold War

The Arctic was one of the main theatres for strategic military confrontation during the Cold War between the blocs led by the United States and the Soviet Union. There was no place for multilateral cooperation, other than for very limited issue areas, such as the 1973 Agreement on Conservation of Polar Bears between the five states with polar bear populations. Yet, the warming of relations by the end of the Cold War changed all this. Inspired by Secretary-General Mikhail Gorbachev’s speech in 1987, in which the Soviet leader pro-posed various possible areas for Arctic cooperation, differing ideas for international cooperation were advanced. Canadians, in particular, were trying to advance international treaty-based general cooperation for the Arctic, but this never came to pass and it was eventually Finland who was able to broker soft-law collaboration between the Cold War rivals.

Traveling Policies: Hijacked in Central Asia

2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iveta Silova
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Education Reform ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Local Policy ◽  
Reform Agenda ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
National Boundaries ◽  
The Way

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Central Asian education reform discourses have become increasingly similar to distinctive Western policy discourses traveling globally across national boundaries. Tracing the trajectory of ‘traveling policies' in Central Asia, this article discusses the way Western education discourses have been hybridized in the encounter with collectivist and centralist cultures within post-socialist environments in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. In the context of international aid relationships, the article considers different motivations and driving forces for reforms, the way pre-Soviet and Soviet traditions are affirmed within the reforms, as well as how these reforms speak back to Western reform agenda. Emphasizing the historical legacy of Soviet centralist traditions, this article reveals how traveling policies have been ‘hijacked’ by local policy makers and used for their own purposes nationally.

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