Until the collapse of the Soviet Union ignited an explosion of interest in Central Asia, most outsiders considered the region a political backwater, an amorphous place of exotic peoples whose time of greatest power had long passed and whose future could have little impact on international affairs. This perception began to change during the 1980s when China's concern over the stirrings of ethnic separatism in Xinjiang helped focus international attention on Islamic revivalism in Central Asia.
In world history, parts of Western Central Asia (see the previous map) remained colonies of an imperialist Russia and political system for nearly two centuries before the 1990s. Eastern Central Asia, long dominated by Chinese overlords, continues in deep subordination today. These political realities color and underpin much of the writing and publication that appears in the present Annotated Bibliography.
After the Afghan War: Nationalism and the Changes in the Balance of Power in Central Asia
