Ethnicities, Minorities and Indigenous Groups in Central Asia

Policy Reforms and Agriculture Development in Central Asia: An Overview of Issues and Challenges.- Economic Reform and Performance in Central Asia.- Agriculture Development in Central Asia: Trends and Analysis of Policy Reforms.- Political Economy of Agrarian Reforms in Central Asia: Lessons from Policy Failures.- Policy Reforms in Central Asia: Problems and Perspectives.- A Comparative Analysis of Trends in Agricultural Productivity in Central Asian Transition Economies.- Land Reform and Farm Restructuring in Central Asia: Progress and Challenges Ahead.- Globalization, Water and Changing Policies in the Aral Sea Basin.- Agriculture Reform Policies in Uzbekistan.- Policy Reforms and Agriculture Development Challenges in Tajikstan.- Agrarian Reforms in Turkmenistan.- Establishing the Sectoral Linkages in Policy Reforms.- Impact of Policy Reforms on Farm Production in Uzbekistan.- Farmers' Response to Land Privatization in Tajikistan.- Market Reform and Producer Responses in Central Asia.- Policy Reforms and Livestock Development in Central Asia.- Private Sector Development in Uzbekistan Agriculture: Challenges and Opportunities.- Institutional Reforms and National Agricultural Research Systems in Central Asia.- Irrigation Systems and Sustainable Natural Resource Use Under Economic Reforms in Uzbekistan.- The Sustainable Development of Water User's Associations in Uzbekistan.- Policy Reforms, Poverty and Food Security.- Food Security and Poverty in Central Asia.- Policy Reforms and Poverty in Central Asia with Special Focus on Kyrgystan.- Food Security and Determinants of Poverty in Central Asia: Case Study from Kazakhstan.- Future Challenges and Conclusions.- Information and Communication Technology in Reforming National Agricultural Systems in Central Asian Countries: The Case of Georgia.- Strengthening Institutional Capacity for Policy Reforms in Central Asia.- Policy Reforms in Central Asian Agriculture: A Synthesis and Conclusion.

This chapter discusses the experience of a subset of Soviet language-and-culture groups those who inhabit Central Asia. It focuses on a particular issue the existence and consequences of political nationalism. The differences in demographic behavior which reflect differences in national consciousness will result in radical changes in the ethnic composition of the Soviet population in the medium term. The imposition of Soviet rule on the region in the 1920s resulted in the destruction of the power and authority of the official institutions of Islam. Soviet control and secularization of the institutions of law and education together with state control over the economy has had a considerable impact on both the inner and outer worlds of the native population of Central Asia. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of the relevance of nationalism to the formulation of foreign policy and arguments which are valid in relation to Central Asia may not apply in other parts of the USSR.

One might be misled to believe that Central Asia and India are linked most by history and cultural exchange — in the academic sphere interest in India’s Central Asia policy is rather limited, and media coverage is not much better. Nevertheless, the rulers in New Delhi, whether British or Indian, have always recognised the importance of developments in Central Asia for India’s security and economy. Whereas the British directly intervened in a number of cases in the nineteenth century, their successors have been keen to remain low key with their activities. This has been especially true for the years from 1990 onwards, when traditionally enigmatic power structures in Afghanistan became even more enigmatic. On other major fields of intense activity abroad — for example, its ambitions for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council or its Look East Policy — Indian diplomacy is largely public in nature, as that serves Indian interests and garners popularity at home at the same time. Openness in Indian policy in Central Asia, however, would hurt Indian interests abroad and would not pay off in Indian domestic affairs. Nevertheless, it seems that New Delhi gives the region top priority. Nowhere else is Indian policy so assertive and self-confident, risking more than irritations with major powers like the US and Russia and opposing external pressures. Still, for Central Asia there is no clear-cut Indian strategy: there is a vision of a stable, secular, and India-friendly Central Asia, which in the mid-term would make Pakistan a stable, secular, peaceful, and cooperative neighbour. India, however, not only lacks the means, but even an idea of how to achieve such goals. Notwithstanding parallel interests of Central Asian states and most external actors, India cannot have the illusion that other states have better concepts for solving the problems, thereby doing a favour. They simply lack the proper strategies and means to accomplish the job.KeywordsSecurity CouncilIndian PolicyPipeline ProjectSecret ServiceCentral Asian StateThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Afghanistan: a Study of Political Developments in Central Asia Get access Afghanistan: a Study of Political Developments in Central Asia. By W. K. Fraser-Tytler. London, Oxford University Press, 1950. xiii+330 pp. Illus. Maps. Index. 834′​′×534′​′ 21s. Edwin Haward Edwin Haward Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar International Affairs, Volume 27, Issue 2, April 1951, Pages 256–257, https://doi.org/10.2307/2606239 Published: 01 April 1951

This article will focus on Muslim women, Imperial and Soviet schools in Central Asia. The chronological framework of the study covers the regional history from 1865 to 1930. The lower temporal boundary is due to the beginning of the Russian colonial order establishment in the region, the upper one to the year of the women's departments liquidation. Using comparative analysis, the author reconstructs the history of the women's education development in Central Asia. The problem of the research is to find out whether there has been a gap in the approaches of the administration of the Turkestan General-Governor and TASSR and the Uzbek SSR authorities in educating Muslims women and European migrants. The relevance of the paper lies in the study of the new imperial history, along with the revision of the stereotype view on the women emancipation in Soviet Central Asia, alike a successful project of the Bolsheviks, which changed the indigenous people cultural values. In addition to introducing little-known sources of the Soviet period into scientific circulation, the novelty of the article lies in the study of the institutional history of Central Asia through the prism of a gender. In the course of the study, it was found that the relative successes were achieved among the European population, especially during the Soviet period, because was formulated a meaningful gender policy. Despite the difference in management concepts, there were more Muslim women schools under the Soviet regime, especially after Hujum.

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.

Projected near-surface wind speed and wind energy over Central Asia using dynamical downscaling with bias-corrected global climate models

Central Asia is geographically located at the center of the Eurasian continent in between strong and dynamic economies such as Russia, China, India, and the European Union. Despite being abundant on natural resources, Central Asia is not greatly integrated into the world economy due to several reasons, such as being landlocked and rural, depending on the primary sector and suffering from an insufficient absorptive capacity regarding knowledge and technology transfer.In the past decade, connecting Asia and Europe got increasingly important with the launch of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and the EU Connectivity Strategy, offering Central Asia the opportunity to become the continental land bridge and therefore integrate into global value chains and achieve knowledge-oriented regional development. The Belt and Road Initiative and the EU Connectivity Strategy can be distinguished in their political nature, objectives, and values, thus offering different potentials for Central Asia. However, knowledge-oriented regional development in Central Asia will be a lengthy process, which can only be successful if the region increases its capabilities to substantially benefit from knowledge transfer.KeywordsCentral AsiaRegionalismBelt and Road InitiativeEU Connectivity StrategyKnowledge transferRegional development

This book is the result of a pioneering conference held in Ulaan Baatar in September 1994. The first Conference on the Sustainable Development of Central Asia brought together government officials, development professionals, academics, activists and religious representatives from Central, South and East Asia and the West. The full range of perspectives from this diverse group is presented here on how Central Asia can find paths of development which really serve its long term interests, and what the rest of the world can learn from Central Asians about living in harmony with the environment.

Part 1: Overview 1. Economic transition and institutional change in Central Asia Joachim Ahrens and Herman W. Hoen Part 2: Country-specific investigations 2. Transition strategies in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan since independence: paradoxes and prospects Herman W. Hoen and Farrukh Irnazarov 3. Social capital and the formation of a market economy: the case of Uzbekistan Manuela Troschke 4. Turkmenistan after Turkmenbashi Richard Pomfret 5. Poverty, governance, and participation in Central Asia: The example of Tajikistan Frank Bliss 6. The political economy of Kazakh foreign policy Andrea Schmitz 7. The institutional persistence of patrimonialism in the Kyrgyz Republic: Testing a path dependency (1991-2010) Ruben Ruiz Ramas Part 3: Governance and institutions 8. The political economy of governance reform in Central Asia Joern Gravingholt 9. Informal integration and decentralization in Central Asia Alexander Libman 10. Analyzing bottlenecks for institutional development in Central Asia: Is it oil, aid, or geography? Inna Melnykovska and Rainer Schweickert Part 4: External actors and international structures 11. Will Russia regain its dominant role in Central Asia? Martin C. Spechler and Dina R. Spechler 12. Central Asia and Russia: Two alternative perspectives Alexander Libman 13. The European Union and Central Asia: A case of policy transfer Nienke de Deugd 14. The USA and Central Asia: Intermittent allies Dina R. Spechler and martin C. Spechler 15. Central Asian countries: Forms of international integration and the impact of the crisis of 2008 Martin Myant and Jan Drahokoupil

ABSTRACTThis article examines the security policy of the Central Asian (CA) states, by comparing theory (security documents) with practice (the actual security challenges). The lack of CA regional (security) cooperation and authoritarian rule puts political and economic stability at stake. The internal and external threats are partly caused by the CA regimes themselves: Political opposition groups are often described as terrorists and/or blamed to be connected to Islamic State (IS). There is hardly any effort toward improving social-economic circumstances, which would take away grounds for (Islamic) radicalization. Moreover, the CA governments are themselves responsible for regional border, water, and energy disputes. Political unrest and radicalization, IS, as well as terrorism and drugs from Afghanistan could become serious threats to the survival of CA governments.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), while primarily a security organisation, has always included economic and human baskets or dimensions. Currently, the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities operates in four main areas: (1) good governance and anti-corruption, (2) money laundering and financing of terrorism, (3) transport, trade and border-crossing facilitation, and (4) labour migration. This chapter addresses developments in Central Asia since the dissolution of the Soviet Union that are relevant to the third area of OSCE operations. The chapter’s focus is on the potential for the landlocked Central Asian countries to become land-linked, using improved transport connections between East Asia and Europe to promote economic development through export diversification and growth. Rail services across Central Asia improved considerably during the 2010s. They have been resilient, despite strained political relations between Russia and the EU since 2014, and rail traffic between Europe and China continued to increase in 2020 despite the shock of COVID-19. Further infrastructure improvements are promised under China’s Belt and Road Initiative. However, the expanded network has been little used by Central Asian producers to create new international trade, and the improved infrastructure represents a potential opportunity rather than a past benefit. If the Central Asian economies are successful in taking advantage of the opportunity, it will stimulate their trade across the Eurasian region and help economic diversification. The main determinant of success will be national policies and national economic development. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the role of multilateral institutions and, in particular, the prospects for OSCE collaboration with existing fora to promote cooperation and economic development in Central Asia.

This article examines the policy framework for nuclear energy development in Central Asia, which is an important step towards ensuring sustainable development and energy security in the region. Nuclear energy, as an environmentally friendly and stable source, can help Central Asian countries reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. The article analyses the current political and institutional conditions and assesses the experience of leading countries in the field of nuclear energy, which can be adapted for Central Asia. The study focuses on the need to create a sustainable policy framework for nuclear energy development, which includes political stability, international cooperation, compliance with safety standards, and effective management of nuclear materials. The research concludes that nuclear energy can play a key role in achieving sustainable development goals in Central Asia by contributing to the transition to clean energy and reducing carbon emissions.

In the political development of post‐communist Central Asia, the role of elections (or pseudo‐elections) has been of particular interest. Using the rhetoric of consultation, leaders in the region have held a series of elections, plebiscites and referendums, yet it is clear that in none of these were democratic norms fully adhered to and that in many the results were predetermined. Given that they have failed to offer the people adequate representation, or create salient political institutions, the purpose of these exercises can be seen in terms of affirming the positions of elites, recruiting ‘talented political entrepreneurs’, and anaesthetizing the population. These features are explained by the various constraints on political development in Central Asia, including elite concerns over stability, perceived developmental needs, the weakness of a ‘modern’ civil society with its particular values, and international factors.

In Visions of Development in Central Asia: Revitalizing the Culture Concept, Noor O’Neill Borbieva reflects on anthropology’s withdrawal from discussions about culture and the parallel rise of the intellectually and politically problematic discourse of “culture matters thinking,” or CMT. CMT asserts that cultures are homogeneous and that the dominant values of its culture determine a state’s socioeconomic and political trajectories. Drawing on practice theory, ecological psychology, complexity science, and poststructuralism, Borbieva urges anthropologists to revisit debates about culture in order to counteract the influence of simplistic formulations such as CMT. Through an examination of ethnographic material from Kyrgyzstan, gathered during the years she worked as a Peace Corps Volunteer and as an anthropologist, Borbieva examines how debates about culture shaped the development sector’s agenda in Central Asia. She argues that mainstream discussions of culture not only misunderstand the cultural basis of human diversity but also threaten that diversity by promoting a one-size-fits-all vision of well-being. Borbieva suggests an alternative vision, one that recognizes the profound complexity of human sociality and embraces the many forms of human thriving that grow out of our cultural differences.