La politique soviétique de développement en Asie centrale : réflexions sur les possibilités de l'appliquer aux pays voisins du Moyen-Orient

Abstract

Soviet development policy in Central Asia : reflections on transfe- rability to the Middle Eastern periphery In order to identify the impact of Soviet development policy on Central Asia, its economy in 1926 is described and contrasted with that of the R.S.F.S.R. It is shown that differences in occupational structure and in living standards were moderate but that, culturally, Central Asia differed markedly from Russia. This is taken to suggest that cultural factors play a significant role in Soviet concepts of backwardness. It is shown that, after 1928 industrialisation results in the growing differentiation of industrial structures in the RSFSR and Central Asia. This latter region comes to specialise on the growing of cotton and its "export" to the rest of the USSR in exchange for foodstuffs and capital goods. There is little change in income disparities but Central Asia experiences significant cultural modernisation. This suggests that economic interdependence is not inconsistent with Soviet notions of development and it reinforces the importance previously attached to cultural factors. On the basis of this material it is argued that the Soviet strategy of development is applicable in other countries ; but it is suggested that it would be much more effective if it is accompanied by the incorporation of the territory where it is to be applied into a larger political unit - for example to USSR.