Engaging Central Asia
Engaging Central Asia

Author: Bhavna Dave

Publisher: CEPS

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 929079707X

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"In July 2007, the European Union initiated a fundamentally new approach to the countries of Central Asia. The launch of the EU Strategy for Central Asia signals a qualitative shift in the Union's relations with a region of the world that is of growing importance as a supplier of energy, is geographically situated in a politically sensitive area - between China, Russia, Iran, Afghanistan and the south Caucasus - and contains some of the most authoritarian political regimes in the world. In this volume, leading specialists from Europe, the United States and Central Asia explore the key challenges facing the European Union as it seeks to balance its policies between enhancing the Union's energy, business and security interests in the region while strengthening social justice, democratisation efforts and the protection of human rights. With chapters devoted to the Union's bilateral relations with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan and to the vital issues of security and democratisation, 'Engaging Central Asia' provides the first comprehensive analysis of the EU's strategic initiative in a part of the world that is fast emerging as one of the key regions of the 21st century."--BOOK JACKET.

Realities of Transformation
Realities of Transformation

Author: Andrea Berg

Publisher: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13:

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After the change of power in Kyrgyzstan in March 2005 and the massacre in Andijan, Uzbekistan in May 2005, an intimate understanding of the social and political processes in Central Asia now seems more important than ever. Realities of Transformation offers an account of democratization policies and their effects on Central Asia. The authors - from Austria, Germany, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan - investigate democratization policies from various perspectives, focusing on the democratization of power structures, democratization through external actors, and democratization of the judicial sector. Finally, the authors shed light on the complicated relationship between democratization and security. Realities of Transformation combines scholarly articles with texts from NGO representatives. This book is an essential reading for anyone interested in Central Asia, democratization issues, or local realities in transforming societies.

Civil Society in Central Asia
Civil Society in Central Asia

Author: M. Holt Ruffin

Publisher: University of Washington Press

Published: 2011-05-01

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 0295800534

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Central Asia, known as the home of Tamerlane and the Silk Road, is a crossroads of great cultures and civilizations. In 1991 five nations at the heart of the region—Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan— suddenly became independent. Today they sit strategically between Russia, China, and Iran and hold some of the world’s largest deposits of oil and natural gas. Long-suppressed ethnic identities are finding new expression in language, religion, and occasional civil conflicts. Civil Society in Central Asia is a pathbreaking collection of essays by scholars and activists that illuminates the social and institutional forces shaping this important region’s future. An appendix provides a guide to projects being carried out by local and international groups.

Prospects for Democracy in Central Asia
Prospects for Democracy in Central Asia

Author: Birgit N. Schlyter

Publisher: Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13:

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For a transition to democracy in Central Asia 3 The Tajik experience of a multiparty system - exception or norm? 21 Tajikistan at the crossroads of democracy and authoritarianism 25 Democracy and political stability in Kyrgyzstan 41 The blocked road to Turkmen democracy 59 On the problem of revival and survival of ethnic minorities in post-Soviet Central Asia 69 The Karakalpaks and other language minorities under Central Asia state rule 81 Russia and Central Asia security 97 Turkey and post-Soviet Eurasia : seeking a regional power status 117 US security policy in Central Asia after the 9/11 attack 129 Dividing the Caspian : conflicting geopolitical agendas among littoral states 147 Water politics and management of trans-boundary water resources in post-Soviet Central Asia 169 People, environment, and water security in the Aral Sea area 185 Poetry and political dissent in Central Asia from a historical perspective : the Chaghatay Poet Turdi 197 Democratization as a global process and democratic culture at Central Asia elite and grass-roots levels 215 Post-Soviet paternalism and personhood : why culture matters to democratization in Central Asia 225 Uzbek and Uyghur communities in Saudi Arabia and their role in the development of Wahhabism in present-day Central Asia 239 Turkish Islamist entrepreneurs in Central Asia 253 Epilogue : reflections on recent elections 265.

US Policies in Central Asia
US Policies in Central Asia

Author: Ilya Levine

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-06-10

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13: 1317246152

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Democracy promotion, security and energy are the predominant themes of US policy in Central Asia after the Cold War. This book analyses how the Bush administration understood and pursued its interests in the Central Asia states, namely Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan. It discusses the shift in US interests after September 11 and highlights key ideas, actors and processes that have been driving US policy in Central Asia. The author examines the similarities between the Bush and Obama administrations’ attitudes towards the region, and he points to the inadequacy of the personality focused, partisan accounts that have all too often been deployed to describe the two presidential administrations. To understand US Central Asian policy, it is necessary to appreciate the factors behind its continuities as well as the legacies of the September 11 attacks. Using case studies on the war on terror, energy and democracy, drawing on personal interviews with Americans and Central Asians as well as the fairly recent releases of declassified and leaked US Government documents via sources like the Rumsfeld Papers and Wikileaks, the author argues that the US approached Central Asia as a non-unitary state with an ambiguous hierarchy of interests. Traditionally domestic issues could be internationalised and non-state actors were able to play significant roles. The actual relationships between its interests were neither as harmonious nor as conflicted as the administration and some of its critics claimed. Shedding new light on US relations with Central Asia, this book is of interest to scholars of Central Asia, US Politics and International Relations.

Institutional Reform in Central Asia
Institutional Reform in Central Asia

Author: Joachim Ahrens

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 0415602009

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The countries of Central Asia are increasingly the focus of intense international attention due to their geopolitical and economic importance as well as their unsettled transition processes. The region faced enormous challenges when the Soviet Union disintegrated, and this book focuses on the reforms of the institutional environment that have been largely neglected. Through an interdisciplinary approach, the book explores key aspects of institution building as well as economic and political governance in Central Asia. Contributors from a variety of disciplines, such as economics, political economy, political science, sociology, law, and ethnology, investigate the challenges of institutional transition in a non-democratic region. The book discusses how the lack of effective institution building as well as rule enforcement in the economic and political realms represents one of the key weaknesses and drawbacks of transition, and goes on to look at how crafting market institutions will be of utmost importance in the years ahead. Making an important contribution to understanding of political-economic developments in Central Asia, this book is of interest to students and scholars of political economy, comparative economics, development studies and Central Asian studies.