Diverging Paths of Development in Central Asia

Diverging Paths of Development in Central Asia PDF Author: Gül Berna Özcan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351739425
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
Newly gained sovereignty, uneven penetration of neo-liberal ideals and the growth of disparate capitalist markets have elicited varied responses in Central Asia. What does development mean for the political class and for ordinary citizens? What are the effects of new capitalist institutions and markets? What impact did western development blueprints and external donor engagement leave in the region? This book illuminates the diverse realities of post-Soviet development in Central Asia through a multidisciplinary prism. The contributing articles are grounded in a range of social science disciplines including architecture, anthropology and geography. The analyses demonstrate how a synthesis of specialist knowledge from area studies and individual disciplinary methodologies can provide well-grounded critical positions on development. The book highlights the complexities of everyday routines of dispossession and coping strategies in the face of natural and manmade disasters. These experiences create deep moral anxieties under the debilitating effects of monetisation and marketisation of ordinary livelihoods, social ties and environmental resources. This book was originally published as a special issue of Central Asian Survey.

Diverging Paths of Development in Central Asia

Diverging Paths of Development in Central Asia PDF Author: Gül Berna Özcan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351739425
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 160

Get Book

Book Description
Newly gained sovereignty, uneven penetration of neo-liberal ideals and the growth of disparate capitalist markets have elicited varied responses in Central Asia. What does development mean for the political class and for ordinary citizens? What are the effects of new capitalist institutions and markets? What impact did western development blueprints and external donor engagement leave in the region? This book illuminates the diverse realities of post-Soviet development in Central Asia through a multidisciplinary prism. The contributing articles are grounded in a range of social science disciplines including architecture, anthropology and geography. The analyses demonstrate how a synthesis of specialist knowledge from area studies and individual disciplinary methodologies can provide well-grounded critical positions on development. The book highlights the complexities of everyday routines of dispossession and coping strategies in the face of natural and manmade disasters. These experiences create deep moral anxieties under the debilitating effects of monetisation and marketisation of ordinary livelihoods, social ties and environmental resources. This book was originally published as a special issue of Central Asian Survey.

Building States and Markets

Building States and Markets PDF Author: G. Özcan
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230296955
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 291

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Book Description
The transition economies of Central Asia are faced with the most daunting challenge of modern capitalism: the move from vassal pseudo-states of the former Soviet Union to competitive nations. This book is the first to explore the first 15 years of economic emergence, and assess the capabilities of these countries to transform their economies.

Engaging Central Asia

Engaging Central Asia PDF Author: Bhavna Dave
Publisher: CEPS
ISBN: 929079707X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
"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.

Development in Central Asia and the Caucasus

Development in Central Asia and the Caucasus PDF Author: Sophie Hohmann
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0857725378
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
After the final collapse of the Soviet Union, the so-called 'last empire', in 1991, the countries of Central Asia - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan - and of the Caucasus - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia - became independent nations. These countries, previously production centres under the socialist planning system of the Soviet Union, have made enormous economic adjustments in order to develop - or attempt to develop - along capitalist lines. As this study will show, however, inequality in Central Asia and the Caucasus is widening, as the Soviet systems of healthcare and state provisions disappear. Rejecting the Cold War-era East/West paradigm often used to analyse the development of these nations, this study analyses development along the North-South lines which characterise the migration patterns and poverty levels of much of the rest of the developed world. This opens up new avenues of research, and helps us understand why it is, for instance, that this region is better characterised as a 'new South' - as skilled workers flood out of the territories and into Russia and Western Europe. Development in Central Asia and the Caucasus draws together detailed analyses of the development of migration economics as the region's oil wealth further enhances its strategic and economic importance to Russia, the US, the Middle East and to the EU.

The Development of Civil Society in Central Asia

The Development of Civil Society in Central Asia PDF Author: Janice Giffen
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781897748756
Category : Asia, Central
Languages : en
Pages : 197

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Book Description
This book considers the applicability and use of civil society, both as a concept and in practice, in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The volume examines whether civil society organisations (CSOs) are a progressive force for change, or a safety net. Various forms of CSOs are investigated: NGOs and community based organisations, trade unions, political parties and religious groups, as well as more long-standing soviet and traditional institutions and practices. The book contains lessons and perspectives about civil society growth across time, and considers future directions.

Routledge International Handbook of Religion in Global Society

Routledge International Handbook of Religion in Global Society PDF Author: Jayeel Cornelio
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317295005
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 504

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Book Description
Like any other subject, the study of religion is a child of its time. Shaped and forged over the course of the twentieth century, it has reflected the interests and political situation of the world at the time. As the twenty-first century unfolds, it is undergoing a major transition along with religion itself. This volume showcases new work and new approaches to religion which work across boundaries of religious tradition, academic discipline and region. The influence of globalizing processes has been evident in social and cultural networking by way of new media like the internet, in the extensive power of global capitalism and in the increasing influence of international bodies and legal instruments. Religion has been changing and adapting too. This handbook offers fresh insights on the dynamic reality of religion in global societies today by underscoring transformations in eight key areas: Market and Branding; Contemporary Ethics and Virtues; Intimate Identities; Transnational Movements; Diasporic Communities; Responses to Diversity; National Tensions; and Reflections on ‘Religion’. These themes demonstrate the handbook’s new topics and approaches that move beyond existing agendas. Bringing together scholars of all ages and stages of career from around the world, the handbook showcases the dynamism of religion in global societies. It is an accessible introduction to new ways of approaching the study of religion practically, theoretically and geographically.

Asia-Africa Development Divergence

Asia-Africa Development Divergence PDF Author: David Henley
Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.
ISBN: 1783602805
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 279

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Book Description
Why have South-East Asian countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam been so successful in reducing levels of absolute poverty, while in African countries like Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania, despite recent economic growth, most people are still almost as poor as they were half a century ago? This book presents a simple, radical explanation for the great divergence in development performance between Asia and Africa: the absence in most parts of Africa, and the presence in Asia, of serious developmental intent on the part of national political leaders.

The Central Asian Economies Since Independence

The Central Asian Economies Since Independence PDF Author: Richard Pomfret
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691222509
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
The 9/11 attacks, the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, and the oil boom of recent years have greatly increased the strategic importance of resource-rich Central Asia, making an understanding of its economic--and therefore political--prospects more important than ever. In The Central Asian Economies Since Independence, Richard Pomfret provides a concise and up-to-date analysis of the huge changes undergone by the economies of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The book assesses the economic prospects of each country, and the likelihood that economic conditions will spur major political changes. With independent chapters on each country, and chapters analyzing their comparative economic performance, the book highlights similarities and differences. Facing common problems caused by the breakdown of Soviet economic relations and the hyperinflation of the early 1990s, these countries have taken widely divergent paths in the transition from Soviet central planning to more market-based economies. The book ends in 2005 with the bloodless Kyrgyz revolution and the violence in Uzbekistan, which signaled the end of the region's political continuity. Throughout the book, Pomfret emphasizes the economic forces that foster political instability--from Kazakhstan's resource boom and Turkmenistan's lack of reform to Tajikistan's abject poverty.

Central Asia in the Era of Sovereignty

Central Asia in the Era of Sovereignty PDF Author: Daniel L. Burghart
Publisher: Contemporary Central Asia: Societies, Politics, and Cultures
ISBN: 9781498572668
Category : Asia, Central
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This collection provides a broad analysis of social, political, economic, and security issues in contemporary Central Asia. In particular, the contributors highlight the differences and similarities among the region's states in how they have consolidated statehood since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Uzbekistan's New Face

Uzbekistan's New Face PDF Author: S. Frederick Starr
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538124769
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
Uzbekistan, long considered the center of Central Asia, is undergoing rapid and fundamental reforms affecting all areas of society, from economics and judicial matters to religious life and foreign affairs. This process is helping kindle a new spirit of regionalism in Central Asia, and provides new opportunities for Western governments and businesses.