ABSTRACT Tajik National Park struggles with overgrazing, illegal hunting and ill-managed tourism. The designation of the park as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2013 was meant to ease some of these struggles, but improvements are thus far difficult to identify. We conducted a case study to understand how local people perceive and interact with the park to probe how these struggles could be mitigated

ABSTRACT By elaborating on the findings of two data sets collected in both Uzbekistan and Japan, this paper demonstrates that Japan has increasingly become a new frontier for Uzbek youngsters who use educational opportunities to seek temporary employment. This attitude of Uzbek students in Japan, which relates to their predisposition towards ‘work’ rather than ‘study’, can be explained by several factors

ABSTRACT This article surveys research on regimes and states in Central Asia and assesses its contribution to Political Science, specifically the subfield of comparative politics. It discusses three areas in which research on the region has been influenced by and, in turn, fruitfully shaped the comparative political analysis of state and regime: a turn from macro- to micro-level topics; innovations

ABSTRACT While there have been a number of studies of the political economy of knowledge production in Central Asia, the often exploitative relations between foreign and local researcher, there has been less discussion of what Elizabeth Perry recently described as the ‘scholar–state’ nexus: how authoritarian rule rests on the suppression of independent academics, the ‘educated acquiescence’ of academia

ABSTRACT The study of Islam in Central Asia has undergone enormous transformations in the 30 years since the Soviet era came to an end. Over the last three decades, a sizable corpus of literature on Islam in Central Asia has appeared across several disciplines. There has also been considerable debate over methods and approach: What questions are important to ask? Which kinds of sources are the most

ABSTRACT Rather than interpreting President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s nation-building model of Kazakhstani-ness as a balance between civic and ethnic forms of nation-building, we show that Kazakhstani-ness was styled on Leonid Brezhnev’s supranational modern identity of the Soviet People. We explore three similarities by comparing rulers’ discursive aspirational statements (rather than historical policy

ABSTRACT For much of Russia’s fractious history, the earth’s stability at least could be taken for granted. The imperial heartland was situated deep on the Eurasian tectonic plate, rarely experiencing fatal seismic activity. As the empire expanded, however, it acquired several of Eurasia’s most earthquake-prone regions. This interplay between colonization and seismic landscapes produced a novel entity:

ABSTRACT The democratization of higher education (HE) has been interpreted from various perspectives in many country-specific case studies. Yet, it has been overlooked that in authoritarian regimes the democratization of HE may involve the development of freedom of expression, an element taken for granted in democratic societies. Growing research on the implications of COVID-19 on HE fails to cover

(2021). The Silk Roads: A new history of the world. Central Asian Survey. Ahead of Print.

(2021). Hunza matters: Bordering and ordering between ancient and new Silk Roads. Central Asian Survey. Ahead of Print.

ABSTRACT In Central Asia the European Union (EU) positions itself as a benign and gentle actor with no geopolitical intentions. But is this self-prescribed image of a ‘force for good’ shared by Central Asians? To answer this question, the article scrutinizes whether the EU is perceived as posing a threat to or offering an opportunity in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Theoretically it is argued that the

(2021). Irina Viktorovna Erofeeva (1953–2020). Central Asian Survey. Ahead of Print.

ABSTRACT In the last decade, a growing body of literature has investigated the promotion of good governance, rule of law, democracy and human rights in Central Asia through funding from the European Union (EU). Most of this research has taken an EU-centric approach and is concerned with the supply side of external democratization. As a result, little is known about how EU projects are implemented on

(2021). Musique contemporaine en Ouzbékistan: Politique, identités et globalisation. Central Asian Survey. Ahead of Print.

ABSTRACT In post-Soviet Central Asia, Jewish educational frameworks were shaped by unique forces introduced by various Jewish organizations. This article describes and explains the unique formation of Jewish education in post-Soviet Central Asian republics, how it was revived and which organizations shaped it. The article presents and analyses various educational initiatives introduced by Jewish organizations

ABSTRACT What impact has the ‘Arab Spring’ had upon Kazakhstan's approach to regime security? Short of the possibility of a ‘Central Asian Spring’, if and how the Arab Spring reshaped this authoritarian regime has not been addressed. A longitudinal narrative analysis of Kazakhstan's presidential rhetoric from 2005 to 2015 and fieldwork interviews indicated that the Arab Spring uprisings brought about

ABSTRACT Researchers working in Central Asia often report difficulty obtaining Western-style signed informed consent statements. The principles underlying informed consent were developed in cultures characterized by low-power distance and individualism, low context communication and a rules basis, whereas many Central Asian cultures emphasize high-power distance, collectivism, high-context communication

ABSTRACT This article examines the role of outer space technopolitics in post-Soviet Kazakhstan. It explores how outer space, the technological artefact of global relevance, works as a postcolonial fetish of modernity that is called upon to produce what it represents, that is, the reality of a technologically advanced Kazakh nation. The article shows that in its project of becoming a spacefaring nation

(2021). The lawful empire: Legal change and cultural diversity in late Tsarist Russia. Central Asian Survey. Ahead of Print.

ABSTRACT Central Asian art and culture have been gaining increased attention both within the region and on the international scene. This special issue brings together scholars and participants in the Central Asian cultural scene who specialize in different, often isolated, spheres. This multidisciplinary approach will enhance understanding of the current trends of display, presentation, accessibility

ABSTRACT This article examines artistic intervention into local conventions as a means of eliciting social awareness within the current cultural space of Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in which self-censorship is commonplace. As is to be expected, the art receiving the greatest support is sponsored by the authoritarian regime, who use it as a soft tool to construct a desired or prescribed form of national identity

ABSTRACT This article explores contemporary artistic practices in Kazakhstan that challenge narratives on national belonging and identity through the notion of queerness. It discusses artworks created by artists Saule Dyussenbina, Natalya Dyu and Kuanish Bazargaliyev, the artistic duo Kreolex Center, and the advertising agency Havas Worldwide Kazakhstan, which were created as a reaction to global discussions

(2021). Central Asia and the Silk Road: economic rise and decline over several millennia. Central Asian Survey: Vol. 40, The social role of art and culture in Central Asia, pp. 134-136.

(2021). Books received. Central Asian Survey: Vol. 40, The social role of art and culture in Central Asia, pp. 141-141.

(2021). The Bukharan crisis: A connected history of 18th century Central Asia. Central Asian Survey. Ahead of Print.

(2021). The Hungry Steppe: Famine, violence, and the making of Soviet Kazakhstan. Central Asian Survey: Vol. 40, No. 2, pp. 284-286.

(2021). Visions of development in Central Asia: Revitalizing the culture concept. Central Asian Survey: Vol. 40, No. 2, pp. 282-284.

(2021). Toward nationalizing regimes: conceptualizing power and identity in the post-Soviet realm, Central Asian Survey: Vol. 40, The social role of art and culture in Central Asia, pp. 132-134.

(2021). The steppe and the sea: pearls in the Mongol Empire. Central Asian Survey: Vol. 40, No. 2, pp. 287-288.

(2021). Medieval monuments of Central Asia: Qarakhanid architecture of the 11th and 12th centuries. Central Asian Survey: Vol. 40, No. 2, pp. 288-290.

ABSTRACT This article aims to provide a more complete and dynamic account of the legal framework that underpins religious regulation in Central Asia from independence in 1991 through 2018, focusing on Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. In contrast to existing approaches that rely on a few key laws, high-profile events or secondary sources, our analysis includes the entire body of legal documents

The familial position and social status of daughters-in-law (kelins) in ‘traditional’ Central Asian families can be characterized as low, subservient and marginalized. By adopting normative human r...

(2021). Pipe dreams: Water and empire in Central Asia’s Aral Sea basin. Central Asian Survey: Vol. 40, The social role of art and culture in Central Asia, pp. 136-138.

ABSTRACT Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have new leaders for the first time since 1989: Shavkat Mirziyoyev as Uzbek president and Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as Kazakh president. This article uses a theoretical framework based on the literatures of leadership change and political succession while overlaying this literature with the type of economic policies followed by each former leader to analyse the political

This paper discusses the place-renaming policies in the recent two decades in Armenia. By elaborating on the legal and administrative framework for place-renaming in the country and through the ana...

ABSTRACT This article advances a straightforward argument: a complete analysis of land reform processes in Central Asia needs to account for gender dynamics. More explicitly, it argues that alongside the feminization of agriculture, customary gender norms restricting female economic opportunities and property acquisition represent a structural advantage for local elites interested in hindering or delaying

ABSTRACT In 2013, international news headlines started referencing Georgian Tarkhan Batirashvili, or Omar al-Shishani, as a rising star among foreign fighters in the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). At the time, it was puzzling why a Georgian Kist would fight for ISIS. However, following al-Shishani, around 200 other residents of Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge travelled to Syria and Iraq. The trend

ABSTRACT In recent years, many have said that democracy globally is being rolled back and that it is the source of much dissatisfaction. This article presents the findings from a survey of Kazakhstani university students on how they view democracy. The vast majority of participants view democracy as consisting of civil and political rights (i.e., the Western concept of democracy). However, also based

Jonathan Lee is an old hand in Afghanistan studies, first visiting the country in 1971. Aside from his unpublished religious studies dissertation (University of Leeds, UK, 1998) on Nowruz, he has p...

ABSTRACT Using insights from classical functionalism, this article analyses the complex relationship between the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea and the Caspian Environment Programme (CEP). The article pursues three objectives. First, it shows how shared ecological issues challenged individual littoral states and brought their respective governments under the CEP umbrella in 1998

ABSTRACT Most of Kazakhstan’s wealth hinges on oil rents, and the overall performance of the economy is closely linked to petroleum’s price fluctuations. This study asks (1) why the institution of private ownership of oil proceeds has not led to a positive transformation of patron–client relations embedded in the country’s energy sector, thus challenging the relevance of the ‘private ownership’ narrative

ABSTRACT This article aims to examine the relationship between women’s household bargaining power and their adoption of modern contraception in post-Soviet Tajikistan using the 2012 Demographic and Health Survey. The study uses direct measures of bargaining weights: a woman’s ability to make decisions about her own health care; visits to her family or relatives; and contraceptive use. An additional

ABSTRACT In 1997 a monument dedicated to Heroes of the Soviet Union Aliya Moldagulova and Manshuk Mametova was unveiled on the former site of the monument to Lenin in central Almaty. This case study investigates the valorization of these Soviet-era World War II heroes in independent Kazakhstan, and argues that the Kazakhstani state has recast these heroes as significant figures in the official centuries-long

(2021). The Central Asian revolt of 1916: a collapsing empire in the age of war and revolution. Central Asian Survey: Vol. 40, The social role of art and culture in Central Asia, pp. 138-140.

ABSTRACT In this article, we empirically examine how the Central Asian states apply external regime legitimation strategies to legitimize their regimes domestically. We used the Central Asia Watch Project’s data from five Central Asian state-run media outlets to examine spatial and temporal changes in regime legitimation strategies. All the Central Asian countries employed external regime legitimation

ABSTRACT This forum brings together five different angles on the question as to whether and how political regimes and forms of order-making can and should be researched through the concept of ‘illiberalism’. The discussion engages critically with this and associated concepts, such as ‘illiberal peace’ and ‘authoritarian conflict management’, which have been developed out of the Central Asian / Eurasian

This collection brings together some well-known scholars of contemporary Central Asia from across the social sciences in an interdisciplinary conversation on post-Soviet continuity and change in Ka...

ABSTRACT Civilizations are as complex as the human relationships that engendered them, and outlining these relational qualities within open notions of mobility and interaction frames a reconceptualization of Central Asia’s past. Recent Eurasian archaeological research deconstructs deterministic political-economic or hierarchical typologies of civilization and the overly simplified narrative that roots

This book offers an insightful ethnography of Pamiri people experiencing modernity in different domains of everyday life. Mostowlansky takes the approach of Therborn in examining modernity, by cons...

ABSTRACT Mongolia's transition to a democratic, market economy has created widespread change, especially among pastoral herders. Pastoralists have been depicted as archaic and independent ‘nomads’ who exist outside the modern economy. Still, pastoral culture is a key asset in tourism products and advertising. Tourism could provide fair economic benefits, but inclusive growth depends on how shareholders

ABSTRACT This article focuses on engagement with identity documents among the rural Uzbek population in the borderlands of Kyrgyzstan. By exploring the materiality of the documents and people’s concern with these material artefacts of bureaucracy, this article illustrates how the state has been moving in, out and through the lives of the people living on the margins of the state. People’s engagement

In 2019, Uzbekistan’s government ordered the closure of a notorious prison camp whose innocuous name, Zhaslyk (‘Youth’), belied its evil role. Built two decades earlier to incarcerate political and...

ABSTRACT This article studies an early-twentieth-century reform in local administration on the Kazakh Steppe. It was catalyzed by the massive in-migration of peasant settlers from European Russia, which required fundamentally new administrative forms and institutional decisions from the state. In 1902 the Russian Empire extended the Temporary Regulation on Peasant Nachalniks, which was previously law

Richard Foltz’s A History of the Tajiks presents the first survey of its kind in English and the first in any language to offer a relatively objective view of the subject unencumbered by nationalis...

ABSTRACT In this article we reflect on our efforts to study the prosecution of moral crimes in Afghanistan. In the process of collating information about men and women imprisoned for moral crimes such as adultery, we found evidence that pointed to large-scale incarceration of men for the uncodified crime of elopement. After establishing this fact through a careful review of official data, the article

ABSTRACT Cross-border trade is central to the socio-economic structure of the former Soviet republics and their integration in the world economy. In the Caucasus and Central Asia, bazaars have functioned as nodes that enable multi-directional, cross-border trade. While there have been studies on the bazaar trade in the Soviet successor states, few have used quantitative methods. Drawing from 600 structured

ABSTRACT Since 2013, there have been multiple fires in bazaars in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Most of these fires have occurred in Barakholka, the largest bazaar in Central Asia, known for wholesaling in apparel, shoes and low-quality household and office supplies. Ownership of Barakholka is opaque. Using recurrent Barakholka fires as my point of departure, this article contributes to scholarship by describing

ABSTRACT Along with other globalizing forces such as migration and proselytism, religious markets have played a key role in the transformation of religious practices in Armenia. This article focuses on the intersection of mobility and markets through mobile fairs, which are temporarily organized at shrines on pilgrimage days. Market vendors tend to travel from shrine to shrine across Armenia throughout

ABSTRACT Trading in Astana’s Central Bazaar rests on mutually beneficial people-to-people contacts, or personal networks. Twenty-five years after the Soviet collapse, personal networks are pivotal in whether one succeeds in an informal market economy. I argue that networks cannot be disassociated from trader motivation, which serves as a measure of how these networks evolve over time. I describe how

ABSTRACT This article demonstrates how social exclusion affects the strategies that migrants and their children experience vis-à-vis the preschool education system of the host society. We use the example of two private institutions established in Moscow by Kyrgyz migrants to explore their role in helping integrate migrant children int