Introduction: Building States and Markets in Central Asia

Abstract

At the dawn of the nineteenth century, the Kazakh poet and essayist Abay saw his steppe society in decay, besieged on the one side by the victorious Russian Empire with its modernising tools of railways, telegrams and science in education, and on the other side by the dissolution of moral values and cultural integrity. His long lament became famous as a telling example of how the societal structure, shaped by shared responsibilities and the values of each stratum, was under threat. Abay expressed how the interests of rulers and leaders were captured by outside forces and how this delegitimised their societal role. He knew that his society was being transformed towards some kind of an aimless future without legitimate governance. Today Central Asia is going through a similarly profound change and moral dislocation in the protracted aftermath of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Former Communist Party leaders remain at the forefront of property ownership and wealth accumulation. The region’s intelligentsia remains confused and disenchanted. One-time managers of collective enterprises and leaders of youth and party organisations are involved in an all-out campaign to accumulate wealth. Thus, dissolution of the state’s property through privatisation and the reallocation of assets has not only changed the economic fundamentals but also led to social disarray with increasing differentiation among social groups in access to political power and economic wealth.

I wonder who, amongst the Kazakhs of today, I could possibly love or respect.

I would have respected a bey but there are no true beys any more; even if there is one, he is not the master of his will and his wealth ...

I would have respected a myrza, but now you cannot find a truly generous one;

as to those who give out their livestock to the right and left,

there are as many of these as stray dogs.

I would have respected a volost chief and a biy, but on our steppe there is neither divine nor human justice.

Abay [Qunanbayuli], Kazakh poet and essayist, 1995¹