Abstract
Three years have elapsed since the disintegration of the Soviet Union and consequent emergence of five independent states in Central Asia — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tadjikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan1 — and it is too soon to predict how these new entities will develop. However, although the region has experienced real and fundamental change in the twentieth century, there has also been a significant degree of continuity. Thus, in order to understand the key factors in this period of transition it is necessary to look not only at the configurations that are presently taking shape, but also at the historical background. This paper therefore gives a brief account of the cultural and historical context before attempting to map potential areas of conflict.
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Notes
For a good general introduction to the physical geography and early history of the region see D. Sinor (ed.), The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990).
See F.H. Skrine and E. Denison Ross, The Heart of Asia (London: Methuen, 1899)
This was essentially a European concept. In Central Asia, a region where bi-and multilingualism were the norm rather than the exception, language had not previously been a significant marker of identity. A.D. Smith is one of many who trace the history of the identification of nationality with language; see A.D. Smith, The Ethnic Revival (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), pp. 45–52.
E.J. Hobsbawm, Nations and Nationalism Since 1780 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), pp. 52–63.
See M. Kirkwood (ed.), Language Planning in the Soviet Union (London: Macmillan, 1989)
As J. Zajda observed, the aims of Soviet education included ‘teaching in the spirit of communism and developing a Marxist-Leninist philosophy of life’; J. Zajda, Education in the Soviet Union (Oxford: Pergamon, 1980), pp. 108–80.
J. Morison, ‘The Political Content of Education in the USSR’, in J. Tomiak (ed.), Soviet Education in the 1980s (London: Croom Helm, 1983), pp. 143–71.
G. Massell, The Surrogate Proletariat (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1975).
Crawford Young, The Politics of Cultural Pluralism (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1976), p. 11
See Ajay Patnaik, ‘Modernization, Change and Nationality Process in the USSR’, in Shams ud Din (ed.), Perestroika and the Nationality Question in the USSR (Delhi: Vikas, 1990), pp. 108–15.
W. Fierman (ed.), Soviet Central Asia: The Failed Transformation (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1991).
See M. Kaser and S. Mehrotra, The Central Asian Economies After Independence (London: Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1992).
This trend is most pronounced in Turkmenistan, where the President has been given the official title of Turkmenbashi ‘Leader of the Turkmen’; many streets and buildings have been renamed after him, also the port of Krasnovodsk on the Caspian Sea and the Kara Kum canal. These displays of homage may seem excessive to foreigners, but it must be said that most of the local population seem to be genuinely in favour of them. See, for example, the report by P. Conradi in The European, 1–7 July 1994, p. 5. In the other republics the sentiments are as strong, but expressed with slightly more discretion. Such overt adulation is part of the indigenous culture (a feature that was strengthened during the Soviet period when extravagant praise for the leadership was the norm). In addition, in these times of crisis and transition a tough, autocratic ruler is felt to be a necessary precondition for stability; this phenomenon is by no means confined to the developing world. See R. Emerson, From Empire to Nation (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1967), p. 290.
See R. Freedman, ‘Israel and Central Asia: A Preliminary Analysis’, Central Asia Monitor, 1993, no. 2, pp. 16–20; and A. Nedvetsky, ‘Israel’s Policy: The Post-Soviet Moslem Republics’, Middle East Monitor, September 1993, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 28–36.
B. Z. Rumer, Soviet Central Asia: ‘A Tragic Experiment’ (Boston, MA: Unwin Hyman, 1989), pp. 76–104.
M. Williams, International Economic Organizations (New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1994), p. 83.
Between 75 and 85 per cent of the indigenous peoples of the region were rural dwellers, according to the 1970 Soviet census. The level of migration within each republic was low (less than 5 per cent) and movement out of each republic lower still. See Shirin Akiner, Islamic Peoples of the Soviet Union (London: Kegan Paul, 1983).
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© 1996 The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DGIS)/The Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael
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Akiner, S. (1996). Conflict, Stability and Development in Central Asia. In: van de Goor, L., Rupesinghe, K., Sciarone, P. (eds) Between Development and Destruction. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-24794-3_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-24794-3_13
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