Historical Implications

Abstract

A major issue explored in the present study is the Soviet regime’s choice to promote national identities and to establish political entities based on national affiliation. In concluding this study, I wish to focus on the implications and consequences of this strategy. Did the Soviet regime achieve its objectives? To what extent did national identities develop in the Soviet period, and what role did they play in the Soviet state? When the Soviet Union collapsed, some expected that the changes from the Soviet period would come undone. This chapter therefore ends with a discussion of the implications of the national delimitation for post-Soviet Central Asia.