Paper abstract

In academic literature, Central Asia is often assumed to be an important part of the world. The region is portrayed as an arena for competition among the great powers, a source of petroleum resources that are vital for energy security in other parts of the world, and a major crossroads for international transport and trade flows. This article assesses the veracity of the assumption about Central Asia’s centrality by subjecting it to rigorous empirical analysis. It does construct a multidimensional index for Central Asia, combining these social, economic, and cultural indicators, and comparing this with non-Central Asian countries. The research paper uncovers the level of integration of Central Asia into the global economy and culture. The findings of this study will be useful for scholars and policymakers to identify the research gaps and possible policy actions.

Paper abstract

This paper analyzes the New Great Game in Central Asia between Russia, China, and the US in Central Asia since the fall of the Soviet Union. The paper discusses the formation of independent Tajikistan, the civil war, and economic and political development in the country since the civil war. The work looks at the political, economic, and strategic relationship between Tajikistan and Russia, China, and the US. The paper also looks at the implications that the conflict in Afghanistan had on the Central Asian republics especially Tajikistan. The paper examines the situation on the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border especially in the Gorno-Badakhshan regions of Tajikistan and Afghanistan.

The paper looks at the theoretical implications in the foreign relations between great and small powers. It illustrates the constraints that small powers are operating under in their dealings with the major powers. The paper examines the economic, political, and strategic constraints that small powers are under. It also examines how they attempt to navigate and play off the major powers against each other.

This paper is part of a larger book project on the international politics of Central Asia. In this project I plan on examining the economic and political development of the Central Asian Republics, and their relations with the major powers.

Paper abstract

This paper focuses on the current changes in cotton farming practices in south-western Tajikistan where Soviet agriculture left a legacy of depleted soil and water shortages - resulting from the excessive use of mineral fertilisers and intensive irrigation. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, traditional intensive cotton cultivation in Tajikistan was maintained by various state mechanisms. Following the events of the past two years, farmer customary practices have proved untenable, and the application of expensive mineral fertilisers in large quantities to produce high yields has proved uneconomical. In light of the constraints resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and recent developments between Ukraine and Russia, which is a major producer and supplier of mineral fertilisers, prices for fertilisers have significantly increased, requiring farmers to seek alternative ways of growing cotton. Increasingly farmers are turning to organic farming to reduce production costs. Elderly farmers do not view organic farming as a new development but rather as means of returning to their historical farming practices as practiced during the early years of the Soviet Union when farmers applied organic fertilisers and biological methods of pest control. This research reports qualitative and quantitative data contrasting conventional and organic cotton farmers during an eight-month of field trip during 2021 and 2022 in major cotton growing areas of south-western Tajikistan. The research findings provide insights into the current economic, social and environmental developments in the cotton sector of Tajikistan.

Paper abstract

Uyghur weddings underwent significant transformations during the 20th century. Traditionally, weddings were celebrated inside homes and during autumn, a time of harvest and abundant agricultural produce. In contrast, modern Uyghur weddings are celebrated in restaurants and banquet halls and Uyghurs use clock time to synchronize the event. The changes also extend to gift exchanges, post-marital residence and pattern of wealth transfer from parents to children during and after the marriage. This paper argues that although large-scale industrialization in Xinjiang occurred after 1949, these modern features of Uyghur weddings emerged not from state-led industrial and political modernization but rather from the post-1978 market liberalization. After 1978, the state stopped intervening in marriage and family, which restored traditional kinship relations; connected the urban with the rural, and revived cultural practices suppressed by state-led modernity. The state also gradually ceased to be the only provider of employment and housing, and the private sector and real-estate market took over some of the state’s functions. One of the market-led modernization was that in urban areas the danwei communal spaces gradually disintegrated and the organic (spatial) unity of life, work and leisure began to dissolve. The commodification of land and housing disintegrated danwei (单位) communal spaces and dissolved the organic link between life, work and leisure in the urban environment as the new xiaoqu emerged as a communal space separate from the workplace. With the rise of Xiaoqu (小区) communal space created by the real estate sector, for many urban residents, their place of private life and work became gradually separate. As work, life and leisure acquired spatial autonomy, weddings both grew in size and migrated to the privatized market, to entertainment space. With the concomitant commodification of pre-wedding activities in the form of things and services, social function of weddings in creating and reproducing communal relations weakened. Weddings have therefore increasingly taken on an entertainment character, mirroring and contributing to larger society-wide changes brought by market-derived modernization.