Product Description
D&B Export Guide

D&B Export Guides are your guide to global market and export information on more than 185 countries. For many years these guides have been the ticket to successful foreign trade. Armed with this information, you can enter global markets and minimize payment delays by understanding country requirements in advance. With D&B Export Guides you get the details you need to work successfully in each market:

Topics covered include:

Product Description
Kazakhstan, Kirgystan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have all become independent states in central Asia, following the break-up of the USSR. All have Muslim majorities and ancient histories, but are otherwise very different. This book provides an introduction to the region. Rashid gives a history of each country, including its incorporation into Tsarist Russia to the present day. He provides basic socio-economic information and explains the diverse political situations. He focuses primarily on the underlying issues confronting these societies: the legacy of Soviet rule; ethnic tensions; the position of women; the future of Islam; the question of nuclear proliferation; and the fundamental choices over economic strategy, political system and external orientation which lie ahead. ... Read more

Product Description
Covering Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and, Tajikistan, these 12 essays (drawn from a 1998 conference sponsoredby the Center for Civil Society International) explore the prospects of and dangers facing the growth of Western-style democracy in Central Asia. Reflecting a range of disciplines ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

review of Civil Society in Central Asia
This book as been reviewed in the current volume of the British Columbia Asian Review (BCAR)... ... Read more

Product Description
This timely study is the first to examine the relationship between competition for energy resources and the propensity for conflict in the Caspian region. Taking the discussion well beyond issues of pipeline politics and the significance of Caspian oil and gas to the global market, the book offers significant new findings concerning the impact of energy wealth on the political life and economies of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan. The contributors, a leading group of scholars and policymakers, explore the differing interests of ruling elites, the political opposition, and minority ethnic and religious groups region-wide. Placing Caspian development in the broader international relations context, the book assesses the ways in which Russia, China, Iran, and Turkey are fighting to protect their interests in the newly independent states and how competition for production contracts and pipeline routes influences regional security. Specific chapters also link regional issues to central questions of international politics and to theoretical debates over the role of energy wealth in political and economic development worldwide. Woven throughout the implications for U.S. policy, giving the book wide appeal to policymakers, corporate executives, energy analysts, and scholars alike. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The best source on Central Asia oil policy
For those who want to understand why Central Asia has been fought over in recent history Rajan Menon provides an invaluable tool. This book goes region by region utilizing the best authors in each.The book covers the individual countries in the Caspian regions as well as the future prospects for Russian and OPEC interaction there.It clearly lays out how the region has been developing and although a little dated at this point it still provides an excellent foundation.The authors that contribute are the best in their fields and Menon organizes the book very well.Highly recommend if you are interested in oil policy. ... Read more

Product Description
Based on first-hand research conducted by the Moscow Centre for Civilizational and Regional Studies, this book documents the findings of one of the first authoritative studies on the newly independent states of Central Asia - Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kirgizia and Tadjikistan. Attention is also drawn to the causes and outcomes of the civil war in Tadjikistan as well as the growing international competition for access to the natural resources of the Central Asian countries. ... Read more

Product Description
This book provides a comprehensive study of Soviet Central Asia. It covers politics, education, agricultural problems, ethnic and demographic issues and the role of Islam in the region. Shirin Akiner's introduction considers recent political developments in the USSR in the context of the issues covered by the contributors, who include prominent academics from Central Asia, Russia, the USA, the UK, France and Israel. ... Read more

Product Description
The subject of this particular book is of great interest today for three major reasons: first, the six republics of Central Asia, strongly shaped by Turkic languages (Tajik is a variety of Persian, but Turkic influence is still there). and Islam, are relatively unknown; secondly, their respective language policies, which they say are central for development and modernisation, may show us much about the creative potential of choices of language anywhere in the world as well as problems connected with implementation; third, these two scholars and their local assistants harvested much previously unpublished empirical data which they have presented to readers in a clear framework. The conclusion very well relates language policies in these states to broad issues of nation-building-, language planning, multilingualism, and other concepts. ... Read more

Product Description
Praise for The Failure of Political Islam:

"A daring exploration. This book is a corrective of stunning power."
--Boston Book Review

"This book is essential reading for all interested in the late 20th century evolution of movements of religious activism and revival."
--Middle East Journal

During the anti-Gorbachev coup in August 1991 most communist leaders from Soviet central Asia backed the plotters. Within weeks of the coup's collapse, those same leaders--now transformed into ardent nationalists--proclaimed the independence of their nations, adopted new flags and new slogans, and discovered a new patriotism.

How were these new nations built, among peoples without any traditional nationalist heritage and no history of independent governance? Olivier Roy argues that Soviet practice had always been to build on local institutions and promote local elites, and that Soviet administration--as opposed to Soviet rhetoric--was always surprisingly decentralized in the far-flung corners of the empire. Thus, with home-grown political leaders and administrative institutions, national identities in central Asia emerged almost by stealth.

Roy's analysis of the new states in central Asia--Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tadjikstan, Kirghizstan and Azerbaijan--provides a glimpse of the future of an increasingly fragmented and dangerous region. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Sometimes tough going, but provides useful insights
This work explains the origins of the independent republics of Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan).It was mostly written in 1997, with only a brief introduction updating events to 2007.

The translated text can sometimes be extremely hard going, but I found it valuable reading.

Prof. Roy explains that before the arrival of the Tsars, Central Asia was an amorphous mix of many different ethnic groups and identities, loosely unified by Sunni Islam, with strong overlays of Persian and Turkic culture, organized into many competing local khanates and smaller groups.Individuals tended to associate themselves with local clans rather than larger "national" groups and could often have overlapping group identities, speaking either Persian (Tajik) or a Turkic dialect as circumstances required.

Both the Tsars and later the Soviets observed that there was enough commonality amongst the various groups that the whole region could easily unify into a single pan-Islamic or pan-Turkic identity, creating a significant regional power.Therefore first the Tsars and later Stalin consciously adopted a divide and rule strategy.The Soviets, applying considerable creativity, carved out specific languages and national identities from the continuum of dialects and shared histories and forced every individual to accept one specific role.Stalin carefully created new Soviet Socialist Republics with gerrymandered boundaries, such that both intertwined geography and misplaced peoples led to permanent tensions and squabbles between the republics, which then looked to Moscow as the mediator of their quarrels, rather than as their common enemy.

Under the Soviet system, Moscow's main goal was to have the new republics quietly look after their own internal affairs, but to always look to Moscow to resolve any larger regional or national issues.In a fateful decision, Moscow avoided using citizens of each republic beyond its borders.Thus an ambitious Kazakh apparatchik could not aim to build a career in the wider USSR, but was restricted to a local Kazakhstan career.This created clannish local elites, tightly bound to their own republics, looking to Moscow for leadership but with no wider regional ties.So when Moscow's leadership crumbled, the republics were (rather to their surprise) already ripe for independence.And their existing Soviet elites naturally led that independence, set within the boundaries Stalin had created.

The main weakness of the book is that it was written in academic French and has suffered further in a poor translation into jargon laden English.Thus it can sometimes be difficult going and occasionally sentences don't quite come across in English.

My advice would be that if you are seriously interested in Central Asia, then it is well worth the effort of persevering through the text.It provides extremely valuable historical background on the region.However, it is definitely not something for light reading

Packed with info.Hard to read.
This book is packed with useful insights but it is not for the Central Asian novice.I give it two stars because it is hard to read and could be better organized. The information in it is five star.It is a graduate-school level analysis of the evolution of the current Central Asian nation-states.It is what would be expected from a person in Roy's position; researcher at the Centre National des Recherches Scientifques.The book was originally written in French and translated into English for this edition.That in itself is not a problem but the writing style is one that has a heavy "fog factor".There are numerous sentences that are 60 words long and contain multiple commas, parenthetical statements, hyphens and semi colons in one sentence.If you can slog through syntax you can glean a lot of useful information.My suggestion is you have some understanding of Central Asian history and geography before you attempt this book. The lack of maps would make it really difficult for a beginning reader of Central Asia.Central Asia in Historical Perspective (edited by Manz), although a graduate-level text, is better organized and easier to understand.

Caution to the reader
I purchased this book after I developed an increasing interest in the politics and history of Central Asia.At that point, I had read a couple of books on the topic, leaving me with a feeling of general competence.This book, however, was seriously beyond my level of knowledge, and I'd like to caution readers with anything below a superior understanding of Soviet and Central Asian History.The author "jumps" around the region quite a bit, creating problems which compound themselves, particularly as no maps are included anywhere in the book.If you do not possess an intimate knowledge of the geography, I suggest waiting until your mental map is more complete (as I'll be doing).
The book is translated from French.After reading about 20 pages, this fact amazed me from the vocabularly chosen by the translator.I can't remember the last time I had to use a dictionary, but this book sent me searching on more than one occasion.Moreover, the writing style is incredibly dry, even for a work of history."New Central Asia" is loaded with solid research and cogent argumentation, but the presentation leaves much to be desired.

Making Sense of Central Asia
Olivier Roy is a well-known expert on Islam, the Arab world and Central Asia.His The New Central Asia is an excellent examination of the creation of new nations that emerged from the end of the Soviet Union in 1992.He contends that while these new republics are in search of identity (in essence creating new nationalisms), they have also inherited the older Soviet system of rule and institutions, which were not democratic and more oriented to personality cults and heavy-handed treatment of the opposition. This explains the difficult path countries such as Uzbekistan and Tajikistan have had through the 1990s and into the next decade. For anyone looking at the problems of development as well as wishing to obtain a better understanding of a pivotal geo-political zone, Roy's well-researched book is worth the read.

Making Sense of Central Asia
Olivier Roy is a well-known expert on Islam, the Arab world and Central Asia.His The New Central Asia is an excellent examination of the creation of new nations that emerged from the end of the Soviet Union in 1992.He contends that while these new republics are in search of identity (in essence creating new nationalisms), they have also inherited the older Soviet system of rule and institutions, which were not democratic and more oriented to personality cults and heavy-handed treatment of the opposition. This explains the difficult path countries such as Uzbekistan and Tajikistan have had through the 1990s and into the next decade. For anyone looking at the problems of development as well as wishing to obtain a better understanding of a pivotal geo-political zone, Roy's well-researched book is worth the read. ... Read more