Central Asia, home of Tamerlane and the Silk Road, is a crossroads
of great cultures and civilizations. In 1991 five nations at the
heart of the region -- Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan -- suddenly became independent from
the USSR. Today they sit strategically between Russia, China, and
Iran, holding some of the world's largest deposits of oil and
natural gas. Long-suppressed ethnic identities are finding new
expression in language, religion, the arts, international
alignments -- and occasional civil conflicts.
In the decades ahead, what kind of societies will the more than
50 million people living in Central Asia create? Single-party
secular states, Islamic republics, market democracies, something
else?
Civil Society in Central Asia is a pathbreaking collection of
essays by scholars and activists that illuminates the social and
institutional forces shaping this important region's future. Are
the foundations of a democratic order emerging? As the essays
suggest, trends are contradictory and vary in each country.
This timely book matches contributions by leading specialists
such as S. Frederick Starr, Olivier Roy, Scott Horton, Alla
Kazakina, Abdumannob Polat, and Reuel Hanks with the insights of
individuals who have been on the front lines of the struggle for
civil society in Central Asia itself -- representatives of
organizations such as Counterpart, Internews, and the Kazakstan
International Bureau for Human Rights. Topics range from the legal
framework for free association to grassroots movements for
environmental protection, the resurgence of Islam, and the
viability of the Soviet-era collective farms. A 75-page appendix
provides a guide tomany of the most significant projects being
carried out by local and international NGOs in the region.
General
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