The Journal of Central Asian Studies

Central of Central Asian Studies

University of Kashmir

ISSN: 0975-086X

This article places the first instance of ethnic unrest in the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev, the 17-20 December 1986 Alma-Ata events, in historical perspective by examining the Soviet nationalities (national minorities) problem and 300 years of previous Russo-Kazakh interaction in Central Asia. Besides, utilizing both archival sources and interviews, the author specifically shows why Mikhail Gorbachev's 16 December replacement of First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan (CPK), Dinmukhamed Kunaev, with the Russian Gennadi Kolbin was viewed as a political and ethnic challenge by many young Kazakhs—who showed up the next day on Brezhnev (Republic) Square in Alma-Ata (Almaty) to protest the decision. After years of Soviet repressive measures such as Stalinist collectivization and purges, Khrushchev's Virgin Lands program, and the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Polygon, and the destruction of the Aral Sea, the Kazakhs constituted a minority population in their republic. During Leonid Brezhnev's and Kunaev's rule, however, Kazakhs began to gain ground in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (KSSR) both demographically and politically—a fact which the author documents with Soviet census data and ground-breaking archival data relating to the ethnic composition of the CPK—but Brezhnev's death in 1982 and the rise of Yuri Andropov and Gorbachev marked the beginning of an attack on the Kunaev political machine, culminating in the appointment of Kolbin. When tens of thousands of young Kazakhs subsequently took to the streets of Alma-Ata, then, the author concludes that it not only marked the beginning of an independent Kazakhstan—but also the beginning of the end for of the Soviet Union five years later—as Kazakhs were first to exercise their right to have an independent say in the governing of their republic.

Since Kazakhstan's attainment of independent political identity in 1991, debates on exigency of democratic transition have gone off in multiple directions. However, the systemic transition remained smooth with the introduction of extensive political and economic reforms, keeping people's interest at the centre. At that time, democratization and liberalization were twin-strategic priorities of Kazakhstan. Until recently, Kazakhstan has succeeded in maintaining robust economic performance, stable fiscal condition, and formidable trade relations with major, regional as well as extra-regional powers. Yet the project of democratization is underway, thickening the qualm over Kazakhstan's transition to democracy. Even transition of power after snap presidential election held on June 9, 2019 has raised multiple questions regarding future trajectory of Kazakh politics. To what extent the shift of power will help Kazakhstan to deepen and broaden the base of democracy remains a matter of solemn contestation among academia and policy analysts alike. In this backdrop, the paper undertakes to analyze how Kazakhstan grapples with the enduring predicaments in making it a vibrant democracy. The paper further attempts to dig deeper whether the slew of political and constitutional measures taken by the leadership of Kazakhstan were carefully crafted to ensure regime stability and economic expansion; or it was attempted to pave for smooth transition to democracy?

Experimentation of the Soviet Model of Education in Central Asia has contributed in an enormous way to the development of socio-economic life of Central Asian States in general and Kazakhstan in particular. Why Kazakhstan is particular because its relationship with Russia had been the longest and all-pervading, leading to long-lasting imprints on the Kazakh socio-economic and cultural institutions. Russian rule changed the demographic profile of Kazakh SSR, but along with the task of changing demography, the transformation of socio-economic and cultural fabric through the experimentation of the Soviet model of education cannot be altogether ignored. The present study intends to investigate the educational development of Kazakhstan throughout the Russian rule along with its underlying causes. The study argues that the educational development in Kazakh SSR was motivated not only to produce favorable conditions for inculcating new values among the younger generation, but to obtain a class of literates or professionals who could help the Union or Republic in economic gains.

As the Central Asian States turned into the colony and protectorate of the Russian empire, tangible changes occurred in the social sector. For instance, economic transformations were done which in turn influenced the process of social stratification. Peculiarities of Bukharan society, which clearly express Central Asian traditional social order and its social changes are substantial issue to be researched, since this is regarded as an unsolved problem of the social history of Central Asia. With the establishment of capitalist relations in Bukharan society, the role of personality began to take shape on such criteria as private property, investment, profit, enlightenment, together with previous class rights and preferences. The importance of this article can be seen in the analysis of peculiarities of changes that took place at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries in the Bukharan society.

This study probes the causal relationship between economic growth and tourism development in Tajikistan from 2002 to 2017. Data for the gross domestic product (GDP) and tourism receipts were obtained from World Data Atlas. To test the data stationarity, this study employs the unit root test followed by a cointegration test to check whether there is a long-run relationship between GDP and tourism receipts. Furthermore, the Granger causality test was used to check the direction of the relationship between tourism development and economic growth. The findings of the study confirm a long-run relationship between tourism development and economic growth in Tajikistan. Moreover, the Granger causality test results showed a unidirectional relationship between two variables running from GDP growth to tourism development. The upshot from the results substantiates economic-led tourism growth in Tajikistan.

The paper attempts to evaluate manufacturing's role in Kazakhstan's economic growth during the post-independence period based on three laws of Kaldor. The first law states that manufacturing is the engine of economic growth in the long run. The second law states that manufacturing productivity growth is identified with the manufacturing sector's growth through static and dynamic returns to scale. Finally, the third law states a positive association between non-manufacturing productivity growth and manufacturing growth. The paper estimates Kaldor's growth laws using the Kazakhstan economy's timeseries data from 2000 to 2018. The results imply that a comprehensive and all-round development of the manufacturing sector should be prioritized to ensure a stable and sustainable growth trajectory. The manufacturing industry has its spill-over effects on the remaining sectors of the economy.

Central Asia has experienced a rapid increase in HIV infection over the last decade. The dire life circumstances of labour migrants working in Russia, which are wellknown, have increased their HIV risk vulnerability. Low socioeconomic status, lack of access to services, separation from family, and limited risk awareness all contribute to migrants' HIV vulnerability. In a structurally patriarchal society, gender norms limit the wives' abilities to protect themselves and their husbands from HIV/AIDS. This paper examines the factors responsible for the elevated HIV risk behaviours among Tajik labour migrants and which, in turn, infect their left-behind wives in Tajikistan. Having applied Robert Connell's theory of gender and power, it has been manifested that how gender inequality gender and power imbalance has made women vulnerable to HIV. The extended version of the theory of gender and power examines the exposures, social/behavioural risk factors, and biological properties that increase women's vulnerability for getting infected with HIV.

The Caspian Sea is the world's largest enclosed inland water body in terms of its location as well as its vast energy resources. The sea contains 50 billion barrels of oil and 9 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in proven or probable reserves, significant from global energy security and economic perspective. National and international 'Oil and Gas corporations' are commercially active for exploration and exploitation of available resources, identified as the major cause for contamination and irreversible damage of aquatic and surrounding habitat. Among the littoral states, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have been conducting extensive oil and gas drilling activities that releases the maximum of hazardous petrochemical waste and spills in the Caspian Sea besides posing serious challenges to the environment. Other major environmental challenges are; fluctuating sea water levels, declining sturgeon fisheries, imbalances in biodiversity, desertification, urbanization of coastal areas, and degradation of ecosystem. These factors are polluting soil, air and water of the region, which is leading to deteriorating living standards of the people in this vicinity. Considering the commercial and economic interests, the littoral states are not much concern for the environmental laws, so they are very weak and largely unenforced. Another problem is the lack of defining legal status of the Sea. This paper's objective is to identify the key causes for the environmental degradation and their impact on the health of human, aquatic and wildlife population. Further, it would discuss how “competition over the energy resources” among the great powers in the Caspian region is threatening the ecological system and balance. The study will also evaluate the key initiatives taken by the Caspian states to monitor and control environmental pollution.

The oldest recorded transcontinental trade link, the "ancient silk route" had been a major land bridge between the east and the west for over twenty centuries. This route was a major link not only for trade but also for cultural exchange, the transmission of art, religion, and people-to-people contacts. However, with the disintegrations of empires particularly the Mongol empire in the 14th century and changing political conditions in the countries along the silk route, trade through this route suffered and was replaced by vessel shipping and cargo flights which shifted the trade from the silk route to another surface, sea and air routes. In modern times, keeping its economic conditions in mind and searching for easy and cheaper routes to markets of developing and developed countries, China took the initiative for the revival of the silk route. This route offers a link between China and Europe through Central Asia and Russia potentially complementing the shipping routes and offers a new opportunity for the development and integration of linked economies. This paper attempts to explore the connectivity advancements via silk roads intended to facilitate the regional and long-distance trade from China to Europe and the possible economic opportunities for India to join the initiative.

The female image in cinema has always been a reflection of socio-political transformation, thus, changes in the social status of women are directly related to their artistic representation. The image of a modern Uzbek woman in cinema combines traditionalism peculiar to the Central Asian region and glamorous femininity inspired by the West. Although the female image has undergone diversification in commercial film production, the willingness to build a family remains an integral part of women's aspirations and desires. The search for personal happiness as a wife and mother is an obligatory element of the plot narrative, and success in personal life despite various circumstances is almost the only possible happy ending for a female protagonist. In the latest art cinema, there is a general trend toward the reverse evolution of the female image-from a modern woman to a traditional one. In these movies, spiritual values, morality, and traditions as the principal factor of society's well-being are brought to the foreground, while female characters are mostly depicted in a traditional environment and within an ethnographic context. This paper mainly focuses on Bakhrom Yakubov's film Superbride (2008), which became a national hit and box-office sensation in the domestic market. Superbride is a particularly successful example of a fiction film that through the prism of youth comedy promotes an ideal and frankly banal female image based on patriarchal mentality.

The Kashmir valley, eulogised as the heaven on earth, has been, throughout its history, a place of great interest for saints, sages, Sufis, travellers, adventurers, and rulers. Unlike its neighbouring regions, the conquest of Kashmir at the hands of (foreign) Muslim rulers was suspended for a considerable period of time (i.e., up to 1586, when Mughal rulers of India annexed it) but could not escape the spiritually elite lot among Muslims (Sufis and Rishis), who conquered but not the land, rather the hearts of the people, receiving from them the unfathomable love and reverence for generations to come; thus, bringing forth the materialization of the prediction about Kashmir made by Kalhānā, the ardent Brahman and classical Sanskrit chronicler of Kashmir, who says, “That country may be conquered by the force of spiritual merits, but not by forces of soldiers. Hence its inhabitants are afraid only of the world beyond.” Muslims were present in Kashmir centuries before the establishment of Muslim rule and large scale propagation of Islam there. This, historical fact substantiated with valid documents, depicts the broad-mindedness, welcoming, peace loving and tolerant nature of medieval society of Kashmir, that eventually sustained a multicultural and all-inclusive environment in Kashmir for a considerable period of time. The current paper endeavours to trace the presence of Muslims in Kashmir in the early medieval period i.e., much before the large-scale propagation of Islam and the establishment of Muslim rule there.