The Journal of Central Asian Studies

Central of Central Asian Studies

University of Kashmir

ISSN: 0975-086X

In this article, it is argued that globalization, as interplay of relationship between the products, markets and the nation states, has thrown opportunities as well as challenges to the energy sector. While the former has been beneficial to humanity in different respects, the latter has triggered unprecedented malice and heart burning among the energy stakeholders in Eurasia due to changing geo-economic and geo-political scenario. For their constantly growing energy demand, many countries have included Eurasian energy in their foreign policy agenda, and have started protecting their respective trans-national energy companies with all sorts of security and logistics. There are other challenges to the region’s energy sector in the foreseeable future: oil and gas resources are speedily depleting, their refinery capacity is shrinking, climatic change is badly affecting their locational deposits, major global powers are inspiring the funding agencies to sponsor alternative energy transportation corridors to scuttle monopoly of traditional energy buyers, and, above all, China is significantly factoring in region’s “energy production consumption trade structure,” to the detriment of other regional stakeholders, which is quite alarming. As an alternative thereof, Fredholm suggests massive exploration and use of nonconventional energy resources to strike a balance between supply and demand improve energy efficiency and facilitate regional economic organization to play a proactive role in maintaining energy relationship between producers and buyers.

This article captures an exhaustive view of entire dynamics of Iran’s nuclear programme, its costs, benefits and cascading effects on the region in particular and globe at large. Undeniably, Iran claims such a programme for civilian purpose, but that does not suggest that she would not, at any given time, transform enriched uranium into deadly nuclear arsenal notwithstanding her official handouts to the contrary. In fact, she has several underlying compulsions, and one, we believe, is her ethno-national and ideological incompatibility with and her scare from Israel’s swelling military power in her immediate neighbourhood. Therefore, US has to recognize Iran’s compulsions and neutralize the “assumed” threat perception through the medium of mutual dialogue and consultation, the key to Middle East peace and development, than the use of force or UN economic sanctions: the latter seems to loose ground due to recently inaugurated Iran- Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project by two Presidents of Iran and Pakistan.

This article identifies two types of regulatory policies employed by secular states towards Islam in Central Asia, and examines their effects on religious radicalism. Conceptually, we develop two prevalent kinds of state regulation of religious practices, permissive and dismissive regulations. Empirically, we investigate their effects by analyzing state policies toward Islamic education and their cumulative effects on the religious dynamism with reference to what is termed as the religious extremism or “Islamic radicalism” in the post-Soviet Republics of Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. The findings indicate that permissive state regulations in Kazakhstan impedes the threat of radical extremism, whereas dismissive state regulations appears to exacerbate the level of the same threat in Tajikistan. The findings further suggest that Islamic education is in need of urgent and comprehensive reforms, and that permissive state policies seeking to supplement institutional infrastructures, are likely to help revive and revamp Islamic education at large. These policies can be an effective tool for retarding the recruitment lifeline of militant religious organizations in Central Asia. The author profiles the entire scenario of religious radicalism in Central Asia within two fundamental questions: ‘To what extent does Islamic education matter in explaining the dynamics of Islamic radicalism?’ and ‘Does state regulation of religion promote or hinder religious radicalism?’

The domestic and foreign policies of the post-Soviet Central Asian States are co-related. However, they operated their foreign policies amid heavy odds, say for instance, infrastructural, technological and human capital deficiency obviously for being transitional economies. Subsequently, they evolved independent and transparent foreign policies keeping in view fastly transforming regional and global geo-political and geoeconomic relations. After 9/11/2001 World Trade Tower tragedy, they took a bold step by joining the US in her war against global terror in Afghanistan and elsewhere, and thus became known to the world at large. For limitation of time and space, the present paper seeks to compare the foreign policies of only two Central Asian states: Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan after Spring 2005. Robert Putnam’s model of two-level game approach has been used to explain this comparison within their national and international paradigms.

The present study measures social attitude toward advertising in Kazakhstan - a rapidly growing transitional economy that was a part of the former Soviet Union. It is related to author’s earlier study (Fullerton and Weir’s, 2002). While methodology in both cases remains the same, the class/ group-wise respondents, are different. In any way, the present findings reveal some statistically significant shifts in individual attitudes/behavior vis-à-vis consumer advertising industry. Further, the findings suggest that attitudes are generally constant within cultures notwithstanding shifts in external factors. This study, though limited by its small respondent pool of students and professors at university, provides insight not only about how people in Central Asia view advertising in general, but also how economic changes in a country can alter perceptions of advertising.

Kyrgyzstan experienced sets of violent uprisingsespeciallysince 2005. In 2010, it was overwhelmed byethnic violence between the Kyrgyz majority and the Uzbek minority groups, squarely because of miscalculated and misguided policy directions from the trans-national funding agencies, say for instance, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Trade Organisation (WTO). Abrupt initiative of transition from the centuries old tradition of collectivist land tenure stewardship and management, to a privatized and individualized land ownership system,forged social dislocation and political anger in an otherwise traditionally well-balanced and peaceful society. Paradoxically, there was no urgent need for the Kyrgyz government to carry out such agricultural reforms at the behest of an agency that had really no knowledge of local conditions. In this paper, the author examines changes in land tenures and their cascading impact on the country’s profile. It further argues that the key variable in Kyrgyzstan’s social and political disruption has been unwise, abrupt, and rushed state policies of agricultural land distribution and privatization.

The period of Qara Khitai rule in Central Asia (1124-1218) has been generally a neglected subject, despite the availability of wide range of literature on it in Arabic, Persian and Chinese. However, there has been a revival of interest in the recent years. Michal Biran’s book on The Empire of the Qara Khitai in Eurasian History: Between China and Islamic World, published by Cambridge University Press in 2005, speaks for the same. Biran is the first scholar whose writing on the Qara Khitais was based on the information contained in the Muslim and Chinese accounts. Nonetheless, certain gaps exist. For instance, one has yet to know a lot about the pre-Qara Khitai period. Similarly, the relations of the Khitans with the Central Asian rulers before Yelü Dashi established the Khitan empire, finds just little mention in the modern works.

Forts and fortresses symbolise a security mechanism against the marauding forces. The Great Wall of China was constructed by the Chinese to resist oft-recurring Hun invasions. However, such forts or fortresses were not unique to Asia but to the eastern and southern part of the Caspian Sea, which too encountered threat of the Huns from time to time. One such fortress was located between the Caucasus Mountain and the Caspian Sea as the most important defence line against the Gog and Magog tribes, and on which was generated an amazing legend like the Alexander’s Iron Gate in ancient times. In this paper, the author intends to take a look at the said fortress keeping in view the excavation of a fort in Iran that too was constructed for protection against the Huns and that too had a legend associated with it.

The present paper argues that Eurasian region and its neighbourhood embraced diverse climate and precipitation conditions that influenced human settlements from early times. Consequently, the life style of the people inhabiting the same geographical space varied region-wise. However, each ethnic group preferred settlement amid conditions akin to their original home of living. The adjustments therein, were always conditioned by the exigency of their survival besides finding better mode of existence. Quite precisely, whole Eurasian space and its neighbourhood had distinct zones occupied and inhabited by diverse ethnic and social groups and communities, the paper further argues.

In this paper, the author profiles the Japan-Central Asian relations since 1990s. Politically and diplomatically, their relations sound smooth and cordial though, yet in economic and strategic terms, such relations are not worthwhile perhaps because of geographical disconnect. The two regions have a diverse locational composition, one situated amid sea and another off the sea. Nevertheless, a lot of scope exists for their mutual cooperation in different fields, energy, and trade in particular. No doubt, Japan is industrially advanced, but she is handicapped for want of energy. On the other hand, Central Asian countries are energy-abundant but industrially in-advanced, exception apart. The author rightly suggests that Japan and Central Asian states can reasonably exchange and share energy, expertise and technology, which would eventually push up their trade volume from millions to billions of $US. He further suggests that Siberian route is the best possible option for Central Asian energy imports compared to other routes, which are fragile due to strained Japan-China and Japan-Russian relations over some territorial spaces. The author has outlined following four major findings in the paper: first, competition is not and will not remain a defining feature of Japan’s Central Asia policy; second, Japan is not a player in the “new great game” and is not having geo-political/strategic ambitions in Central Asia; third, Japan cannot afford the confrontational attitude in Central Asia and fourth, Japan’s foreign policy towards Central Asia requires a clear direction.

In this paper, the author focuses on the issues of regional development in Central Asia over the last two decades. The issues pertain to the feasibility of multilateral regional cooperation at the economic and institutional levels. Further, Bek Ali dilates upon variety of global initiatives as a boost to Central Asian regional development, and, at the same time, accounts for the challenges in the way of the development. Likewise, he argues that there is no choice with the Central Asian states excepting economic cooperation and institutional soft linkages both from within and outside the region. The author’s debate in the paper revolves round the following few questions: Whether or not the regional cooperation is at all needed in Central Asia? What are regional policies of Central Asian Republics (CARs)? Do they have matching regional priorities? What are their conflicting regional interests? What is role of economy, and soft institutional linkages in the regional cooperation? Does cooperation demand an overnight or gradual approach for the purpose? What would be the role of ruling elite in the region? Are they there to enhance or deter the cooperation? What type of institutional cooperation would the region need? What are the local stereotypes towards the region in each of the CARs?