Based on first-hand research conducted by the Moscow Centre for Civilizational and Regional Studies, this work documents the findings of one of the first authoritative studies on the newly independent states of Central Asia - Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kirgizia and Tadjikistan. Focusing on the unprecedented challenges facing these nascent countries, it examines the political events and socio-economic changes which followed the disintegration of the Soviet Union by analysing the difficulties of state-building and the dramatic social upheavals experienced by these republics. The book also covers the path of economic growth in the 1990s by examining the recession of 1991-1995 and the increasing income disparity between the affluent minority and the impoverished majority. The continuing socio-political and inter-ethnic tensions in the region are also covered in some detail, as is the relationship between the new states and Russia. Attention is further 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.

About the Author
Alexei Vassiliev is a Russian scholar and writer whose professional career has focused on the Arab world. He was Pravda's Middle East correspondent for more than ten years and is the author of numerous books and articles on the region. His recent work The History of Saudi Arabia (also published by Saqi), was recently chosen as Outstanding Academic Title by Choice, USA. In 1992 Vassiliev was appointed director of the Institute of African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.


Book Information
ISBN 9780863569135
Author Alexei Vassiliev
Format Hardback
Page Count 277
Imprint Saqi Books
Publisher Saqi Books
Weight(grams) 800g
Dimensions(mm) 245mm * 175mm * 25mm