Central Asia The Last Decolonization

This book unpacks the main narratives used in international relations to depict and explain existing inter-state relations in Central Asia, with a focus on the construction of fairer international relations along the Silk Road. The book points to the need to decolonize international relations in the Central Asian region to present a fair representation of the regional states in international affairs. In doing so, the book exposes the concepts and stereotypes that have been imposed on the Central Asian region by dominant assumptions in contemporary international relations. Offering empirical grounding for alternative views, the author suggests that Western international relations make the same mistakes in the Central Asian region that the Russian Marxists made when they attributed a narrative of modernity along the lines of the progress made in Germany and Russia. In such a structure, both Russian Marxist attempts and liberalist Western ideas disregard the fact that the region has its own model of modernity and progress, which does not necessarily involve an appeal to the modern nation state, ethnicity and state building. The book sheds lights on the prospects of coordinated development of Central Asia and Afghanistan. It also provides insights into the development of post-Socialist Asia in its relations with Russia, China, Japan and South Korea. Contributing to the task of placing Central Asia in discussions in the discipline of international relations, this book will be of interest to academics working in the fields of international relations and Asian politics, in particular Central Asian studies.

This book traces the incorporation of Central Asia into the Soviet system, the region's path of development under socialism, and the vicissitudes of the economic and political collapse of socialism, before considering the trajectories of the new states as they chart their independent futures.

The lands of Central Asia are united by a common history and historical identity as well as by common traditions. A heritage of tribal mountain and steppe confederations and oasis emirates gave way in the Soviet period to the creation of artificial “nation-states” in the heart of Asia. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, these nations—Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tojikiston, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekiston—were thrust back into the international community as separate countries. Independence came as had bondage to Soviet power seven decades earlier—it was imposed from without. These new states are now struggling with the cultural, economic, and political transformations of decolonization and independence.Exploring the forces of change in the new Central Asian states, Gregory Gleason analyzes their culture, their economic evolution, and their political institutions. He carefully traces the incorporation of Central Asia into the Soviet system, the region's path of development under socialism, and the vicissitudes of the economic and political collapse of socialism, before considering the trajectories of the new states as they chart their independent futures.

This book explores the postcolonial discourse and decolonization processes in modern Kazakhstan and beyond. It pays particular attention to such areas as national and religious identity, language, literature, and historical narratives. Despite the fact that the post-colonial theory initially emerged in other regions of the world, it has increasingly been applied in the scholarship on Central Asia. Exploring recent debates on post-coloniality in Kazakhstan, this book is an attempt to bring together two bodies of scholarly literature: scholarship on culture and society in post-Soviet Central Asia and research on post-colonial theory. This volume will be of interest to scholars of Eurasian studies as well as researchers and students of post-colonialism in various contexts beyond Eurasia.

"Focusing on the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic, this book places the Soviet development of Central Asia, and the Soviet hope for communism's bringing prosperity to a supposedly backward area, in global context"--

The end of colonial rule in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean was one of the most important and dramatic developments of the twentieth century. In the decades after World War II, dozens of new states emerged as actors in global politics. Long-established imperial regimes collapsed, some more or less peacefully, others amid mass violence. This book takes an incisive look at decolonization and its long-term consequences, revealing it to be a coherent yet multidimensional process at the heart of modern history. Jan Jansen and Jürgen Osterhammel trace the decline of European, American, and Japanese colonial supremacy from World War I to the 1990s. Providing a comparative perspective on the decolonization process, they shed light on its key aspects while taking into account the unique regional and imperial contexts in which it unfolded. Jansen and Osterhammel show how the seeds of decolonization were sown during the interwar period and argue that the geopolitical restructuring of the world was intrinsically connected to a sea change in the global normative order. They examine the economic repercussions of decolonization and its impact on international power structures, its consequences for envisioning world order, and the long shadow it continues to cast over new states and former colonial powers alike. Concise and authoritative, Decolonization is the essential introduction to this momentous chapter in history, the aftershocks of which are still being felt today. --

Connecting Histories: Decolonization and the Cold War in Southeast Asia draws on newly available archival documentation from both Western and Asian countries to explore decolonization, the Cold War, and the establishment of a new international order in post-World War II Southeast Asia. Major historical forces intersected here--of power, politics, economics, and culture--on trajectories East to West, North to South, across the South itself, and along less defined tracks. Especially important, democratic-communist competitions sought the loyalties of Southeast Asian nationalists, even as some colonial powers sought to resume their prewar dominance. These intersections are the focus of the contributions to this book, which use new sources and approaches to examine some of the most important historical trajectories of the twentieth century in Burma, Vietnam, Malaysia, and a number of other countries.