Books in the Central Asia Research Forum series

Draws on the author's experience of Central Asia to take on the task of explaining the remarkable economic declines of the post-Soviet Central Asian states (Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan), and the turn of these states towards despotism.

This book analyses the implications of the global shift to cleaner energy for a country whose economy has centred on hydrocarbon exports. Chapters written by experts in the field provide a comprehensive review of the current energy situation in Kazakhstan including fossil energy and renewable resources.

This collection traces how pastoralists have coped with the challenges of change in their precarious position in a part of the world with a long-tradition of livestock keeping.

Xinjiang is the `pivot of Asiä, where the frontiers of China, Tibet, India, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia approach each other. This book offers a new perspective on the region, with a focus on social, economic and political developments in Xinjiang in modern and contemporary times. It is of interest to those studying in Chinese and Central Asian politics and society, International Relations and Security Studies.

This book explores the unfolding of world history in a remote corner of Central Asia: the region of Badakhshan. It offers a comprehensive overview of the history of the Ismaili community in Tajikistan and analyses the ways in which expressions of political and religious authority have evolved and how they have been adapted to different political contexts and radical social upheaval. Skilfully applying an interdisciplinary approach, this book challenges the ways religious and secular categories have been distinguished in recent scholarship

Focusing on a range of Eurasian conflicts, including Nagorno-Karabakh, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, this book offers contemporary perspectives on the ongoing conflicts in the Eurasia, with an emphasis on the attempts towards peace.

Through historical and ethnographic research and use of local scholarly works, this book provides an analysis of the production of knowledge in Central Asia.

This book questions the suitability of the colonial model for understanding Soviet Asia's recent political history and challenges many of the assumptions which underlay the adoption of such a model.

This book provides local perspectives on religion, security, history, geopolitics and geostrategy in South Asia and Central Asia in an integrated manner. Presenting a holistic and updated view of the developments inside and across South and Central Asia, it offers coherent and concise analyses by experts on the region.

This study of Turkmen women and their folk songs looks at religion, ritual and family as seen through the eyes of the women and their songs.

This collection traces how pastoralists have coped with the challenges of change in their precarious position in a part of the world with a long-tradition of livestock keeping.

Examines the transition Central Asia underwent in the twentieth century following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Soviet colonial legacy and the attempts of new states to build secular states within the radical Islamic world.

Reflects the particular concerns of each of the Caspian countries, which with contributions from a host of international experts offer a unique perspective on the prospects and priorities for long-term development round the Caspian basin.

Examines the causes of the post-independence turmoil, and analyses social and political dynamics at work throughout Central Asia.

Examines the economic reforms and material progress of the Central Asian republics after becoming independent from the Soviet Union, focusing on the largest of these states: Ukbekistan. This book considers the region's abundant energy resources and prospects for development.

Turkmenistan, an independent nation since 1991, is a strategically important Central Asian state. This book covers the most significant period of the establishment of the Turkmen political regime. It deals with the Doctrine of Positive Neutrality, which constituted the theoretical backbone for the foreign policy of post-Soviet Turkmenistan.

The Caspian Basin region has boomed since the late 1990s due to oil discoveries, pipelines that have diversified countries' transport options and world oil prices that have risen from below $10 in 1998 to $70 in 2006. This book analyzes the experience of the Caspian countries during the oil boom.

The Caspian redefines a Caspian debate long characterized by one-sided and politically motivated analyses and, at times, fantastic reporting. Bringing together a range of influential voices from academia, the media, the oil industry, civil service, the military and diplomatic corps, this book rewrites the region's recent history.

Drawing upon recent progress in development economics and political science, the book provides fresh analysis of the Caucasus and Central Asia (CCA) countries transition to a market economy by tracing the impact of natural resource endowment.

The Central Asian environment is particularly vulnerable to drought and soil erosion, if not carefully managed. This book offers a wide range of perspectives on how Central Asia can find paths of development which really serve its long-term

Focusing on Soviet culture and its social ramifications both during the Soviet period and in the post-Soviet era, this book addresses important themes associated with Sovietisation and socialisation in the Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

This study of women and gender in a Muslim society draws on archival and literary sources as well as the life stories of women to offer a unique ethnographic and historical account of the lives of urban women in contemporary Azerbaijan.

This work examines Qaidu (1236-1301), one of the great rebels in the history of the Mongol Empire, who was the grandson of Ogedei, the son Genghis Khan had chosen to be his heir. It focuses on how, in the 1270s, Qaidu succeeded in establishing a kingdom of the house of Ogedei in central Asia.