Books in the Central Asian Studies series

This book analyses the role of the mobility factor in the spread of Russian rule in Eurasia in the formative period of the rise of the Russian Empire and offers an examination of the interaction of Russian authorities with their nomadic partners.

This book re-examines the origins of modern Mongolian nationalism, discussing nation building as sponsored by the socialist Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party and the Soviet Union, emphasizing in particular the role of the arts and the humanities.

This book illustrates how informal markets and trade in Central Asia and the Caucasus have provided space for millions of people across the region to negotiate changes in state and society in the three decades since the breakup of the Soviet Union and the emergence of successor states.

Explores issues of cultural tension that affect Muslim and Christian interaction within the Central Asian context. This book looks at the ways that Christians have interacted with Central Asian Muslims in the past, and discusses what might need to be done to improve Muslim-Christian relations in the region.

This study, written from the perspective of political sociology, represents a comparative examination of Central Asian communal and political organization before and after the tsarist conquest of the region. It covers Turkman, Kyrgyz, Kazakh and other tribal societies.

A history in English of the East Syriac Church of the East. It covers the periods of the Sassanians, Arabs, Mongols, Ottomans, the 20th century, and informs about the Syriac, Iranian and Chinese literature of this unique and almost forgotten part of Christendom.

Central Asian states have witnessed an intense revival of Islamic faith. Along with its moderate and traditional forms, radical and militant Islam has infiltrated communities of Muslims in Central Asia. This book examines the tendency of counterterrorism policies of the Central Asian states to grow more alike amid propensities for divergence.

Throughout the nineteenth century, Central Asia was the scene of periodic confrontations between Britain and Russia. This title provides a 'history of thought' of this crucial period in Central Asia by examining of the strategic thinking and diplomatic discourse of the most intense decades of the confrontation.

Offers an analysis of peace-building in Central Asia for inter-ethnic conflicts over water and land in the Ferghana Valley. This book sheds light on Western attempts to transform the post-socialist societies of Central Asia and provides empirical data on and insights into irrigation practices, and social institutions in the Ferghana Valley.

Based on extensive field work and in-depth interviews in Kazakhstan, this book presents a comprehensive study of the issues of politics of oil and state-business relationships in Kazakhstan. It examines the ways in which the post-Soviet Kazakh regime has managed to sustain itself in power.

Post-Soviet, post-conflict Tajikistan is an under-studied and poorly understood case in conflict studies literature. This book charts the emergence of a legitimate order with properties of authority, sovereignty and livelihoods. It is suitable for academics working on Peace Studies, International Relations and Central Asian Studies.

The military played a pivotal role in the political development, state functions, foreign policy and the daily lives of the people in the Central Asian states from the early twentieth century. This book offers a study of the military institutions and the influence they had on the state and society.

Providing empirical research on the everyday practise of Islam in post-Soviet Central Asia, this book gives an account of how Islam is understood and practised among ordinary Muslims in the region, focusing in particular on Uzbekistan. It also shows how Islam facilitates the pursuit of more modest goals of agency and belonging.

Drawing from ethnographic research, interviews, and archival materials, this book traces the development of national identity and statehood in Kazakhstan, focusing on the attempts to build a national state. It argues that Russification and Sovietization were not 'top-down' processes, and that they provide considerable scope for local initiatives.

Offers one of the first comprehensive studies of the activities of one of the most feared - but least understood - international Islamist organizations in post-Soviet Central Asia: Hizb ut-Tahrir, that is The Party of Islamic Liberation.

Presents a history of the Northwest Caucasus. This book examines interethnic relations and demographic changes that have occurred, shedding light on how the policies of the Ottoman Empire, Crimean Khanate, and Russia have affected the peoples living in the region and their socio-political situation.

This book brings together leading specialists from a range of disciplines including geography, anthropology, sociology and political science to discuss how citizens and governments within Central Asia think about and practise security. The chapters were originally published in the journal Central Asian Survey.

This book provides a comparative history of Islamic education in the Soviet Union and the post-Soviet countries. Case studies on Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan and on two regions of the Russian Federation, Tatarstan and Daghestan, highlight the importance which Muslim communities in all parts of the Soviet Union attached to their formal and informal institutions of Islamic instruction.

Based on extensive, long-term fieldwork in the borderlands of Afghan and Tajik Badakhshan, this book explores the importance of local leaders and local identity groups for the stability of a stateΓÇÖs borders, and ultimately for the stability of the state itself. It shows how the implantation of formal institutional structures at the border, a process supported by United Nations and other international bodies, can be counterproductive in that it may marginalise local leaders and alienate the local population, thereby increasing overall instability. The study considers how, in this particular borderland where trafficking of illegal drugs, weapons and people is rampant, corrupt customs and border personnel, and imperfect new institutional arrangements, contributed to a complex mix of oppression, hidden protest and subtle resistance, which benefitted illicit traders and hindered much needed humanitarian work. The book relates developments in this region to borderlands elsewhere, especially new borders in the former Soviet bloc, and argues that local leaders and organisations should be given semi-autonomy in co-ordination with state border forces in order to increase stability and the acceptance of the state.