Předměty

Poslední úprava: Mgr. Anna Jordanová (07.10.2023)

1. Concepts, Geography, Demography, Society (5.10.)

Key topics: Central Asia as Eurasian pivot or black hole? Different concepts and approaches of the region. Geographical parts of the region.

Readings:

(read at least 2 out of 3 readings)

Bruno J. De Cordier and Jeroen J.J. Van den Bosch: Defining and Delineating Central Asia from a European Perspective. European Handbook of Central Asian Studies. History, Politics, and Society (Jeroen Van den Bosch - Adrien Fauve - Bruno de Cordier), Ibidem Verlag, Stuttgart, 2021, p. 13-38.
Available: https://www.ibidem.eu/en/the-european-handbook-of-central-asian-studies-9783838215181.html

Cummings, Sally. „Understanding Central Asia: Politics and Contested Transformations“. Routledge, 2013 (Chapter 2).
Available: Jinonice library.

Clarke, Michael. „The centrality of Central Asia in world history 1700-2008. From Pivot to Periphery and Back Again?“ China, Xinjiang and Central Asia. History, transition and crossborder interaction into 21st century (Mackerass, Colin - Clarke Michael, eds.). Routledge, 2009: 21-54.
Available in the package and e-databases, libraries.

Presentation readings:

Mackinder, Halford John. "The geographical pivot of history." Geographical Journal 170.4 (2004): 298-321.
Available in the package.

Starr, S. Frederick. In Defense of Greater Central Asia. Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program, 2008. Available online.

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2. To which extent “post-Soviet”? (12.10).

Key topics: What remains from the Soviet era? Commonalities and differences.

Readings: Gorshenina, Svetlana: Orientalism, Postcolonial and Decolonial Frames on Central Asia: Theoretical Relevance and Applicability. European Handbook of Central Asian Studies. History, Politics, and Society (Jeroen Van den Bosch - Adrien Fauve - Bruno de Cordier, eds.), Ibidem Verlag, Stuttgart, 2021, p. 175-244.
Available online: https://www.ibidem.eu/en/the-european-handbook-of-central-asian-studies-9783838215181.html

alternatively:

Lewis, David. „Sovereignty after Empire: The Colonial Roots of Central Asian Authoritarianism“. Sovereignty After Empire. Comparing the Middle East and Central Asia. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2011: 178-196. + Dadabaev, Timur. "Evaluations of perestroika in post-Soviet Central Asia: Public views in contemporary Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan." Communist and Post-Communist Studies 49 (2016): 179-192. Both available in the package.

Additional readings:

Horák, Slavomír. "Turkmenistan at the Last Stage of Perestroika. Determinants of an Authoritarian Path." Cahiers d’Asie centrale 26 (2016): 29-49.
Available: https://journals.openedition.org/asiecentrale/3227

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3. Formal and informal power institutions in Central Asia (19.10.)

Key topics: Should political scientists analyze formal or rather informal institutions? Why the leader is so important in (not only) Central Asian politics? Are there „traditional“, „Soviet“ and „contemporary“ elites?

Readings:

European Handbook of Central Asian Studies. History, Politics, and Society (Jeroen Van den Bosch - Adrien Fauve - Bruno de Cordier), Ibidem Verlag, Stutgart, 2021 (open access book), Chapter 9 (p. 327-361) and Chapter 11 (385-448)
Available online: https://www.ibidem.eu/en/the-european-handbook-of-central-asian-studies-9783838215181.html
Ismailbekova, Aksana. Native son Japarov: The embodiment of injustice? Anthropology Today 37.5. (2021): 14-17. Available in the package.

Presentation suggestion:

Analysis of a selected case from Central Asian informal structures

Additional readings:

Horák, Slavomír. „The Elite in Post-Soviet and Post-Niyazow Turkmenistan: Does Political Culture Form a Leader?“ Demokratizatsiya, 20.4 (2012): 371-385.
Norling, Nicklas. „Party Problems and Factionalism in Soviet Uzbekistan. Evidence from the Communist Party Archives“. Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program. 2017: 98-123. Available online.
Peyrouse, Sebastien. „The Kazakh Neopatrimonial Regime: Balancing Uncertainties among the "Family", Oligarchs and Technocrats“. Demokratizatsiya, 20.4 (2012): 345-370. Available in the package.
Ismailbekova, Aksana. "Informal Governance, 'Clan' Politics and Corruption. In: Routledge Handbook of Central Asia, Routledge, 2021,: 87-100 (Available online)

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4. Economic and social transformation of Central Asia (26.10)

Key topics: Shock changes versus gradual transformation. Different Strategies, similar outputs in Central Asia? The constant crisis in the region? A „Dutch desease“ and Central Asian effect.

Readings:

Pomfret, Richard: The Central Asian Economies in the Twenty-First Century. Paving a New Silk Road. Princeton University Press, 2019 (chapters 2 and 3). Available in e-databases and in the package.

Pomfret, Richard: Economic Reform and Development in Central Asia. Routledge Handbook of Central Asian Studies. Routledge, 2021, p. 281-302. (available online)

Presentation suggestions:

Economic Reform and Institutional Change in Central Asia (case of selected countries)

The analysis of gradualism versus shock therapy in the transformation of Central Asian economies (coparative cases of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan)

The application of "Dutch disease" concept (or other concept) on the economy of energy rich countries in Central Asia (cases of Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan)

The (non-)transformation from "kolkhozes and sovkhozes" to farmer's system in Central Asian agriculture (cases of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan)

The water system of Central Asia (the impact of Rogun or Kambarata dams for upstream and downstream states, the new water canal built by Taliban).

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5. Regime transition models in Central Asia (2.11).

Key Topics: Analysis of regime transitions in Central Asia (cases of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan). Is there a potential of „Arab Springs“/"Colour revolutions" in Central Asia (particularly Kyrgyzstan)? Specifics of hereditary grooming in Central Asian states (example of Azerbaijan, cases of Turkmenistan and Tajikistan). Legitimization of new leaders.

Readings

Ambrosio, Thomas. Leadership Succession in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan: Regime Survival after Nazarbayev and Karimov. Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 17.1 (2014): 49-67. + Horák, Slavomir. "Leadership Succession in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan: Between Stability and Instability." Central Asian Affairs 5.1 (2018): 1-15. Both available in e-databases and in the package.

Presentation suggestions

Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and/or Kazakhstan hereditary grooming/leader transitions (camparative perspectives)

Kazakhstan Transition process 2019-2022; From Bloody January to "New Republic"

The cases of a selected transitions in Central Asia (Tajikistan 1992, Turkmenistan 2006, Uzbekistan 2016, Kazakhstan 2019-2022, Turkmenistan 2022)

Additional readings

Kudaibergenova Diana T. – Laruelle, Marlene. Making sense of the January 2022 protests in Kazakhstan: failing legitimacy, culture of protests, and elite readjustments. Post-Soviet Affairs, 2022. Available in the package and in e-databases.

Isaacs, Rico: Charismatic Routinization and Problems of Post-Charisma Succession in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Studies of Transition States and Societies, Vol. 7 (2015), Issue 1, p. 58-76. Available in the package and in e-databases.

Polese, Abel - Ó Beacháin, Donnacha – Horák, Slavomír: Strategies of legitimation in Central Asia: regime durability in Turkmenistan. Contemporary Politics, 23:4 (2017): 427-445. Available in the package and in e-databases.

Hug, Adam et al.: Spotlight on Uzbekistan. The Foreign Policy Center, 2020 (chapter 1).
Available: https://fpc.org.uk/publications/spotlight-on-uzbekistan/

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6. Regional cooperation in Central Asia (9.11)

Key topics: Why Central Asia is not integrated from within? Could outside powers integrate Central Asia?

Readings:

Pataccini, Leonardo - Malikov, Numonjon. "Transition and Regional Cooperation in Central Asia: What Can They Tell Us about the (Post-) Liberal World Order?" Polity, Vol. 52, No. 2, 2020, p. 288-303. Available in the databases and in the package.
Krapohl, Sebastian, and Alexandra Vasileva-Dienes. "The region that isn't: China, Russia and the failure of regional integration in Central Asia." Asia Europe Journal, Vol. 18, No. 3, 2020, p. 347-366. Available in the databases and in the package.

Presentation suggestions:
Do Central Asian countries want integration or cooperation?
Each state has different priorities: From Turkmenistan's isolation to Uzbekistan's drive.
Russia, China and Turkey: external integration concepts in Central Asia after 2022.

Additional readings:

Ambrosio, Thomas: „Catching the ‘Shanghai Spirit’: How the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Promotes Authoritarian Norms in Central Asia“. Europe-Asia Studies, 60.8 (2008): 1321-1344. Available in the databases and in the package.

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7. MIDTERM Wrap-up discussion

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8. Russia and beyond Russia: China, the West, Turkey and the others. (23.11)

Key topics: Foreign and domestic policy of Central Asian states during the three decades of sovereignty. Alternative partners: immediate neighborhood and more distant partners. Problem of dependence and independence.

Readings:
Kazantsev, Andrei, Medvedeva, Svetlana and Safranchuk, Ivan. Between Russia and China: Central Asia in Greater Eurasia. Journal of Eurasian Studies 2021, Vol. 12(1) 57–71. Available in the package.
Bossuyt, Fabienne and Dessein, Bart. The European Union, China and Central Asia Global and Regional Cooperation in A New Era. Routledge 2022. Chapters 5 and 12 (others recommended). Available in the package.

Presentation suggestions:
Zero-sum competition or complementary cooperation? Western expectations versus local priorities.

Additional readings:
Umarov, Akram et. al. New foreign policy of Uzbekistan: Central Asia, the EAEU and the BRI. GCRF COMPASS Policy paper. 2020. Available in the package.
How Rising Great Power Tensions Will Affect Central Asia. FPRI 2021. Available in the package.

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9. Transport in Central Asia (30.11.)

Key Topics: Central Asia as Eurasian transport hub or Eurasian bypass? Factors and determinants of Central Asia as a transit destination. One Belt One Road and its impact on Central Asia.

Readings:

Starr, Frederick – Cornell, Svante – Norling, Nicklas: The EU, Central Asia and the Development of Continental Transport and Trade. Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program, Washington – Stockholm, 2015. Available online.
Peyrouse, Sebastien, and Gaël Raballand. "Central Asia: the new Silk Road initiative’s questionable economic rationality." Eurasian Geography and Economics 56.4 (2015): 405-420. Available in the package.

Presentation suggestions:

Belt and Road Initiative in the transport

The Middle Corridor in Kazakhstan after the Russian invasion in the Ukraine

Internal barriers as an obstacle for rail/road transport in the region. The case of Kyrgyzstan.
Forever projects: TAPI and other failures.

Additional readings:
Luca Anceschi (2017) Turkmenistan and the virtual politics of Eurasian energy: the case of the TAPI pipeline project, Central Asian Survey, 36:4, 409-429. Available in the package.
Kassen, Maxat. Understanding foreign policy strategies of Kazakhstan: a case study of the landlocked and transcontinental country. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 2018 Vol. 31, Nos. 3–4, 314–343. Available in the package.

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10. Conflict potential and the so-called Islamic threat in Central Asia 7.12.

Key Topics: Myth or reality of Islamic extremism in Central Asia. Real and imagined conflicts in the region

Readings

(at least 2)

Routledge Handbook of Central Asia (Erica Marat and Rico isaacs, eds.). Routledge, 2021, (Chapter 27 and 28) p. 411-436. Available online.
Reeves, Madeleine. Border Work : Spatial Lives of the State in Rural Central Asia. Cornell University Press; 2014. Chapter 6: separations (others recommended). Available in the package.

Falkowski, Maciej – Lang, Josef. Homo Jihadicus. Islam in the Former USSR and the Phenomenon of the Post-Soviet Militants in Syria and Iraq. OSW Report, Warsaw, 2015 (Chapter I, II and VII). Available: http://aei.pitt.edu/69197/1/homojihadicus.pdf.

Tishkov, Valery. „Ethnic Conflicts in the Former USSR. The Use and Misuese of Typologies and Datas“. Journal of Peace Research, 36.5 (1999): 571-591.

Presentation suggestions:

Islam in Central Asia: between rising faith and persisting security prism.

The Origins of Civil War In Tajikistan and its impact on contemporary political system in Tajikistan

Scarce (water) resources becoming even more scarce. The conflict inevitable?

Tajik-Kyrgyz conflict, Karakalpak events 2022, GBAO 2022-2023. Utilization of conflict and interpretation differences.

Additional reardings:
Lenz-Raymann, Kathrin. Securitization of Islam. A Vicious Circle: Counter-Terrorism and Freedom of Religion in Central Asia. Transcript Verlag, 2014. Available in the package.
Kłyszcz, Ivan Ulises. Gorno-Badakhshan and Karakalpakstan since 1991: understanding territorial autonomy in Central Asia, Central Asian Survey, 42:3 (2023): 500-517. Available in the package.

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11. Central Asia after the Russian invasion of Ukraine 14.12.

Key topics: Laying low and grasping opportunity? Multivectorism, seeking alternatives and strategic silence in practice.

Readings:
Kassenova, Nargis. Central Asia's Balancing Act. Online. Asia policy. 2023, 18(2), p. 20-29. Available in the package.

Tolipov, F., 2015. Strategic Implications of the War in Ukraine for the Post-Soviet Space. Connections. The quarterly journal (English ed.), 14(4), pp.11-20. (for interpretation and discussion). Available in the package.
Pannier, Bruce. How Moscow’s War In Ukraine Is Changing Russian-Central Asian Relations? Majlis podcast, February 26, 2023. Available online.

Presentation suggestions: Reactions of specific Central Asian states to the invasion; commonalities, differences, priorities.

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12. New debates in Central Asia: Current topics and problems. (spare lecture: discussion on topics emerged during the semester) 21.12.

Readings: TBA

Presentation suggestions: N/A