The central focus of this dissertation is an examination of the new regional character of the five post-Soviet Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. In the first three post-Soviet years, 1992-1994, the five states gradually …
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I divide political opportunity as a theme into two distinct parts that are both important factors and that influence ethnic mobilization in different ways. The first of these factors is opportunity in the sense of political space, or the idea that elites who would instrumentaliz…
The Moroccan locust (Dociostaurus maroccanus) is a recognized pest in Central Asia, and annually inflicts widespread damage in pastoral areas. D. maroccanus females tend to strongly aggregate during egg-laying, which means that their mass oviposition sites constitute the outbrea…
My dissertation comparatively analyzes three puzzling cases of political transition—democratization in Kyrgyzstan, neo-authoritarianism in Uzbekistan, and regime disintegration in Tajikistan—which typify different trajectories in the post-Soviet and other post-colonial states. I…
The independent Republic of Uzbekistan inherited an agrarian economy more suited to supplying foreign demands than to feeding, clothing and employing its own people. Neither the agricultural infrastructure nor the farmland and water resources of the country has been prepared for…
The politicization of regional cleavages across the multi-ethnic, newly-independent states of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan, and the variation in design of electoral systems that developed in response to them present two integrally related empirical puzzles: (1) why was…
This dissertation develops a framework for understanding the alignment patterns of states of the former Soviet Union (FSU) vis-à-vis Russia. The framework challenges traditional alignment theories, such as balance of power and balance of threat theories, and suggests that these …
Uzbeks in the Ferghana Valley of Uzbekistan increasingly perceive themselves to be distinct from their ethnic brethren in other parts of the country. Two predominant approaches in existing literature, which either view identity formation as a process enmeshed in social relations…
This dissertation examines how dissidents exiled from Uzbekistan use the internet to attempt to refute the legitimacy of the Uzbek government, reinterpret Uzbek culture, and resolve their internal conflicts. I argue that contrary to optimistic predictions of social media revolut…
The collapse of the Soviet Union left countries of Central Asia to experience political confrontations over territory and water rights. Additionally, independence of Central Asian countries resulted in the change of control systems, including transboundary rivers of the region. …
This study combines the economic and the political transition literature in order to undertake a comprehensive analysis of the reform processes of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan from 1991–2003. Information from interviews conducted with economists from the financial institutions as w…
The surfeit of contentious opinions on the future of Central Asia reflects the complexity of the circumstances surrounding this particular region of the world. Since the Fall of 1991, there has been a plethora of discussion and debate over the region's emerging importance and na…
The countries of post-Soviet Central Asia share remarkable similarities: they came into existence at the same time, have since undergone similar processes and challenges in establishing statehood, are culturally related to each other, share similar historical paths, and have nea…
Hizb ut Tahrir (HT) is a rapidly growing trans-national Islamic movement which aims to revive the classical Islamic Caliphate. Consequently, it has come under increasing international focus as a result of its rapid expansion beyond its traditional heartland of the Middle East in…
This dissertation presents an archaeological investigation of the Aral Sea region, ca. AD 300-800. The Aral Sea is a large, brackish lake in Central Asia, located in the modern states of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The sea and its deltas provide critical resources in an arid dese…
The internet is has grown exponentially in Central Asian during the last decade. Political turmoil, media censorship, and the unique social and economic characteristics rooted in traditional culture and informed by the Soviet experience have informed the development of the inter…
A major problem for irrigated agricultural production in arid and semi-arid environments is salinization of land. Irrigated land accounts for about one third of the world's food, but nearly one fifth of irrigated lands are salt affected and suffer from reduced yield due to soil …
Access to quality water is a constraint and a source of waterborne diseases among the rural population of Uzbekistan. To address the need for quality water the government cooperates with many international financial and development organizations to address this problem. “Enhance…
Aquaculture is currently the world's fastest growing animal-producing sector. The Khorezm province in southwestern Uzbekistan has over 450 small lakes that could be developed for aquaculture, diversifying the local economy and providing rural communities with an additional sourc…