In episode 25, I talk with Aksana Ismailbekova about her book Blood Ties and the Native Son: Poetics of Patronage in Kyrgyzstan, published by Indiana University Press. Blood Ties and the Native Son is an ethnographic study of patronage, kinship relations, and political practice in Kyrgyzstan, centered on the figure of Rahim, who in the late 2000s became an important businessman and an influential figure in the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan, or SDPK, before meeting an untimely end in 2008. The book guides the reader through the networks of kinship, geographical relations, and economic clientelism as they are constructed and reconstructed in Rahim’s native village in the Chui Valley in northern Kyrgyzstan. It takes us up close to Rahim’s businesses, his political performance, and local election-day practices. With its extremely close and empathetic reading of kinship and patron-client relationships, the book provides an insightful corrective to simplified narratives of corru...
In this podcast, I speak with Regine A. Spector,Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst,about her book, Order at the Bazaar: Power and Trade in Central Asia, from Cornell University Press. Bazaars, including those in Central Asia, are often treated as sites of chaos – emblematic of the failure to develop rule of law institutions and in need of state intervention to bring order. In her book, Spector uses extensive interviews and research – focusing on the Dordoi and Osh bazaars in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan – to document how the people who work in bazaars, and some owners of bazaars, have created islands of order. To do so, they draw on Soviet and pre-Soviet traditions to adapt to the disruptive transition from the Soviet system to capitalism.Order at the Bazaaroffers a ground-up view on how citizens build order for themselves, and provides a critique of external approaches to institution-building.
In this episode, I speak withNick Megoran, Reader in Political Geography at Newcastle University, about his new book,Nationalism in Central Asia: A Biography of the Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan Boundary. The book is an engaging and perspective-shifting account of how a new international border was formed where one had not previously existed before. Based on more than 20 years of fieldwork in both countries and along the border, it contributes to a deeper understanding of how discourse about the border has shaped national identities and nationalist politics. Among other topics, Nate and I discuss the role of nationalism in understanding politics in Central Asia, the political dynamics in Kyrgyzstan in advance of the presidential elections, the significance of the reopening of the Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan border, and the names of Nick’s children.
In this episode, Ispeak withYan Matusevich, a migration researcher with a focus on the post-Soviet space, about how the situation for labor migrants in Russia is changing in light of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). Yan and Idiscuss a variety of developments now affecting labor migrants in Russia, including the economic crisis of the last several years, the creation of the EAEU and its new labor regulations for member state citizens, the impact of anti-terrorism policing in Russia, and how Russia’s presidential election campaign could affect migrants.
In this episode, Ispeak with Farruh Yusupov, the director of RFE/RL’s Turkmen service Azatlyk, about the burgeoning economic crisis in Turkmenistan and whether the government will be able to find a way out. With both Russia and Iran having ended the purchase of Turkmen gas, and oil and gas prices declining yet again, dollars are scarce, wages are going unpaid, and subsidies for utilities have been cut. Even with the media under tight control, there is growing frustration with the government’s lack of response to the crisis. Is President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov able and willing to address the crisis? Or is a harder crash inevitable? Subscribe viaRSS feed. Subscribe viaiTunes.
In this episode, Ispoke with Bakhtiyor Nishanov, thedeputy directorfor Eurasia of theInternational Republican Institute (IRI), about whether Uzbekistan is experiencing a thaw since the death of Islam Karimov in August 2016. Bakhti and Idiscuss Uzbekistan’s policies under President Shavkat Mirziyoyev: the release of a small number of high-profilepolitical prisoners, relaxationson speech restrictions on social media, and improved relations with neighboring countries in Central Asia, among others.Do these changes constitute a genuine thaw, or are they just attempts by a new leader to shore up legitimacy using different tools than his predecessor?What kind of system is Mirziyoyev interested in creating, and what will it mean for Central Asia? Special thanks toEurasianetfor its support that has made bringing backthe podcast possible. Subscribe via RSS feed. Subscribe via iTunes.
In this episode, Ispoke with Dr. John Heathershaw, Associate Professor in the Department of Politics at the University of Exeter about his new book with Alexander A. Cooley, Dictators without Borders: Power and Money in Central Asia, published this month by Yale University Press. The book challenges the typical situating of post-Communist Central Asia as an isolated hinterland by illustrating the ways in which Central Asian authoritarian regimes use their “connectivity” with global financial and law enforcement mechanisms to stash national assets offshore and punish their opponents abroad. It builds its sophisticated critique of conventional wisdom on detailed and up to date case studies from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, drawing on the research compiled in the Central Asia Political Exiles database compiled by Exeter Central Asian Studies Network. Key references: J.C. Sharman, The Despot’s Guide to Wealth Management: On the International Campaign against Gr...
In thisepisode, I spokewith independent journalists Franco Galdini and Zukhra Iakupbaeva about “The Strange Case of Jaysh al-Mahdi and Mr. ISIS: How Kyrgyzstan’s Elites Manipulate the Threat of Terrorism for Their Own Benefit.” In this paper published by the Central Asia Program at George Washington University, Galdini and Iakupbaeva dissect in great detail a series of unusual alleged terrorist attacks in Kyrgyzstan from 2010 to 2016 that were blamed on the Islamic State and a supposed terrorist group called the Jaysh al-Mahdi. Their paper situates these supposed terrorist attacks within a larger framework of the history of the management of Islam in Central Asia, state and elite insecurity in Kyrgyzstan, and American and Russian discourses about the war on terror. Franco Galdini & Zukhra Iakupbaeva,The Strange Case of Jaysh al-Mahdi and Mr. ISIS: How Kyrgyzstan's Elites Manipulate the Threat of Terrorism, CAP Papers 179, October 2016 Sarah Kendzior, Inventing Akromiya: The Role ...
For this episode, I talked with Angela Stanzel of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) about the think tank's new report, Absorb & Conquer: An EU Approach to Russian & Chinese Integration in Eurasia. This episode is a follow-up to episode 16 on the same topic. The podcast focuses on the Chinese perspective on OBOR and on Central Asia. Near the end, we get to the nub of what worries me about the plan--whether it is actually premisedon economic development beyond China, or if it is just an outlet for Chinese overcapacity and excess foreign exchange reserves. ECFR, Absorb & Conquer: An EU Approach to Russian & Chinese Integration in Eurasia, June 2016 World Bank, The Impact of China on Europe and Central Asia, April 2016 Subscribe via RSS feed. Subscribe via iTunes.
For this episode, I spoke with Sarah Lain of the Royal United Services Institute about China's One Belt One Road (OBOR) plans in Central Asia--what they are and aren't, the assumptions behind them, and how different Central Asian countries have responded to them. This is the first of two consecutive episodes on OBOR and Central Asia. Sarah Lain, China's Silk Road in Central Asia: Transformative or Exploitative, Financial Times, 27 April 2016 Subscribe via RSS feed. Subscribe via iTunes.