Central Asia

Below you will find terminated research projects that concern Central Asia.

Duration: March 2012 - March 2014

Project leader: Johan Engvall | Project page

Project assessing anti-corruption policies under conditions of systemic corruption in Eurasia with special reference to the cases of Georgia after the Rose Revolution and the efforts to fight corruption in Kyrgyzstan after constitutional reforms in 2012. One part of the project is conducted in cooperation with the Institute of Developing Economies in Tokyo, Japan. Another part is supported by the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute – Silk Road Studies, Washington, DC and Stockholm.  

Period: 13-14 June 2014

Project leader: Johan Engvall | Project page

In a single decade, Kazakhstan has become one of the showcases of Central Asia, sometimes even of the entire Eurasian space. The country’s burgeoning economy is impressive; it produces two-thirds of the GDP of all of Central Asia, is not far behind Russia in terms of GDP per inhabitant, and has successfully branded itself on the international arena. The country has adopted a so-called multi-vectorial foreign policy, including a strategic alliance with Russia, a growing partnership with China, and good relations with the United States and Europe. Paradoxically, whereas Kazakhstan is enjoying time in the limelight on the international stage and arouses the interest of business communities in Europe and the United States, scholarly research on Kazakhstan remains less visible than that existing on some other Central Asian countries, such as Kyrgyzstan or Uzbekistan. No conference has ever been organized in order to update the state of research on Kazakhstan, and scholars have no platform on which to exchange their ideas and hypotheses. This conference will fill this gap by providing a space for peer-discussion, and consolidate a cohort of young and mid-career experts who have the capacity and intellectual networks to renew policy communities and standards of practice, improve training and generate innovative research. 

Duration: 2005 - 2011

Project leader: Johan Engvall | Project page

What type of state has emerged in post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan, and what kind of theoretical framework must we develop to understand its behavior and performance? This study argues that the logic of political and bureaucratic organization follows that of an investment market in which public offices are purchased with the expectation of yielding a favorable return. This theory represents a novel perspective on the post-communist state which has hitherto either been premised on modernization theory or emphasized a robustly personalistic logic of political organization.