The handbook of Central Asia : a comprehensive survey of the new republics

Providing a key to understanding the present economic, political, and social situation of each of the five main Central Asian states, this exhaustively researched and up-to-date single-volume reference is the only source of its kind currently available in English. With a section for each state—Kazakstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan—the handbook draws on empirical data and current research to provide essential information on each state. "This text provides a key to understanding the economic, political and social situation of the five main Central Asian states. Divided into sections on each of the states, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kirghizstan, the handbook draws on empirical data and research to provide information and analysis on: geo-political factors; socio-economic and domestic political life since 1990; the ethnic/religious/linguistic make-up of the states; and historical background. In-depth analysis is also given to issues of longer-term impact - the geographic significance of oil-pipelines, the impact of instability in Afghanistan, and the consequences of ecological devastation and the drying up of the Aral Sea."--Bloomsbury Publishing. This text provides a key to understanding the economic, political and social situation of the five main Central Asian states. It includes: geo-political factors; socio-economic and domestic political life since 1990; the ethnic/religious/linguistic make-up of the states; and historical background. This text provides a key to understanding the economic, political and social situation of the five main Central Asian states. It covers geo-political and socio-economic factors, the ethnic/religious/linguistic make-up and historical background