The Transformation of Tajikistan: The Sources of Statehood(ThirdWorlds)

Tajikistan is one of the lesser-known and least-researched former Soviet Central Asian republics. The birth of the new state in 1991 was followed closely by a civil war which killed more than 50,000 people and displaced many tens of thousands more. Whilst a peace agreement was signed in 1997 significant political violence continued until 2001. Today stability has returned to Tajikistan and the country's political elite -- both the Government and dwindling opposition -- must take some credit for this. However, the vast majority of the population remains poor and subject to the endemic corruption, organized crime and political domination which characterise Tajikistan's negative peace. More than a decade after the civil war, Tajikistan remains without a year-round supply of electricity and gas, is structurally reliant on seasonal external labour migration, and has an increasingly authoritarian government. This collection of essays places this transformation of Tajikistan in its historical context. It explores the sources of a state with its roots in the Soviet Union but which has been radically changed by independence and its exposure to global politics and economics. Authors address the sources of statehood in history, Islam and secularism, gender, economy and security. This book was originally published as a special issue of Central Asian Survey.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction: the sources of statehood in Tajikistan, John Heathershaw I. The roots of statehood 2. “Hapless Imperialists: European ‘Developers’ in Soviet Central Asia in the 1920s and 1930s”, Botagoz Kassymbekova 3. “Soviet population transfers and interethnic relations in Tajikistan: assessing the concept of ethnicity,” Olivier Ferrando 4. "From resettlement to conflict: development-induced involuntary displacement and violence in Tajikistan", Alexander Sodiqov II. Islam and statehood 5. “From Revival to Mutation: The Religious Personnel of Islam in Tajikistan from De-Stalinisation to Independence (1953-1991)”, Stephane A. Dudoignon 6. “Defining normative Islam: Some remarks on contemporary Islamic Thought in Tajikistan – Hoji Akbar Turajonzoda’s Sharia and Society” Tim Epkenhans III. Gender and statehood 7. “Affairs of the State: gender, sex and marriage in Tajikistan”, Colette Harris 8.“Wedding rituals and the struggle over national identities”, Sophie Roche and Sophie Hohmann IV. Security, economy and statehood 9. “Counter Narcotics policies in Tajikistan and their impact on state-building,” Filippo de Danieli 10. "Statehood as Dialogue: Conflicting Historical Narratives of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan", Mohira Suyarkulova 11. "Tajikistan amidst globalization: failed state or state transformation?", John Heathershaw

About the Author :
John Heathershaw is Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Exeter. He is the author of Post-Conflict Tajikistan: the politics of peacebuilding and the emergence of legitimate order. Edmund Herzig is Soudavar Professor of Persian Studies and Fellow of Wadham College, University of Oxford.