Customer Reviews

Energy and Conflict in Central Asia and the Caucasus

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For those who want to understand why Central Asia has been fought over in recent history Rajan Menon provides an invaluable tool. This book goes region by region utilizing the best authors in each. The book covers the individual countries in the Caspian regions as well as the future prospects for Russian and OPEC interaction there. It clearly lays out how the region has been developing and although a little dated at this point it still provides an excellent foundation. The authors that contribute are the best in their fields and Menon organizes the book very well. Highly recommend if you are interested in oil policy.

Written in 2000, this book demonstrates what a decade does to sully scholarly work. There is a lot of great (dated) information here for students and researchers to get a snapshot of Central Asia just after the fall of the USSR and before the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The insights are sound and relevant, especially in the cases of the autocrat families choke-holding onto power in the 'Stans. However, the What-if predictions are moot after all the hubbub in the region. The introductory chapter was outstanding for its cold, realist view that the world doesn't always change for the better, despite best intentions from outside nations -- Afghanistan being a testament to that sentiment.