The Post-Soviet Decline of Central Asia: Sustainable Development and Comprehensive Capital (Central Asia Research Forum) [Hardcover]

Eric W. Sievers (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0700716602 | ISBN-13: 978-0700716609 | Publication Date: January 15, 2003

Sievers draws on his experience of Central Asia to take on the task of explaining the remarkable economic declines of the post-Soviet Central Asian states (Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) in the past decade, and the turn of these states towards despotism.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Eric W. Sievers is currently associated with Harvard University's Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies and is an attorney in the Central Asian practice of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, L.L.P. Sievers managed and directed a number of development projects in Central Asia throughout the 1990s. He holds a Ph.D. from MIT and a J.D. from Yale.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 264 pages
• Publisher: Routledge (January 15, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0700716602
• ISBN-13: 978-0700716609
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,799,285 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A genuinely fascinating book, February 7, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Post-Soviet Decline of Central Asia: Sustainable Development and Comprehensive Capital (Central Asia Research Forum) (Hardcover)

Given the breadth of the issues covered, the abundance of sources, and the insightfulness of analysis, this is probably as good as it gets in terms of scholarly writings about Central Asia these days. Unlike many of his western colleagues, Sievers is multi-lingual, and he takes full advantage of this: his coverage of sources is virtually unprecedented in the English-language literature on the region. Although written by a lawyer, this book is not a legal treatise. A sweeping account of the great expectations nurtured in the region in the early 1990s and the grand failures that ensued thereafter, this volume is a true eye-opener for the Anglophone public as well as a useful addition to the personal library of a student and a scholar alike. Whether he deals with civil society reforms or environmental regimes, Sievers is thoughtful and encyclopedic about his subject. Not only does he describe the experience of Central Asian states during their first decade of independence with enviable insight and commendable accuracy, but he also unhesitatingly challenges the many myths so uncritically popularized by other scholars. The fact that it is easily readable adds further value to Sievers' work.