FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 09/12/05
CONTACT: Jennifer Linker, 202/939-2372, jlinker@CarnegieEndowment.org
 
The first decade of Central Asian independence was disappointing for those who envisioned a transition from Soviet republics to independent states with market economies and democratic political systems.  To date, Soviet-era leaders in the region have been more interested in exploiting state resources and controlling their populations than implementing political and economic reforms.  In her new book Central Asia’s Second Chance, Martha Brill Olcott, senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, writes an elucidative and detailed analysis, warning that the prospect of new failed states developing in Central Asia is greater today than before 9/11.
 
This highly anticipated, resource-rich book offers a concise review of each country in Central Asia and how, “In the aftermath of 9/11, there really was an opportunity to reshape the trajectory of development in this part of the world. But neither the Central Asian states nor the international community has made good use of this ‘second chance.’” As the world increasingly views Central Asia as critical to the war on terror and for oil reserves, Olcott makes a reliable contribution to our knowledge of a vitally important region still unfamiliar even to many foreign policy specialists.
 
Olcott highlights the deep contradiction running through U.S. policy toward Central Asia, where partnerships with antidemocratic regimes create long-term security risks, and faults the international community for its complicity and lack of effective engagement in the region. As recent events in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan demonstrate, tensions in the region lie close to the surface—if we are to prevent these states from descending into chaos, the international community must identify solutions to the economic, political, and social challenges confronting them.
 
Visit www.CarnegieEndowment.org/CentralAsia for free excerpts and ordering information.
August 2005, 395 pp. / $24.95 / paper: 0-87003-217-8
 
Author bio: http://www.carnegieendowment.org/experts/index.cfm?fa=expert_view&expert_id=23&prog=zru
   
Martha Brill Olcott, author of Kazakhstan: Unfulfilled Promise, specializes in Central Asian and Caspian affairs. She has followed interethnic relations in Russia and the former Soviet states for more than twenty-five years and has traveled extensively throughout Central Asia. Olcott has her PhD in political science from the University of Chicago and is professor emerita at Colgate University.     

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