Martha Brill Olcott
Tajikistan's Difficult Development Path
The Tajik leadership faces an urgent choice between fully embracing reform and continuing on its current failed track. Tajikistan’s decision will have very real implications for this troubled region.
Source: Washington

In Tajikistan’s Difficult Development Path, Martha Brill Olcott traces the political, economic, and social change following the country’s independence and international efforts to prevent a collapse of the state. The Tajik government’s commitment to reform has been limited at best, and substantial foreign assistance provided since the end of the country’s civil war has not led to real economic and political development.
Olcott concludes that the Tajik leadership faces an urgent choice between fully embracing reform and continuing on its current failed track. Tajikistan’s decision will have very real implications for this troubled region.
About the Author
Former Senior Associate, Russia and Eurasia Program and, Co-director, al-Farabi Carnegie Program on Central Asia
Olcott is professor emerita at Colgate University, having taught political science there from 1974 to 2002. Prior to her work at the endowment, Olcott served as a special consultant to former secretary of state Lawrence Eagleburger.
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