Book Review: The Central Asian Economies in the Twenty-First Century

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Reviewer: MAMUKA TSERETELI; senior fellow, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at the American Foreign Policy Council.
Publication: F&D Magazine, In Transition, June 2019.
Book reviewed: The Central Asian Economies in the Twenty-First Century: Paving a New Silk Road, Richard Pomfret, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2019, 328 pp., $45.00.
Context noted in the review: transition of power in Uzbekistan in 2016 and subsequent regional impacts.

Pomfret surveys economic transitions of five former Soviet republics: Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
He identifies three major economic shocks faced by all central Asian countries starting in 1991:
- dissolution of the Soviet Union
- transition from central planning
- hyperinflation
Country approaches to these shocks differ:
- Kyrgyz Republic: open market approach
- Uzbekistan: slow reform policies (until 2017)
- Turkmenistan: closed economy
Role of natural resources:
- Kazakhstan identified as the major beneficiary of oil development over the past two decades.
External influences analyzed:
- Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union
- trade and investment ties with China
Political economy evolution: the book provides detailed descriptions and demonstrates deep knowledge of economic models and government policies of each country since independence.

Review highlights challenges and opportunities for regional cooperation:
- Unfriendly and sometimes tense relations between some countries have restricted intraregional trade and infrastructure development.
Opportunities described:
- Significant investments in infrastructure by governments, international financial institutions, and foreign investors create favorable conditions to increase regional integration, maximize the transit potential of the region, and restore the historic role of central Asia as the crossroads of the silk roads connecting Asia and Europe.
Author’s outlook: Pomfret expresses cautious optimism in the book’s last chapter for central Asia to restore its historic influence.

The reviewer notes a gap: the book would have been stronger with more focus on the private sector’s perspective on national and regional economic development models.
Specific areas for deeper analysis recommended by the reviewer:
- links between foreign direct investment, employment, and hard and soft infrastructure development for better connectivity and trade.

The reviewer concludes: the book makes a significant contribution to the study of the evolution of the economies of central Asia and to evaluating the potential of these countries to meet the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.

F&D Magazine — June 2019.

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Book review: The Central Asian Economies in the Twenty-First Century: Paving a New Silk Road
- Book review: The Central Asian Economies in the Twenty-First Century: Paving a New Silk Road (Markdown version)
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Note de lecture : The Central Asian Economies in the Twenty-First Century – F&D FMI
- Note de lecture : The Central Asian Economies in the Twenty-First Century – F&D FMI (Markdown version)
- Note de lecture : The Central Asian Economies in the Twenty-First Century – F&D FMI (PDF)
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