The collapse of the former Soviet Union, on December 8, 1991, brought about drastic changes in the emerging Central Asian republics. The blessings of political freedom, and nationalistic pride, were offset by the overwhelming problems brought about by economic collapse. Changes were seen in politics, economics, religion, nationalism, and education. Thus, we will be discussing these topics in the following paragraphs.

Mike Field, staff writer for Johns Hopkins Gazette stated, “ Once carefully controlled by the Soviet Union, Central Asia’s new nation states of Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – as well as the lands of the Transcaucaus to the east – are now experiencing difficulties commonly associated with sudden independence.” Initially, there was a drastic change in the political make-up of the Central Asian republics, when they attempted to move from totalitarian states to democratic governments. According to former Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, the Central Asian nations “have the chance to put behind them forever the experience of being pawns on a chess board.” Although in all of the republics, presidential elections were held, in the decade that followed, each has moved back toward a more totalitarian ruling process. The general philosophy of the leaders of the Central Asian governments was expressed as follows, “We believe stability at any cost is more crucial to the survival of the newborn countries than adherence to democratic principles.” Turkmenistan’s rulers believe one party rule, no opposition and no free press are the necessary ingredients for stability and economic prosperity. Uzbekistan’s former Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamizov stated, “From the experience of many independent countries, including this one, weaker state influence leads to de-stabilization.” Nursultan Nazarbayev, the president of neighboring Kazakstan was quoted as saying, “One of the top priorities is to keep stability in this multinational country. We also believe stability is one of the lucrative conditions that invite foreign investment.”(http://www.jhu.edu/~gazette/julsep97/aug0497/04strobe.html & http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9510/central_asia/10-17/)

The Central Asian governments have gone through a major economic collapse. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, all of the newly independent Central Asian countries have been struggling to find economic stability; so far, they have failed. During the Soviet Union, each of these republics produced the raw materials necessary for Russia’s enormous factories, which provided all of Central Asia’s finished goods. Then, when the U.S.S.R. collapsed, their main source of income, was gone. Consequently, they did not have anyone to sell their raw materials to, and that is one of the main reasons why these countries are struggling financially. Also, another reason is, that all of the so called “experts” in technology, science, and medicine lived and worked in the Soviet capitol. Thus, when the U.S.S.R. regime was over, the Central Asian countries had very few specialists on things like electricity, gas, telephones, etc. (http://www.ndu.edu/inss/McNair/mcnair47/m047ch01.html)

Education has changed in the Central Asian countries over the past decade due to lack of funds. During the U.S.S.R, all of the necessary items (books, pencils, compasses, etc) were provided by the Russian government. Since the government controlled almost every aspect of life in the U.S.S.R, they taught that there was no God. Also, atheism was the official state religion of the people of the Soviet Union. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was no money; therefore, the teachers were not getting paid, and all sorts of problems occurred. Since the newly formed republics could not pay for their own children’s tuition, they had to look to outside sources – Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Iran. Thus, there have been many new Muslim schools set up all over the former CIS countries, due to the fact that Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and other devoutly Muslim countries, have been “helping” them. (Gulmira Saduraliva)

Islam has become the religion of the Central Asian republics from the former Soviet Union. When Soviet rule was over, the Central Asian peoples turned to their roots, heritage, and culture to help guide them to the “right” religion. Since religion had NOT been practiced during the U.S.S.R. the younger and older generations wanted to see for themselves which religion would suit them better. Also, outside sources (like Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Iran) helped influence them to choose Islam. (http://archive.tol.cz/nov99/funda.html & http://www.ndu.edu/inss/McNair/mcnair47/m047ch01.html)

As John White stated, “The Soviet Union was one of the most diverse, pluralistic countries in the world. There were 120 ethno linguistic groups, including 18 with more than 1 million speakers of the language. Only half of the population was ethnically Russian. therefore, the Soviet Union had a large potential for nationalism. “ He also stated, “The freedom allowed by glasnost and democratization therefore led to nationalism, which tended to be deeply anti-Soviet.“ Stephen Kotkin, author and director of Russians studies at Princeton University, “. . . attributed the relatively peaceful breakup of the Soviet Union to legal yet nominal partition of the Soviet territory into sub-regions along ethnic lines.” The political leaders of the newly formed Central Asian republics were all from the largest ethnic group in each nation - for example, a Kyrgyz president for Kyrgyzstan, a Kazak president for Kazakstan, etc. Each country adopted as its primary language, the heart language of each majority ethnic group. For example, in Kyrgyzstan the president, under the constitution, is required to be a fluent Kyrgyz speaker. However, as Martha Brill Olcott remarked, “. . . the diverse populations of Central Asia consider themselves to be members of distinct nationalities, but more than ten years since the breakup of the Soviet Union, they still have real difficulty in thinking of themselves as citizens of different countries.” (http://www.marucheck.net/jw/jw_break.html & http://domapp01.shu.edu/depts/affairs/Setonian.nsf/0/c880e73fb870a2d585256dfa005038a5?OpenDocument&Click=)

In conclusion, the collapse of the former Soviet Union had enormous changes of the emerging Central Asian republics. As King Solomon said thousands of years ago in Proverbs 21:4, “ The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.“ As Psalm 75:7 records, “ But it is God who judges: He brings one down, he exalts another.” (Holy Bible, New International Version)

Work Cited:

Books:

The Holy Bible, New International Version, U.S.A. September, 2001 (C) 1984

Personal Interview:

Saduraliva, Gulmira. Personal Interview. March, 2003

Websites:

Darrow, Siobhan. “Ancient lands, modern times” http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9510/central_asia/10-17/ October 16, 1995. CNN. January 18, 2004

Field, Mike. “U.S. Central Asia Policy.” http://www.jhu.edu/~gazette/julsep97/aug0497/04strobe.html August 4, 1997. Johns Hopkins Gazette. January 18, 2004

McNair, Unknown. “The New Great Game in Muslim Central Asia.”
http://www.ndu.edu/inss/McNair/mcnair47/m047ch01.html January 1996. None. January 18, 2004

Oleynikov, Eugene. “Soviet Empire breakup topic of lecture.” http://domapp01.shu.edu/depts/affairs/Setonian.nsf/0/c880e73fb870a2d585256dfa005038a5?OpenDocument&Click=) Unknown. Seton Hall Community. January 18, 2004

White, John. “A Study of the Breakup of the Soviet Union.” http://www.marucheck.net/jw/jw_break.html March 27,1997. Unknown. January 18, 2004

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