scholarly journals The EU engagement in democracy promotion in post-Soviet Central Asia: the case study of the Kyrgyz Republic – prospects and challenges

2018 ◽  
pp. 27-40
Author(s):  
Baktybek Kainazarov
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Democracy Promotion ◽  
Kyrgyz Republic ◽  
Soviet Central Asia ◽  
The Eu

Mapping the substance of the EU’s civil society support in Central Asia: From neo-liberal to state-led civil society

2016 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 207-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera Axyonova ◽  
Fabienne Bossuyt
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Program Implementation ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Internal Governance ◽  
Grass Root ◽  
Implementation Level ◽  
Soviet Central Asia ◽  
The Eu

Over the years, civil society empowerment has become an integral part of the European Union’s (EU) external and internal governance as a way to advance democracy and enhance citizen participation. While there has been increasing scholarly attention to the instruments and impact of the EU’s civil society support, so far there has been little research on the question what kind of civil society the EU actually promotes. This article intends to fill this gap by examining the substance of the EU’s civil society support in post- Soviet Central Asia, a region where various forms of civil society organizations (CSOs) exist. The findings reveal a differentiation between civil society types promoted in EU strategic documents and those that are supported in practice. While at the strategic planning level the EU seeks to strengthen civil society broadly construed, at the program implementation level the (neo-) liberal CSOs are the main beneficiaries. At the same time, the EU customizes its civil society assistance depending on the realities on the ground and at times finds itself empowering state-led civil society, while communal groups rarely benefit from the EU assistance schemes. This has severe implications for the advancement of citizen participation, considering that the actual grass-root initiatives are largely excluded from the EU assistance.

Institutions and transition: does a better institutional environment make water users associations more effective in Central Asia?

Water Policy ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Gunchinmaa ◽  
M. Yakubov
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Institutional Environment ◽  
Irrigation Management ◽  
Irrigation Performance ◽  
Kyrgyz Republic ◽  
Water Users ◽  
Internal Operations ◽  
Soviet Central Asia ◽  
Water Users Associations

Integrated water resource management (IWRM) is a widely recognized management framework that is currently being adopted throughout post-Soviet Central Asia to inform and guide national water sector reforms, and to keep up with the pace of the faster moving land reforms taking place in the region. With hydrographic principles and public participation being at the core of this framework, the process in the region has started with the reform of on-farm irrigation systems by creating water users associations (WUAs), transferring irrigation management to them and introducing irrigation service fees. This paper draws on the experiences, over four years, of three study WUAs set up in the Ferghana Valley in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and the Kyrgyz Republic. Aiming to explore the differences in institutional environment and arrangements in these three countries for establishing WUAs, as well as assessing WUA performances (particularly from users' perspectives), the study reveals that it is not only the newly-established institutional arrangements in the irrigation sector but also their internal operations, coupled with other important factors such as size of area farmed, overall viability of agriculture and a wider economic context that crucially determine overall irrigation performance.

scholarly journals Geohazards Inventory in Central Asia Using the Geohazard Mapping Module of the FAO Collect Earth and Earth Map Tools

2021 ◽  
pp. 93-98
Author(s):  
K Nazarkulov
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Critical Infrastructure ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Kyrgyz Republic ◽  
Financial Investment ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Cloud Technologies

Different national agencies in Central Asia assess and conduct long-term observations of dangerous geomorphological processes (geohazards) in their countries. However, these surveys are being conducted predominantly on those sites where direct threats and risks to the population or to critical infrastructure are observed. Neither field data acquisition nor regular remote sensing based observations cover the entire territory of Central Asia countries. With the recent developments in Earth Observation and cloud technologies, these observations and monitoring easily cover entire countries or regions. In this case study, the authors demonstrate the benefit of using the FAO Collect Earth and Earth Map tools for monitoring of geohazards in the Uzgen region of Kyrgyzstan.It is argued that by integrating the knowledge, skills and experience of local experts with the latest developments in EO and cloud computing, geohazards mapping will be carried out with high accuracy and without big financial investment. This study aims to outline good practice for data management that will ensure the required quality of information produced within this study. The successful result of this case study will be a starting point for broad use of this approach for observation and monitoring of geohazards, and for developing a Geohazards Inventory in Kyrgyz Republic and further in Central Asia.

scholarly journals The COVID-19 Pandemic as a Challenge for Post-Soviet Central Asia Countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-128
Author(s):  
A. M. Akhunov
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Kyrgyz Republic ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Central Asian Countries ◽  
Soviet Central Asia ◽  
Spread Of Infection ◽  
The Impact

The coronavirus pandemic has a significant impact on socio-economic and political processes in Central Asia. The political specifics of the countries in the region affected the methods and approaches taken by the authorities of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan to prevent the spread of infection. The article compares these approaches: from declaring a state of emergency and ordering a curfew to suppressing information about the spread of the epidemic. The impact of the pandemic on the relations of the Central Asian countries with Russia and the prospects for the development of Eurasian integration projects is also considered.

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