Even though fertility rates have fallen in Central Asia over the last two decades, the earlier rise in the number of births means that the populations of these countries continue to grow far more rapidly than anywhere else in the former Soviet space. Tajikistan is... MORE

Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev surprised his fellow citizens and international observers alike when he announced, on January 11, the establishment of a special commission to elaborate wide-ranging constitutional reform. It had been less than two months since Nazarbayev spoke to a group of Western journalists... MORE

On January 13, 2017, the newly elected president of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyaev, attended a ceremony commemorating the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the independent Uzbekistani army (January 14, 1992). The event is an annual fixture on Uzbekistan’s calendar. But this year, the celebration gained... MORE

No post-Soviet republic is so little known beyond its borders as Turkmenistan. This relative obscurity internationally is the result of three legacies: its poverty in Soviet times; its relatively tiny cohort of intellectuals who might have called attention to the country; and perhaps most importantly,... MORE

Incoming presidents put in place their own teams of subordinates and government functionaries; this is true for Uzbekistan as much as for the rest of the world. Since Shavkat Mirziyaev was sworn in as Uzbekistan’s new head of state on December 14, 2016, he has... MORE

The fifth presidential election in the history of independent Uzbekistan on December 4 has ended with a definite win for Shavkat Mirziyaev, previously the country’s prime minister for 13 years under the late Islam Karimov. As Uzbekistan enters its post-Karimov era, it is important to... MORE

The Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) came to power in a land-slide election in June 2016 due to the dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party’s (DP) economic policies. However, in outlining its economic development and foreign relations priorities, the MPP has made it clear that it intends... MORE

China has unexpectedly begun taking steps to become more militarily active in the small Central Asian republic of Tajikistan. Moreover, it is pushing for closer joint military and security cooperation with Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. These moves could position China as a potential regional counterweight... MORE

In offering his condolences on the death of Uzbek President Islam Karimov in September, Chinese president Xi Jinping expressed that the Chinese people had lost a true friend. Earlier, in late June Xi had delivered a speech in Uzbekistan’s parliament in which he called for... MORE

Kyrgyzstan will hold a referendum, on December 11, on controversial constitutional changes that have been harshly criticized by opponents (Azattyk.kg, Kloop.kg, Knews.kg, November 8). The country, which faces a presidential election in 2017, adopted the current constitution in June 2010, after the revolution that toppled... MORE