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33 teosta 103 jäsentä 1 Review

Tietoja tekijästä

Marlene Laruelle is Director and Research Professor at the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES), Elliott School of International Affairs, The George Washington University. She has published widely on ideology, nationalism, and identity and their impact on domestic and näytä lisää foreign policies in the post-Soviet space. näytä vähemmän

Tekijän teokset

Les Russes du Kazakhstan (2004) 1 kappale
Éclats d'empires. Asie centrale, Caucase, Afghanistan (2013) — Toimittaja — 1 kappale

Merkitty avainsanalla

Yleistieto

Syntymäaika
1972-12-21
Sukupuoli
female
Kansalaisuus
France
Maa (karttaa varten)
USA

Jäseniä

Kirja-arvosteluja

Once more, this is one of those books that I had high expectations for that turned out to be a disappointment. Described as both a ‘democracy island’, being the only post-Soviet state in Central Asia to hold ‘democratic elections’, and a ‘failed state’, with widespread corruption, inter-ethnic violence, and a weak central government, I thought this book was going to be extremely insightful, especially since it was published by Lexington.

Wrong.

The essays written in this book sound as if they were written by Western liberals with a remarkably poor understanding of history and social issues, living as they do in the upper-class bubble they have cocooned themselves into from the outside world.

Throughout the book I am left thinking, “Yeah think?!”

On p. 6, in “Kyrgyzstan and the Trials of Independence,” Johan Engvall writes how “Since Kyrgyzstan had undertaken more market reform and privatization and was a more open society than many other post-Soviet states, the expectation was that Kyrgyzstan would see reduced corruption and improved governance” and that democratic institutions “would emerge almost voluntarily” in response to market reforms, “that is, the market would produce a legal order on its own.” “This did not turn out to be the case,” Engvall writes.

Who would have thought Western-style democracy, improved governance, and reduced corruption wouldn’t “voluntarily” follow mass privatization and austerity?

On p. 42-43, in “Why are Public Offices Sold in Kyrgyzstan,” Engvall seems to argue that corruption is so widespread in Kyrgyzstan because there isn’t enough capitalism! “An important motivation for investing in a public office is the lack of alternative avenues to enrichment.” In other words, politicians and/or the offices they hold are bought and sold because of a lack of profitable investment alternatives, hence the need for less regulations and freer markets!

Of all the essays in the book, “Why Class Matters in Kyrgyzstan” by Elmira Satybaldieva is a real treasure to read.

The author starts this essay by describing what it is like to be poor, as if this needed to be described.

“The everyday experiences of the urban working class are shaped by economic and social exclusion and the daily endurance of uncertainty, violence, denigrating labor, and self-exploitation. Working-class individuals are excluded from respectable employment, housing, and social services because they lack significant capital. The opportunity structures for education, work, healthcare, and other desirable things favor those who posses social capital…and economic capital; they are not necessarily based on actual laws, merit, or acquired skills…” (p. 103-104).

“The new [read: capitalist] economy in Kyrgyzstan results in distorted, corrupt evaluations and judgements. Worth and respect are misrecognized, and style and fashion take on more importance than mere appearance. The strategy of ‘passing’ as an affluent person is unsustainable for poor groups. Their lack of wealth and income shapes how other treat them, namely, negatively and with contempt” (p. 109).

Worst of all, “Symbolic violence, power, and domination are transmitted to children via their parents’ wealth, causing poor children to experience hurt and suffering, as they are deemed to be unequal and unworthy” (p. 109).

Does this really need to be said? What kind of book about politics in Central Asia requires an essay describing what poverty is?

Under the sub-heading “Ugly Feelings,” the author describes how poverty causes “Working-class individuals to respond to exclusion and the denial of dignity and respectability with anger, envy, and shame” (p. 109).

Rest assured, not all working-class people resent their living conditions and social exclusion. “As many scholars have demonstrated, the working class can counter social exclusion and the denial of respectability by engaging in identity-management and by ascribing dignity to ‘honest and humble’ living. In Osh, the poor groups can create an alternative set of values, rejecting the dominant symbolic values of the market system. They can define living a ‘good life’ and being a person of worth by finding values and meanings in relationships and characteristics, such as love and compassion. They prescribe affective values to themselves, fostering loving relations with family members and neighbors. Some poor individuals regard wealth as something undesirable and corrupt” (p. 111).

……………………………………………………………..um, .what?

I’m done with this book
… (lisätietoja)
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
TJ_Petrowski | Aug 3, 2019 |

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Teokset
33
Jäseniä
103
Suosituimmuussija
#185,855
Arvio (tähdet)
3.0
Kirja-arvosteluja
1
ISBN:t
70
Kielet
1

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