Sustainable development and comprehensive capital : The post-Soviet decline of Central Asia

The general post-Soviet decline of the states of Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) mirrors specific declines in the robustness of these states' stocks of financial, physical, natural, human, organizational, and social capital assets. This loss of various kinds of capital assets over the past decade reduces the current potential and capacity of the region to implement reforms for sustainable development. While Central Asia entered the 20th century as a comparatively marginal and underdeveloped area of the world, during the Soviet period it amassed appreciable stocks of capital, especially human, physical, and social capital. The emergence of a vibrant scientific community in Central Asia during the middle of the century marked one of the most rapid expansions of scientific prestige, talent, and institutions in the developing world. With the disassembly of the Soviet Union, development and reform projects within Central Asia and funded by foreign donors have failed to achieve their development and reform goals. Within the environmental sphere, the post-Soviet period, despite a massive investment in environmental aid to the region from the West and Japan, has yielded few environmental benefits and seen the worsening of several environmental conditions, captured in the desiccation of the Aral Sea and the collapse of Caspian Sea fisheries.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Program in Science, Technology and Society.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2001

Author dc:creator

• Sievers, Eric

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Peter C. Perdue.

• Program in Science, Technology and Society.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/8670

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/8670