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List of contents
Part 1 Part I Introduction; Chapter 1 Introduction, Robert A.Lewis; Part 2 Part II Regional Background; Chapter 2 Chapter 2 The Frontier and Colonialism in Russian and Soviet Central Asia, Ralph S.Clem; Chapter 3 Chapter 3 The Political Geography of Soviet Central Asia: Integrating the Central Asian Frontier, LeeSchwartz; Chapter 4 Chapter 4 The Physical Geography of Soviet Central Asia and the Aral Sea Problem, PeterSinnott; Part 3 Part III Economic Geography; Chapter 5 Chapter 5 Soviet Geographical Imbalances and Soviet Central Asia, Ronald D.Liebowitz; Chapter 6 Chapter 6 Agricultural Change, Labor Supply, and Rural Out-Migration in Soviet Central Asia, Peter R.Craumer; Chapter 7 Chapter 7 Work Force Composition, Patriarchy, and Social Change; Part 4 Part IV Social Geography; Chapter 8 Chapter 8 The Demography of Soviet Central Asia and its Future Development, Ozod Baba-MirzayevichAta-Mirzayev, Abdukhakim AbdukhamidovichKayumov; Chapter 9 Chapter9 Demographic Trends in Soviet Central Asia and Southern Kazakhstan, H. Rowland Richard; Chapter 10 Chapter 10 Social Mobilization in Soviet Central Asia, Robert J.Kaiser; Chapter 11 Chapter 11 Nations and Homelands in Soviet Central Asia, Robert J.Kaiser; Index;
About the author
Robert A. Lewis is a Professor of Geography at Columbia University. The contributors are from both the West and Central Asia and all have travelled extensively in the region.
Summary
In a unique survey, based on new census data, Geographic Perspectives on Soviet Central Asia highlights the region's geographic, economic and ecological problems since 1945. Painting a grim picture, this book investigates how the combination of rapid population growth and declining per capita investment is causing economic conditions to slide in rural areas and encouraging an ecological catastrophe. The authors discuss the effects of low rural out-migration, and show that at current growth rates the rural working-age population will double with each generation. Unprecedented in a developed country, this is causing the region to become more rather than less rural. Soviet Central Asia is an area of low productivity, and the book considers the lack of support from Soviet central government to the region. Wishing to maximise their return to capital and labour, the government is concentrating its investment in the European West and directing insufficient funds for a growing workforce in Central Asia. Soviet Central Asia also faces grave ecological problems; the declining level of the Aral Sea, extensive soil salinization and water pollution, all largely due to past attempts at irrigation. The authors consider the effect of these disasters on the area, and look to future possibilities in this very important region of the world.
