In Transition

• Author: Mamuka Tsereteli
• Position: Senior fellow, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at the American Foreign Policy Council
• Pages: 57-57

June 2019 | FINANCE & DEVELOPMENT 57

BOOK REVIEWS

In Transition

WITH HIS PREVIOUS WORKS, R ichard Pomfret has

already established himself as one of the lead-

ing scholars of the five central Asian economies:

Kazakhstan, the Kyrg yz Republic, Tajikistan,

Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. His new book,

e Central Asian Economies in the Twenty-First

Century: Paving a New Silk Road , is very timely

given the increased interest by polic ymakers,

investors, and scholars in the reg ion since the

transition of power in Uzbekista n in 2016 fol-

lowing the death of the countr y’s long-serving

president. e size, location, and recent political

and economic reforms in Uzbekista n have had

an impact on the rest of central Asia, boosting

regional cooperation, cross-border trade, and

greater connectivity. Global political dy namics

and the growing economic influence of Chin a in

this part of the world have al so stimulated interest

in Pomfret’s book.

Pomfret takes the reader t hrough the economic

transitions of these five former Soviet republics—

from centrally planned e conomies to independent

states—with d ifferent degrees of market systems

and openness to trade and invest ment. He outlines

three major economic shocks faced by a ll central

Asian countries st arting in 1991: dissolution of the

Soviet Union, transition from central plann ing,

and hyperinflation. e book descr ibes the diverse

strategies used by thes e countries in dealing with

these shocks, from the open ma rket approach of

the Kyrgyz Republic to the slow reform policies of

Uzbekistan (until 2017) and the closed economy

of Turkmenistan. Pomfret also analy zes the role

of natural resources i n the economic development

of central Asia, wit h Kazakhsta n being the major

beneficiary of the oil development of the past

two decades.

e book provides a detailed description of the

evolution of the political economy of these five

countries. Pomfret demonstrates deep knowledge

of the economic models and government policies of

each country since its i ndependence. e book also

analyze s the impact of different externa l forces on

central Asian countries, with particular emphasis

on the Russia-led Eurasian E conomic Union and

the impact of trade and investment ties w ith China.

A particula r focus of the book is the challenges

and opportunities of regional co operation in central

Asia. Unfriendly and someti mes tense relations

between some countries have restricted opportu-

nities for intraregional trade and infrastructure

development. With the significant investments

in infrastr ucture by these countries’ governments

and international financia l institutions as well a s

by foreign investors, conditions are favorable to

increase regional integ ration, maximize the tra nsit

potential of the region, and restore the historic role

of central Asia as t he crossroads of the silk roads

connecting Asia a nd Europe. Pomfret expands

on this potential in the la st chapter of his book,

expressing cautious optimism for central Asia to

restore its historic influence.

Pomfret’s book would have been stronger if it

had focused more on the private sector’s perspec-

tive on national and regional ec onomic develop-

ment models and on the links bet ween foreign

direct investment, employment, and hard and

soft infrast ructure development for better con-

nectivity and trade.

Overall, the book ma kes a significant contribu-

tion to the study of the evolution of the economies

of central Asia and to evaluating the potential of

these countries to meet the ch allenges and oppor-

tunities of the 21st century.

MAMUKA TSERETELI, senior fellow, Central Asia-Caucasus

Institute at the American Foreign Policy Council

Richard Pomfret

The Central Asian

Economies in the

Twenty-First Century:

Paving a New Silk Road

Princeton University Press,

Princeton, NJ, 2019, 328 pp., $45.00