This title examines Uzbekistan's development since the break-up of the Soviet Union, its social, political and economic orientation in the modern world and its role as a bridge between East and West, North and South.

This book examines the development of Uzbekistan’s international relations since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The Rebirth of Revelation explores the different and important ways religious thinkers across Protestantism, Catholicism, and Judaism modernized the concept of revelation from 1750 to 1850.

The fall of communism 25 years ago transformed the political and economic landscape in more than two dozen countries across Europe and Asia. In this volume political leaders, scholars, and policymakers assess the lessons learned from the “great rebirth” of capitalism, highlighting the policies that were the most successful in helping countries make the transition to stable and prosperous market economies, as well as those cases of countries reverting to political and economic authoritarianism. The authors of these essays conclude that visionary leadership, and a willingness to take bold and comprehensive steps, achieved the best outcomes, and that privatization of state-owned enterprises and deregulation were essential to success. Recent backsliding, such as the reversal of economic and democratic reforms in Russia and Hungary, has cast a shadow over the legacy of the transition a quarter century ago, however.

An examination of the geography, history, government, economy, culture, and peoples of Uzbekistan.

The Formation of the Uzbek Nation-State is a detailed and insightful examination of the process of nation-state formation in the Central Asian region in the post-October revolution period, based on a case-study of Uzbekistan. Author Anita Sengupta examines the role of language and religion in the formation of the Uzbek nation-state and demonstrates the continuous transition involved in such a process.

The 2008 edition of The Statesman's Yearbook contains information and analysis on every country in the world, including biographical profiles of current leaders, government histories, economic overviews and maps. Every copy comes with a single-user licence giving access to the full text online, updated regularly and fully searchable.

'the most convenient and reliable starting point for information on public affairs' - George J. Mitchell, US Senator. Each copy comes with FREE online access to www.statesmansyearbook.com . Site license upgrades are also available for libraries who wish to network the data. New this year: a chronology of the 'credit crunch.'

Through invasions, migrations, trade and cultural exchange, developments in Central Eurasia have, for millennia, impacted upon the history of both Europe and Asia. For the last three hundred years, Central Eurasia has been the stage upon which great empires clashed. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Central Eurasia has once again emerged as a region of geo-political concern with various new international actors involved: the USA, international monetary organizations, strategic alliances, TNCs, NGOs, regional blocks, as well as criminal groups and ethno-religious movements. The new ‘centrality’ of Central Eurasia brings new security threats to the region’s population, to Europe and to the rest of the world. Repressive political regimes and marginalization of whole groups of the population inflame conflicts that spill across national borders. Migration to Europe, both legal and illegal, the illicit production and trade of drugs are the direct outcome of social-economic destabilization in Central Eurasia. Territorial disputes, border conflicts and competition for resources among the Central Eurasian ethnicities have become the unfortunate reality. Post-Soviet Central Eurasia, as a direct neighbor to the turbulent Middle East, is a potential playground for extremist movements: radical Islamic groups and terrorist organizations. The contributors to this book, coming from various theoretical schools and presenting innovative interdisciplinary approaches, provide their views on the socio-political challenges confronting the nine Central Eurasian states - Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Mongolia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The book presents scientific discussions on the historical development of Central Eurasia and its socio-cultural legacies; Soviet and contemporary state organization, social transformation and communal structures; the current economic conditions as a precursor to social stability and development; and geo-political arrangements and political changes over the last two decades.

Despite great progress around the world in getting more kids into schools, too many leave without even the most basic skills. In India’s rural Andhra Pradesh, for instance, only about one in twenty children in fifth grade can perform basic arithmetic. The problem is that schooling is not the same as learning. In The Rebirth of Education, Lant Pritchett uses two metaphors from nature to explain why. The first draws on Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom’s book about the difference between centralized and decentralized organizations, The Starfish and the Spider. Schools systems tend be centralized and suffer from the limitations inherent in top-down designs. The second metaphor is the concept of isomorphic mimicry. Pritchett argues that many developing countries superficially imitate systems that were successful in other nations— much as a nonpoisonous snake mimics the look of a poisonous one. Pritchett argues that the solution is to allow functional systems to evolve locally out of an environment pressured for success. Such an ecosystem needs to be open to variety and experimentation, locally operated, and flexibly financed. The only main cost is ceding control; the reward would be the rebirth of education suited for today’s world.