Developmental States in Central Asia
and the Southern Caucasus

Contrary to the East-Central European countries, the countries of Central Asia have deviated from the liberal development path. Instead, they shifted to a state-capitalist model, which is directly or indirectly oriented towards China or the East Asian states.

Against this background, the project aims at analysing the emerging political and economic institutions in Central Asia including their effects on economic reforms. Particularly, the role of the state and the character of the relationship between state and economy are of crucial relevance. The leading questions of the project are as follows:

• Under which conditions can the state evolve as the engine of economic development?
• Is this type of economy an adequate response to the challenges of globalisation?
• How is this state-capitalist policy interrelated with present political rationalities?

For this purpose the developmental-state concept, which constitutes the central conditions and features of the economically successful East-Asian development model, serves as a relevant analytical framework.
 See Research

The project is part of the Research Network: Institutions and Institutional Change in Postsocialism (KomPost) and financially supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
 See KomPost