Energy, Wealth and Governance in the Caucasus and Central Asia

Richard Auty is Professor of Economic Geography at Lancaster University, UK.Indra de Soysa is Associate Professor of Political Science at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

• List of Tables List of Figures Contributors 1. Introduction 1. Transition to Mid-Income Democracies or to Failed States? 2. Resource-Driven Models of the Development of the Political Economy 2. Transition Trends and Scenarios Within the CCA Region 3. Nature’s Blessing or Nature’s Curse: Political Economy of Transition in Resource-Based Economies 4. Optimistic and Pessimistic Energy Rent Deployment Scenarios for Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan 5. Resource Abundance, Governance and Economic Performance in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan 6. Transition and Economic Development Challenges in the Resource-Poor Countries Part 3. Political Economy Constraints 7. Deficient Social Capital and Its Consequences for Economic Reform 8. Incentives to Reform in the Caucasus and Central Asian Political States 4. Synergies of Resource-Rich and Resource-Poor CCA Countries 9. The Importance of Good Neighbors: Regional Trade in Central Asia 10. Environmental Problems and Solutions in the Caspian and Aral Basins 11. Regional Threat Perceptions and Risks of Military Conflict 5. Assessing the Strength of External Leverage on the CCA Political Economy 12. Prospective Impacts of Russian and Iran 13. China, Russian and Energy in the CCA Region and East Asia 14. The Effectiveness of Western Leverage: IFI Projects and Programs 6. Conclusion 15. Conclusion: Lessons Not Learned in the CCA Countries?

"One may think the rather unusual title would sum up the situation in the states formerly allied in the Soviet Union fairly well, but in fact the reasons why lessons were not learned are much more complex than mere incompetence or corruption. Instead, the states were involved in too many major projects at the same time: building new governance, creating new market economies, and forging new links in the global economy. These 15 articles are unflinchingly honest, and some are actually optimistic that perhaps some lessons will be learned in time. Their topics include introductions to the problems of transition democracies and resource-driven models of the political economy, transition trends and scenarios within the region (including information on each of the resource-poor and resource-rich states), synergies of those states and the complex nature of the markets, the strength of external leverage on the region." --Reference & Research Book News