A Ásia Central tem sido, para a Federação Russa e a República Popular da China, uma zona de cooperação estratégica desde o fim da URSS em 1991. Desde então, desenvolve-se um regime de segurança que congrega, além das duas potências, Cazaquistão, Quirguistão, Tadjiquistão, Turcomenistão e Uzbequistão. Acredita-se, porém, que a efetiva cooperação entre Moscou e Pequim é limitada nesta parte do globo devido ao não desenvolvimento de um regime energético (focado em hidrocarbonetos) que envolva todos os países da região e que seja encabeçado por Rússia e China. Para demonstrar isto, busca-se apresentar as diferentes posições internacionais e as percepções destes dois países no tocante aos hidrocarbonetos e às suas diferentes prioridades geopolíticas. Além disto, sugere-se, ao final do trabalho, que um eficaz desenvolvimento de uma cooperação forte e abrangente entre os dois países deve se basear em um regime securitário-energético regional que inclua a Ásia Central em uma lógica sino-russa de gerenciamento mútuo tanto da segurança quanto do fluxo de hidrocarbonetos. / For both the Russian Federation and the People\'s Republic of China, Central Asia has been a zone of strategic cooperation since the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. From then on, a security regime encompassing those powers as well as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan has developed. We believe, however, that effective cooperation between Moscow and Beijing is limited in this part of the globe due to the non-development of a (hydrocarbon-based) energy regime that includes all countries in the region under the leadership of Russia and China. To demonstrate this argument we shall present the different international positions and perceptions of those two countries concerning hydrocarbons and their different geopolitical priorities. In addition, we suggest at the end of this study that effective development of a strong and comprehensive cooperation between both countries must stem from a regional security-energy regime that includes Central Asia in a Chinese-Russian logic of mutual management of both security and hydrocarbon flow.

Wild populations of Malus sieversii [Ldb.] M. Roem are valued genetic and watershed resources in Inner Eurasia. These populations are located in a region that has experienced rapid and on-going climatic change over the past several decades. We assess relationships between climate variables and wild apple radial growth with dendroclimatological techniques to understand the potential of a changing climate to influence apple radial growth. Ring-width chronologies spanning 48 to 129 years were developed from 12 plots in the Trans-Ili Alatau and Jungar Alatau ranges of Tian Shan Mountains, southeastern Kazakhstan. Cluster analysis of the plot-level chronologies suggests different temporal patterns of growth variability over the last century in the two mountain ranges studied. Changes in the periodicity of annual ring-width variability occurred ca. 1970 at both mountain ranges, with decadal-scale variability supplanted by quasi-biennial variation. Seascorr correlation analysis of primary and secondary weather variables identified negative growth associations with spring precipitation and positive associations with cooler fall-winter temperatures, but the relative importance of these relationships varied spatially and temporally, with a shift in the relative importance of spring precipitation ca. 1970 at Trans-Ili Alatau. Altered apple tree radial growth patterns correspond to altered climatology in the Lake Balkhash Basin driven by unprecedented intensified Arctic Oscillations after the late 1970s.

The disintegration of the Soviet Union caused the dramatic changes in the entire post-Soviet area. The formation and development of the new independent states have often led to many problems that have been linked with ethnic or socio-economic, and political problems in general. In this paper the post-Soviet development and its comparison in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan is outlined from a social, economic, and political point of view. The aim of this thesis is to identify the main factors that influenced this development and how these factors contributed into the current situation in both countries. At the end, these factors are discussed and there is a discussion about the probable direction of the future development. Key words: Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, post-Soviet, development, comparison

The thesis deals with the importance of water resources and their influence on political development with the example of Kyrgyzstan. The main objective was to find out the role of water resources in domestic politics, how water influences the relationship between Kyrgyzstan and its neighbors, and whether water resources are of interest to the world's superpowers. Geopolitical analysis was carried out on three levels. At national level, water scarcity, uneven distribution and obsolete water systems are a cause of civil discontent. Corruption in the state sphere negates the possibility of modernization of existing water facilities. Water management is dependent on non-governmental associations and foreign financial assistance. At regional level, there is constant tension between Kyrgyzstan, where all the important rivers of the region rise, and the states lying downstream of these rivers. The cause of this tension is different demands of individual states on water use. International treaties address the situation, but are mostly non-functional in the long term. At the supra-regional level, the interests of especially Russia and China collide. Both superpowers seek to prevent US influence in the region. At the same time, they gain a dominant position in Kyrgyzstan in the economic and security spheres....

The diploma thesis called Energy Potential of Central Asia aims to assess the potential of this region as a supplier of resources of energy. In the first part the basic trends in the area of consumption and production of energy resources are summarized. In the second part the countries of Central Asia region disposing of extensive oil and gas reserves are briefly introduced. The third part describes in detail the oil and gas reserves, firstly considering the whole world and secondly for each of the countries independently. The fourth part describes the options of transport of the energy supplies from Central Asia to consumers' markets in Western Europe, China and India. The last part deals shortly with characterization of approach of the major world and regional powers to this area.

Diploma thesis aims at analysing impacts of microfinance on economimies of particular countries in Central Asia region. Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan were chosen for the analysis. First part of the thesis characterizes socioeconomic development and situation in selected countries. Second part of the thesis analyses specific form of microfinance and governments' attitude to this area of financial sector. The last part of the thesis compares impacts of microfinance on chosen economies with each other. It also deals with comparation of microfinance system in Central Asia and vision of Muhammad Yunus, pioneer of modern microfinance.

This study explores how great powers not allied with the United States formulate their grand strategies in a unipolar international system. Specifically, it analyzes the strategies China and Russia have developed to deal with U.S. hegemony by examining how Moscow and Beijing have responded to American intervention in Central Asia. The study argues that China and Russia have adopted a soft balancing strategy of to indirectly balance the United States at the regional level. This strategy uses normative capabilities such as soft power, alternative institutions and regionalization to offset the overwhelming material hardware of the hegemon. The theoretical and methodological approach of this dissertation is neoclassical realism. Chinese and Russian balancing efforts against the United States are based on their domestic dynamics as well as systemic constraints. Neoclassical realism provides a bridge between the internal characteristics of states and the environment which those states are situated. Because China and Russia do not have the hardware (military or economic power) to directly challenge the United States, they must resort to their software (soft power and norms) to indirectly counter American preferences and set the agenda to obtain their own interests. Neoclassical realism maintains that soft power is an extension of hard power and a reflection of the internal makeup of states. The dissertation uses the heuristic case study method to demonstrate the efficacy of soft balancing. Such case studies help to facilitate theory construction and are not necessarily the demonstrable final say on how states behave under given contexts. Nevertheless, it finds that China and Russia have increased their soft power to counterbalance the United States in certain regions of the world, Central Asia in particular. The conclusion explains how soft balancing can be integrated into the overall balance-of-power framework to explain Chinese and Russian responses to U.S. hegemony. It also suggests that an analysis of norms and soft power should be integrated into the study of grand strategy, including both foreign policy and military doctrine.

abstract: This dissertation discusses children and childhood in Soviet Kazakhstan from 1928 to 1953. By exploring images of, and for, children, and by focusing on children’s fates during and after the famine of 1930-33, I argue that the regime’s success in making children socialist subjects and creating the new Soviet person was questionable throughout the 1930s. The reach of Soviet ideological and cultural policies was limited in a decade defined by all kinds of shortcomings in the periphery which was accompanied by massive violence and destruction. World War 2 mobilized Central Asians and integrated the masses into the Soviet social and political body. The war transformed state-society relations and the meaning of being Soviet fundamentally changed. In this way, larger segments of society embraced the framework for Soviet citizenship and Soviet patriotism largely thanks to the war experience. This approach invites us to reconsider the nature of Sovietization in Central Asia by questioning the central role of ideology and cultural revolution in the formation of Soviet identities. My dissertation brings together images of childhood, everyday experiences of children and memory of childhood. On the one hand, the focus on children provides me an opportunity to discuss Sovietization in Central Asia. On the other hand, this dissertation contributes to our understanding of Soviet childhood: it is the first comprehensive study of Soviet children in the periphery in English. It shows how images and discourses, which were produced in the Soviet center, were translated into the local context and emphasizes the multiplicity of children’s experiences across the Soviet Union. Local conditions defined the meaning of childhood in Kazakhstan as much as central visions. Studying children in a non-Russian republic allows me to discuss questions of ideology, cultural revolution and the nationalities question. A main goal of the dissertation is to shift the focus of Sovietization from the cultural and intellectual elite to ordinary people. Secondly, by studying the impact of the famine and the Great Patriotic War, I try to understand the dynamics of the Soviet regime and the changing conceptions of culture and identity in Soviet Kazakhstan. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation History 2020

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For the first time, a comprehensive characterization of optical, microphysical, and cloud-relevant properties of Central Asian aerosol particles with a state-of-the-art lidar has been performed. This study fills a gap between observations in Eastern Mediterranean (e.g., in Greece, Cyprus, and Israel) and Eastern Asian (e.g, in China, Korea, and Japan) aerosol monitoring. During the Central Asian Dust Experiment (CADEX), an automatic multiwavelength polarization Raman lidar PollyXT was operated in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, from 17 March 2015 until 31 August 2016. During the 18-month campaign, on 487 days, lidar data has been acquired for a time period of at least 3 h. On 308 of these days, the lidar ran even longer than 20 h. 328 manually analyzed profiles of nighttime observations build the data basis of this study and cover well the annual cycle of dust and pollution aerosol layering. Thorough quality assurance and calibration efforts have been made before, during, and after the measurement campaign. With the lidar, vertical profiles of the particle backscatter coefficient at 355 nm, 532 nm, and 1064 nm, of the particle extinction coefficient at 355 nm and 532 nm, and of the particle linear depolarization ratio at 355 nm and 532 nm wavelength were determined. From these quantities, lidar ratios and backscatter-related and extinction-related Ångström exponents were derived. Furthermore, the optical properties were converted to mass concentration and cloud-relevant parameters (CCN and INP concentration) by means of the recently developed lidar technique POLIPHON.