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.

The ever-growing digital takeover of society fosters new platforms for opinion formation, transforming the traditional way of interacting and practising activism. However, while online activism has been successful in western parts of the world, its importance has not been as widely acknowledged in places such as Central Asia in relation to feminism. Consequently, this study aims to draw attention to the online activism on feminism within the context of Tajikistan and, through attitudes expressed on Instagram, examine the present-day obstacles that women face. Coloured by patriarchal values and limited space for feminism, Tajikistan provides an interesting case for studying the former and situation of activism on gender equality in general. This study was carried out through the qualitative content approach where 38 Instagram posts containing various aspects of women and gender, were analysed through the lens of patriarchy and women's empowerment. The findings revealed attitudes condemning patriarchal norms and calling for greater gender equality and empowerment of women. Said implied a distressing situation for women in Tajikistan, suggesting very few transformative steps, while the prevalence of online activism insinuated, minor, but significant steps for the feminist struggle in Tajikistan.

The Central Asian country of Tajikistan is the poorest of the former Soviet republics; it is also prone to a plethora of natural hazards including mass wasting, flood, and extreme temperature. This thesis seeks to characterize how vulnerable rural Tajik mountain communities are to prolonged cold. The primary focus was in Navobod, in the Zeravshan Valley of Tajikistan, where semi-structured interviews were conducted with 31 households, the village leader and doctor, and school staff. The results from the interviews were compared with GIS analysis of the region. Interviews indicated that the area is highly vulnerable to the impacts of prolonged cold. These rural residents continue to practice unsustainable land use, primarily for agricultural and biofuel resources. With unreliable sources of income, a fragile national economy, and decreased access to markets, these residents are ill-equipped to mitigate the impacts of prolonged cold weather. GIS results largely supported interview results.

Using Nixon’s (2011) conceptualisation of slow violence, this study explores how violence is portrayed in English-language news articles reporting the Kyrgyz-Tajik border conflicts in April 2021 and September 2022. This study aims to discover the ways in which violence is communicated to English-speaking audiences, and, in a larger context, it contributes to the understanding of violence produced in border conflicts. The study analyses 50 news articles from four different media outlets through thematic analysis. The findings from this study suggest that the news reporting on the border conflicts focuses on casualties and “visible” violence, aligning with Nixon’s arguments that slow violence, the gradual degradation and suffering, is being marginalised in the public discourse. Moreover, the study finds that slow violence is best communicated in articles that build on personal interviews with the people living in the border communities.

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This thesis explores China's relations with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, from 1991 to 2005, contributing to the body of knowledge by arguing that China's relations with post-Soviet Central Asia were shaped by security and economic imperatives in Xinjiang, home to Muslim Turkic nationalities who have historically challenged Beijing's jurisdiction. / As discussed in Chapter One, after 1949, the Communist Party sought to bring Xinjiang firmly within Beijing's orbit, ending a 150-year long period during which Beijing's hold over Xinjiang periodically faltered. The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, coupled with instability in Afghanistan, led to new challenges to Beijing's authority. / Chapter Two examines China's relations with Central Asia from 1992 to 1996. In the post-Cold War order characterized by US primacy, China envisioned Central Asia as an arena of cooperation between China, Russia, and the independent republics. However, the republics became fertile ground for transnational Islamist movements. China feared spillover into Xinjiang; consequently, China extended economic cooperation to the impoverished republics with the understanding that they would suppress emigre Uighur organizations. Bilateral economic cooperation was also important for Xinjiang, which benefited from cross-border trade. / Chapter Three examines Sino-Central Asian relations from 1996 to 2001, exploring the development of the Shanghai Five mechanism in 1996 between China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, which initially addressed confidence building, but after 1998, focused on regional security. This was important for China, since in 1996/1997, Xinjiang experienced instability that was exacerbated by the independence of Central Asia. Competition over the region's energy is also examined, which contributed to international rivalry. / Chapter Four examines Sino-Central Asian relations from 2001 to 2005. In June 2001, the Shanghai Accord signatories, and Uzbekistan, established the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). While envisioned as a forum for wide-ranging cooperation, combating "terrorism, separatism, and extremism," was an immediate priority. Following the attacks on September 11, 2001, the United States sought a military presence in Central Asia that temporarily undermined China's influence, heightening China's concerns over energy security. China's response was to gradually deepen relations with the republics in the energy and security fields.

Strains among the states of Central Asia caused by overuse of the region?s scarce water resources have been increasing in recent years. This is especially true for the relations between Tajikistan, upstream, and Uzbekistan, downstream, on the Amudarya River. Major controversy exists over constructing Rogun Dam on the Vakhsh River, a tributary of the Amudarya River. Construction of Rogun Dam, with a planned height of 335 m (1099 ft), began in 1976 but was stopped in 1991 with the breakup of the former Soviet Union. The intent of this dam is to supply Tajikistan with energy, but a side effect will be the changed flow regime of the Amudarya River to downstream states (especially Uzbekistan). The major impact will be on the agricultural sector of Uzbekistan. The objectives of this study are to estimate the monetary impacts of Rogun Dam and propose mitigation measures to minimize impacts. The study investigates the nature and extent of those impacts and indicates policy implications to mitigate negative consequences of the possible water shortage in summer by assessing the baseline situation and comparing that situation with future status-quo (no changes) level of water. Future water shortage could cost Uzbekistan annually over US $609 million economic loss in agriculture, reduce the country?s GDP by 2.2%, and result in 336,000 unemployed people. If Uzbekistan changes its present water use practice and increases water use efficiency, the future water shortage during irrigation periods will not as seriously affect the country?s economy, as adaptive management measures could cut the losses by 40%.

Cette thèse propose une évaluation empirique de l'impact des transferts de fond des migrants (TFM) en matière de développement économique de leur pays d'origine. Elle démontre notamment que cet impact, supposé dans la littérature comme généralement positif, est susceptible d'être réduit en raison de l'existence d'un « effet de dépendance ». Cet effet est particulièrement développé dans les pays pour lesquels les TFM représentent une part importante du PIB. Ce résultat est obtenu en trois temps. Le premier chapitre propose une synthèse de la littérature sur les principaux déterminants et impacts des TFM. Les TFM sont déterminés par les comportements individuels, dont les effets sont observables à l'échelle macroéconomique. Le caractère peu volatile ou contracyclique des TFM leur confère un effet stabilisateur sur les économies receveuses. Cet effet positif a néanmoins un revers : les pays recevant des TFM peuvent connaitre un effet de dépendance aux TFM se traduisant par une diminution de leur activité économique. Le deuxième chapitre présente deux résultats : Premièrement, il propose la fixation d'un seuil empirique de dépendance aux TFM. Ainsi un ratio TFM/PIB supérieur à la moyenne des PED définit un pays comme fortement dépendant. Le second résultat est la confirmation d'un impact négatif de cette dépendance à partir d'une base de données en panel sur 32 pays. Les résultats infirment donc l'hypothèse d'un impact systématiquement positif des TFM sur la croissance du PIB et la formation brute de capitale fixe (FBCF). Le troisième chapitre étudie les impacts et déterminants des TFM dans le cas d'un pays fortement dépendant : le Tadjikistan. Cette étude de cas permet une analyse plus poussée de l'économie des TFM dans un pays fortement dépendant. Différents déterminants macroéconomiques sont testés afin de comparer le poids de l'activité économique russe et tadjike sur les TFM. Les résultats, robustes à différentes méthodes d'estimation, confirment un effet de dépendance aux TFM qui s'explique notamment par la supériorité du cycle économique russe sur le cycle tadjik dans la détermination des TFM. / This thesis provides an empirical assessment of the impact of migrants' remittances on economic development of their origin country of origin. It shows that this impact, assumed in the literature as generally positive, is likely to be reduced due to the existence of a "dependency effect". This effect is particularly important in countries where remittances are an important share of GDP. This demonstration takes place in three stages: The first chapter provides a literature survey on the main determinants and impacts of remittances. Remittances are determined by individual behaviours, whose effects are observable at the macro level. The low volatility and the cyclical nature of remittances give them a stabilizing effect on receiving economies. This positive effect has nevertheless a setback: the remittances receiving countries can be subject to a dependency effect, resulting in a decrease in economic activity. The second chapter presents two results: First, it proposes the establishment of an empirical threshold of remittances' dependency. Thus, a country heavily dependent is characterized by a remittances to GDP ratio above the average of developing countries. The second result is the confirmation of a negative impact of this dependency according to the results of a panel data analysis on 32 countries. The results refute the hypothesis of a consistently positive impact of remittances on GDP growth and on gross capital formation (GFCF). The third chapter examines the impact and determinants of TFM in the case of a country heavily dependent: Tajikistan. This case study provides further analysis of the economics of remittances. Different macroeconomic determinants are tested to compare the role of Russian and Tajik economic activities on remittances. The results, robust to different estimation methods, confirm the effect of dependency. Moreover, remittances are more determined by Russian economic activity than by the Tajik one.

Despite widespread depiction of civil war as a pathway to autocracy or state failure, the empirical record shows significant variation in post-civil war states' regime trajectories. While some states settled into durable authoritarianism, others went on to enter the ranks of electoral democracies shortly after belligerents laid down their arms. What explains this variation? In the extreme, how is it that a state that is staunchly autocratic at the war's outbreak can emerge from it a nascent democracy? This study proposes that post-civil war regime outcomes have wartime origins. Differences in the nature of rebel governance of civilians generate different social and institutional legacies across civil wars. These legacies can endure into peacetime politics, affecting the latter in often unintended ways. The theory centers on two wartime transformations that result from different forms of rebel governance. First, where rebels depend heavily on civilian material support, civilians become mobilized as a political force. Widespread social mobilization can in turn create political pressures on postwar elites to respond with a democratization strategy. Second, where rebel groups engage in extensive wartime "statebuilding," they create formal and informal institutions of governance which they can carry over into postwar politics should they prevail in the war. Because institutions are sticky, how they govern civilians in times of war can affect how they will govern in times of peace. These arguments are tested using both quantitative and qualitative methods. An original cross-national dataset on rebel governance for all civil wars ending between 1950 and 2006 serves as the basis, first, for a novel empirical analysis of rebel governance in civil war, then for statistical tests of the theory. To further probe the theory's causal claims, the study engages in an in-depth analysis of the Nepalese civil war and its political aftermath based on field interviews. The theory is further tested in a comparative analysis of the Ugandan, Tajik, and Mozambican civil wars. Together, empirical findings show that rebel governance in civil war can catalyze significant social and political change, with enduring impacts on postwar political regimes. The study offers theoretical and practical implications for our understanding of, and response to, the politics of violent rebellion and its effects on regime development.