Publications

This essay by Dr. S. Frederick Starr was written for the meeting of the World Society for the Study, Preservation, and Popularization of the Culture of Uzbekistan, a body that has brought together Uzbek-sourced manuscripts from all the world’s museums. It has sent teams to the US, France, Germany, Turkey, and Japan, and has vastly expanded the known body of manuscripts from Central Asia, publishing them online and in print editions of superior quality. Dr. Starr has been a trustee since its founding in 2017.

A change in Russia’s government is more likely to take place than conventional wisdom allows.

Today’s Central Asian reformers are picking up and reviving neglected approaches to politics and society that Islam’s Golden Age turned its back on a millennium ago. They do so as Muslim believers or at least as officials respectful of Islam. 

Central Asia and the Caucasus have recently attracted American attention. Wabtec and Boeing have announced multibillion-dollar investments in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, respectively, and groups of American investors have descended on every country in the region.