The territory of modern-day Uzbekistan and its close neighbors have seen many empires rise and fall. The Sogdians, the Macedonians, the Huns, the Mongolians, the Seljuks, the Timurids and the Khanates of Samarkand, Bukhara Khiva and Khorezm all held sway here at one time or another. Central Asia really came of age with the development of the Silk Road from China to the West. Samarkand and Bukhara lay astride this, the most valuable trading route of its day. The riches that it brought were used to build fabulous mosques and madrassars, most of which were destroyed by the Mongol hordes in the 13th
century. Much of the damage was repaired and new cities were built by Timur the Lame in the 14th century. Timur conquered all before him and, at its height, his empire stretched from Moscow and Baghdad and as far west as Ankara in Turkey.
After his death, his empire crumbled – although his grandson, Babur, went on to found the Moghul Dynasty in India – and Central Asia was split into warring Khanates. The Russians had had their eyes on the lands over their southern border since Peter the Great sent his first military mission to Khiva in 1717. It was to be another 150 years before they started to make any considerable headway. In 1865, General Kaufmann took Tashkent and signed agreements with the Khans. There were Russian client Khans in Khiva until 1920. The Bolsheviks were resisted in Central Asia by bands known as Basmachi until the 1930s; they were finally suppressed and Moscow took control.
The history of Central Asia under Soviet rule is one of exploitation. Uzbekistan was used, as it had been under the tsars, as a place of internal exile. Stalin, fearing the power of the minorities in the Soviet Union, transported thousands of people in cattle cars into Uzbekistan and the surrounding republics. These included Germans, Koreans, Meshketi Turks, Chechens and Tatars. Part of the plan was to dilute and weaken the indigenous population. Another element of this plan was to create economies dependent on Russia: Uzbekistan was turned into a cotton monoculture and most of the product was processed north of the Urals, in Russia and Ukraine. A major consequence of this policy has been an ecological catastrophe in the Aral Sea (see
Economy).
Uzbekistan has been governed since 1989 by Islam Karimov when he took over as head of the Uzbek Communist party (now the People’s Democratic Party of Uzbekistan, PDPU). Uzbekistan assumed independence in 1991 upon the break up of the Soviet Union. The PRPU, with Karimov at its head, has held power continuously ever since, occasionally in alliance with allied parties such as the Progress of the Fatherland party. He has been re-elected several times, most recently in 2000, with overwhelming majorities and against nominal opposition. In April 2002, Karimov won a referendum to extend the length of his current term from five to eight years, guaranteeing that he will remain in power until at least 2008. Domestic opposition is divided between secular democratic forces and Islamic parties.
Erk (Freedom),
Birlik (Democracy), and a third organization,
Adolat (Justice), comprising the secular opposition, have combined in the Democratic Opposition Co-ordinating Council. All three are currently banned although, a more relaxed attitude recently on the part of the government has allowed them to organize openly.
The most powerful Islamic party in Uzbekistan is the Islamic Renaissance Party (IRP), whose allies in other former Soviet Central Asian republics have made substantial headway. There has been some armed opposition to the government from militants belonging to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). The Karimov government has taken an uncompromising line against any and all opposition. It has a dreadful human rights record, with political prisoners running into tens of thousands and the systematic use of torture of detainees.
The government points to the strife in neighboring Tajikistan where a civil war was fought throughout the 1990s and where Uzbek peacekeepers have been engaged in support of the Tajik government. The Uzbek government has received welcome support from the United States - the latter has formally classified the IMU as a ‘terrorist’ organization. Uzbekistan has played a valuable role in recent American military campaigns in Afghanistan (with whom it shares a border) and Iraq: the American military now have a relatively small but permanent and growing presence in the country. This has been of some concern to the Russians, who have military bases in most of the former Soviet republics but not Uzbekistan. In November 2005, Russia and Uzbekistan signed an agreement paving the way for much closer military cooperation.
GovernmentUnder the 1992 constitution, the supreme legislative body is the 250-seat
Oly Majlis. Executive power rests with the elected president. The day-to-day running of the country is carried out by the Cabinet of Ministers, which answers to the president, who is also Head of State.
EconomyAgriculture is the main component of Uzbekistan’s economy. Livestock is reared in the steppes while a variety of crops, including grains, fruit and vegetables, are grown in the more fertile valleys. In addition, vast quantities of cotton are produced in formerly arid areas fed by artificial irrigation schemes.
Uzbekistan continues to consume over three-quarters of the water available to the ex-Soviet Central Asian Republics. The result of this ill-conceived plan has been one of the world’s greatest ecological catastrophes in the Aral Sea, once among the world’s largest inland seas, which has been deprived of the bulk of its river sources and has consequently contracted to one-third of its original size.
The country has substantial natural resources, especially natural gas, which is an important export earner, and oil. Uzbekistan also boasts the world’s largest opencast gold mine and has deposits of silver, uranium, copper, lead, zinc and tungsten. Machinery and vehicles account for the bulk of manufacturing output.
Self-sufficiency in food and energy products meant that Uzbekistan did not suffer as badly as other republics from the collapse of the Soviet Union and its economic system. In principle, this made reform a somewhat easier prospect than for many of Uzbekistan’s neighbors.
In 1992, Uzbekistan joined the IMF, the World Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (as a ‘Country of Operation’). A new currency, the Sum, was introduced in 1996. Economic reform began in earnest in 1994 but the government has since blown hot and cold over putting it into effect.
Much of the economy has now been transferred into private ownership, but key sectors remain under state control and the financial crises of 1997/98 in Asia and the Russian Federation persuaded the government to put many reform plans on hold. Currency and export controls were introduced in an attempt to insulate the economy, as far as possible, from external influence (although the government now plans to make the Sum fully convertible in the near future). The lack of reform has also deterred many potential foreign investors.
Uzbekistan’s recent economic performance has been patchy. Annual GDP growth was reported by the Uzbek government to be 7.2% in 2006, but there are doubts over the accuracy of this figure. There are no reliable inflation figures available.
Uzbekistan has joined the Economic Co-operation Organization of ex-Soviet republics and former socialist countries. In April 2004, the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development curbed its investment program due to the lack of progress by Uzbekistan on political and economical benchmarks set by the bank. Until there is more clarity on the legal issues and efficiency in the banking sector, foreign investors will face a difficult environment.
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