IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/compes/v65y2023i3d10.1057_s41294-023-00208-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What did those who were “Present at the Transition” Miss? The Creation of Powerful Presidential Families in Central Asia

Author

Listed:
  • Richard Pomfret

    (University of Adelaide
    The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, SAIS Europe)

Abstract

A striking feature of Havrylyshyn's book present at the transition is the space and emphasis that he gives to elites. He contrasts the new rich in Central European Big Bang countries, who formed a capitalist class that supported further reforms and consolidation of the new economic system, with the new rich in countries with gradual reforms or where an early Big Bang was aborted and old communist-era elites were able to short-circuit the reform process. This paper argues that, although Havrylyshyn's focus on the oligarchs of Russia and Ukraine may be justified by their status as the two largest Soviet successor states, they were not typical of the non-Baltic former Soviet republics. In the Central Asian countries and Azerbaijan, extreme wealth has become concentrated in the presidential families and their associates. This pattern has had specific and pernicious consequences.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Pomfret, 2023. "What did those who were “Present at the Transition” Miss? The Creation of Powerful Presidential Families in Central Asia," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 65(3), pages 442-460, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:compes:v:65:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1057_s41294-023-00208-8
    DOI: 10.1057/s41294-023-00208-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41294-023-00208-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41294-023-00208-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pomfret, Richard, 2011. "The Age of Equality: The Twentieth Century in Economic Perspective," Economics Books, Harvard University Press, number 9780674062177, Spring.
    2. Commander, Simon & Prieskienyte, Ruta, 2021. "The Political Economy of Kazakhstan: A Case of Good Economics, Bad Politics?," IZA Discussion Papers 14554, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Richard Pomfret, 2010. "Constructing Market-based Economies in Central Asia: A Natural Experiment?," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 7(2), pages 449-467, December.
    4. Richard Pomfret, 2021. "Central Asian Economies: Thirty Years After Dissolution of the Soviet Union," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 63(4), pages 537-556, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jean-Christophe Bureau & Sébastien Jean, 2013. "Trade liberalization in the bio-economy: coping with a new landscape," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 44(s1), pages 173-182, November.
    2. Jean-Christophe Bureau & Sébastien Jean, 2013. "International Agricultural Trade and Negotiations : Coping with a New Landscape [Commerce et négociations agricoles commerciales: s'ajuster au nouvel environnement]," Working Papers hal-01592099, HAL.
    3. Utkur Djanibekov & Grace B. Villamor & Klara Dzhakypbekova & James Chamberlain & Jianchu Xu, 2016. "Adoption of Sustainable Land Uses in Post-Soviet Central Asia: The Case for Agroforestry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-16, October.
    4. Richard Pomfret & Richard Pomfret, 2014. "Expanding the Division of Labour: Trade Costs and Supply Chains in the Global Economy," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 54(3), pages 220-241, November.
    5. Richard Pomfret & Richard Pomfret, 2014. "Symposium on Globalisation: Past, Present and Prospects: Introduction," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 54(3), pages 209-211, November.
    6. Richard Pomfret, 2015. "Is Inequality Increasing?," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 48(1), pages 103-111, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:compes:v:65:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1057_s41294-023-00208-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.