Development in post-war Central Asia

This chapter explores Soviet approaches to development in Central Asia from World War II to the Soviet Collapse in 1991. Drawing comparisons with contemporary international development discourses and practices, it suggests considering Soviet policies to advance industry and relative equality as an effort to overcome ‘underdevelopment’ in the Stalin era. The chapter considers economic models over time, the role of knowledge production, actual practices of development, the politics of health welfare, culture and culturedness, and the environmental effects of Soviet development. It also outlines some of the ways that groups resisted development initiatives. Finally, it shows how development models were revised in the final decades of the Soviet period and the legacies they have left behind.