The study of contemporary Central Asia has acquired significant scholarly attention since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. Central Asian Studies (which focuses on the five post-Soviet states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) is a burgeoning addition to the established field of Area Studies, as well as to the broader discipline of Development Studies.

Offering comprehensive coverage of the political, economic, sociocultural, as well as security, concerns and foreign relations of Central Asia within a well-defined historical and conceptual framework, this new Routledge title is a timely and much-needed contribution to the existing materials on the region. The focus encompasses the region as a whole, as well as each individual country, comprising the Soviet legacy, cultural and social institutions, modern economic and political transition, and geopolitics and security.

The collection is fully indexed, and has a comprehensive introduction by the editor which outlines the analytical framework and the historical context within which the selected texts are placed, and highlighting how scholarship in this field has evolved, as well as pointing to future trajectories. Politics of Modern Central Asia is an essential work of reference. It is destined to be valued by scholars, students, and researchers-as well as policy-makers-in the field of post-Soviet and Central Asian Studies as a vital resource.