Tajikistan
The workers involved in the construction of the Rogun hydroelectric power plant have no money even for a ride home.
It has become a common practice in Tajikistan to record violations and hooliganism using a smartphone camera. Ordinary citizens take on the role of vigilant guardians of the law, while the authorities, in turn, are forced to react. Digital Vigilantism is a new global phenomenon that also manifests itself locally. Independent researcher Sher Khashimov examines the cultural origins and political context of such activism in Tajikistan in an article for CABAR.Asia.
Worshippers in Tajikistan are dissatisfied with the ban on visiting mosques and accuse the authorities of bias. At the same time, doctors and some clergy members believe that these measures taken to prevent COVID-19 spread are justified.
Even after thirty years, Lenin monuments and Soviet symbols still evoke nostalgia not only among Tajik communists, but also among ordinary residents of Tajikistan. The followers of communist ideology preserve some of the monuments, while others decay in abandoned places, where they were stored after dismantling.
The number of divorces is constantly growing in Tajikistan. This leads to numerous problems, especially for young women, who are traditionally parented to become only wives and mothers. Young women are left alone without education and profession, with little children, often without support of their parents who cannot provide for them.
During the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the issue of post-COVID economic recovery in Central Asia is already included in the agenda. International institutions and the expert research community’s representatives present various timelines of economic recovery to the pre-crisis level. Meanwhile, there are proposals about the transformation of the economic model itself.
Countries such as India, Pakistan and Afghanistan are important partners for Tajikistan. However, with Russia and China present in Central Asia, not much attention has been paid to the South Asia region lately. The initially laid down multi-vector nature of Dushanbe’s foreign policy is no longer considered so relevant, but nevertheless, Tajikistan’s cooperation with its southern partners can still be called a priority. More in the following article for CABAR.Asia by specialist in international relations Madina Arbobova.
Reestablished ties between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, despite the bilateral nature, can play a definitive role in bolstering intra-regional co-operation. An expert on international relations Rustami Sukhrob looks into the points of contact, problems and prospects for these two neighbouring countires and attempts to explain what implications their repproachment can bring for the rest of Central Asia.
Tajikistan is the first Central Asian country, where the Single Window System was launched for registration of export, import and transit procedures. The developers believe that the system can simplify the work of entrepreneurs. We try to figure out whether this is true.