Page 11 - PIAC
P. 11
Effects of Water Infrastructure Construction on
State-Building Processes in Central Asia in The 20th
Century
Kinga Szálkai
Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary
The establishment and maintenance of large dams, the related irrigation systems
and other forms of water management had a great effect on the societies of
Central Asia in the 20th century. As irrigated agriculture traditionally requires
a comprehensive coordination over a significant mass of people, which is
acquirable through an extensive bureaucracy and a centralized government
system, highly organised, state-like units built on water management systems
were present in the region from time immemorial. Under the dry continental and
semi-desert climate of Central Asia, rivers, irrigation systems and the means of
water management considerably contributed to the structuring of societies.
In my presentation, I intend to introduce two different, but tightly interconnected
processes related to water infrastructure construction and state-building. First,
I deal with the period of Soviet central management over Central Asian waters.
The ‘hydraulic mission’ was not only aimed at raising agricultural and industrial
yields or energy production, but also at the complex restructuring of the local
societies, including nation- and state-building. However, these developments
were understood within the context of the Soviet Union, and did not contain the
aim to create independent states. In the second part of my presentation, I move
to the period after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when water infrastructure
construction processes are aimed again at the restructuring of societies, but now
serving the goals of individual states.
State-Building Processes in Central Asia in The 20th
Century
Kinga Szálkai
Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary
The establishment and maintenance of large dams, the related irrigation systems
and other forms of water management had a great effect on the societies of
Central Asia in the 20th century. As irrigated agriculture traditionally requires
a comprehensive coordination over a significant mass of people, which is
acquirable through an extensive bureaucracy and a centralized government
system, highly organised, state-like units built on water management systems
were present in the region from time immemorial. Under the dry continental and
semi-desert climate of Central Asia, rivers, irrigation systems and the means of
water management considerably contributed to the structuring of societies.
In my presentation, I intend to introduce two different, but tightly interconnected
processes related to water infrastructure construction and state-building. First,
I deal with the period of Soviet central management over Central Asian waters.
The ‘hydraulic mission’ was not only aimed at raising agricultural and industrial
yields or energy production, but also at the complex restructuring of the local
societies, including nation- and state-building. However, these developments
were understood within the context of the Soviet Union, and did not contain the
aim to create independent states. In the second part of my presentation, I move
to the period after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when water infrastructure
construction processes are aimed again at the restructuring of societies, but now
serving the goals of individual states.
