Great Expectations for a “Young” Research Area

Central Asia and the Caucasus

Abstract

For many years, Japan has conducted little original research on the Central Asia or Caucasus regions. Throughout the existence of the Soviet Union, these areas were not considered to be politically, economically or even culturally independent, and that view was probably justified. Of course, each of the various Soviet republics had something like a “foreign ministry” or economic ministry, but in fact, these agencies were entirely under Moscow's control and could not exercise independent policies.
Consequently, studies on places like Uzbekistan and Georgia remained auxiliary subjects handled by researchers whose main focus was the Soviet Union. To put it another way, researchers looked at the satellite regions from a Soviet perspective, i. e., through the lens of Moscow. It is fair to say that true researchers of Central Asia and the Caucasus only came into being with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Now that each of the CIS countries has begun asserting its own political, economic and cultural identity, it has become impossible to look at them simply from the perspective of the Moscow government or only through Russian eyes.
In recent years, Central Asia and the Caucasus have gained strategic international importance due to issues related to oil and gas reserves, Islamic fundamentalism and international terrorism. As a result, it has become vitally important to have researchers who specialize in studies of the region. Fortunately, Japanese scholars are actively interested in this region (particularly Central Asia), and we now see a steady stream of first-rate young researchers emerging. There are also several researchers studying the Caspian Sea area, some as part of business-related projects for Japanese companies and some due to environmental concerns. As there is a very positive feeling towards Japan within the Central Asian states, there has been a marked increase in the number of young researchers going to visit that area and sometimes staying on for lengthy periods of study. The current “Central Asia-Caucasus Special Number” should provide a good introduction to some of the successes these scholars have already achieved.
I am extremely pleased to see the emergence of specific, individual research themes that were unthinkable during the Soviet period, and especially to see what a high level of discourse is developing. Needless to say, I am also pleased and honored as an editor to be able to introduce this body of work in the present format. Of course, true research in these areas has only just started; there are undoubtedly many points that are still undeveloped. In addition to studies in English and Russian, research in the native languages of these regions is essential, and I am happy to see such an approach now emerging. While this entire field may be considered “young, ” I believe we can expect great things from it in the coming years. I hope all our readers will join me in supporting the development and progress of this unusually interesting area of study.