Dr. Balihar Sanghera discusses the economic dystopia left behind by the Soviet Union in Central Asia as well as why he thinks the United States holds the upper hand in the region despite Russia's formidable Eurasian Union project and China's Belt and Road.

Websites

https://www.kent.ac.uk/sspssr/staff/academic/s/sanghera-balihar.html

Show Notes

https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/balihar-sanghera/economic-dystopia-in-kyrgyzstan

https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/balihar-sanghera-and-elmira-satybaldieva/global-capitalism-in-central-asia

https://theconversation.com/central-asia-is-the-new-economic-battleground-for-the-us-china-and-russia-98263

About the Guest

Balihar Sanghera is the Director of Graduate Studies (Taught) and a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Kent’s School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research, Medway campus.

His main interests are political economy, social theory and ethics. Currently, he is writing up four research projects:

Geopolitics and competing economic imaginaries in Central Asia (with Dr Elmira Satybaldieva)

The moral economy of credit in Kyrgyzstan (with Dr Elmira Satybaldieva)

The neoliberal judiciary and property rights in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan

Social justice philanthropy in the UK

Before joining SSPSSR in 2004, he was a visiting lecturer at the Sociology Department, American University – Central Asia (2002-04), at the Sociology Department, Novosibirsk State University (2000-02), and at the Economics Department, University of Central England in Birmingham (1999-2000). He was also senior research fellow at the Management Department, University of Central England in Birmingham (1998-1999).

*Podcast intro music is from the song "The Queens Jig" by "Musicke & Mirth" from their album "Music for Two Lyra Viols": http://musicke-mirth.de/en/recordings.html (available on iTunes or Amazon)