The Origins of the Civil War in Tajikistan

Nationalism, Islamism, and Violent Conflict in Post-Soviet Space

By (author) Tim Epkenhans

Publication date:

26 October 2016

Length of book:

414 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9781498532785

In May 1992 political and social tensions in the former Soviet Republic of Tajikistan escalated to a devastating civil war, which killed approximately 40,000-100,000 people and displaced more than one million. The enormous challenge of the Soviet Union’s disintegration compounded by inner-elite conflicts, ideological disputes and state failure triggered a downward spiral to one of the worst violent conflicts in the post-Soviet space. This book explains the causes of the Civil War in Tajikistan with a historical narrative recognizing long term structural causes of the conflict originating in the Soviet transformation of Central Asia since the 1920s as well as short-term causes triggered by Perestroika or Glasnost and the rapid dismantling of the Soviet Union. For the first time, a major publication on the Tajik Civil War addresses the many contested events, their sequences and how individuals and groups shaped the dynamics of events or responded to them. The book scrutinizes the role of regionalism, political Islam, masculinities and violent non-state actors in the momentous years between Perestroika and independence drawing on rich autobiographical accounts written by key actors of the unfolding conflict. Paired with complementary sources such as the media coverage and interviews, these autobiographies provide insights how Tajik politicians, field commanders and intellectuals perceived and rationalized the outbreak of the Civil War within the complex context of post-Soviet decolonization, Islamic revival and nationalist renaissance.

Chapter 1: Prelude: A Post-Colonial Moment in Late Soviet Tajikistan
Chapter 2: Narrating a House Divided: Regionalism Revisited
Chapter 3: “Bloody Bahman”
Chapter 4: Independence
Chapter 5: Islam
Chapter 6: Tensions Rising: The Tale of Two Squares (March & April 1992)
Chapter 7: Men of Disorder: Masculinity, Crime and Violent Conflict
Chapter 8: Civil War
Chapter 9: The 16th Session of the Supreme Soviet

This innovative and exhaustively researched monograph morethan achieves the author’s stated goal.... Given its comprehensiveness, Epkenhans’ book will probably become the definitive account of the war’s beginnings in the near future. The book breaks new ground, first and foremost, with respect to methodology.... Another welcome, and novel, feature of the volume is its emphasis on individual personalities and life stories.... Epkenhans has done our field a great service by applying his unparalleled expertise on Tajik history and society to an analysis of the war.