Islam and Globalization in Post-Soviet Central Asia and Caucasus



Islam And Globalization In Post-Soviet Central Asia And Caucasus

Introduction

Globalization, extensively studied since the end of the bipolar era, preceeded the collapse of the Eastern bloc and was actually speeded-up because of it. We are particularly interested in its religious standing, for the light that it throws on the delicate transition of a region that has remained isolated for a longtime and confronted with the world only from 1991. The post-Soviet Central Asia and Caucasus belong to the Turkish-Iranian cultural space but they stand out more strikingly by the Russian and Soviet cultures they are imbued with in quick succession. We now bring a new light to the reconstitution of religious space, confrontation between local Islam and globalized Islam, policies implemented to manage one and check the other, to ascertain the Islamic future towards which this region is heading, situated as it were at the crossroads of several periods of turbulence.

Discussion

After seven decades of soviet rule, older people still remember how Islam was wiped out from the endemic culture of Central Asian people. Most Islamic traditions, folk cultures were declared illegal and excluded from the development of nations. Under the Communist regime, Islam in Central Asia was treated, as an underground believe. Having sought for creating a strong ideology of " homo sovieticus", the Bolsheviks held different policy towards Central Asian region then the Russian colonists have done before. Bolshevik activity was also against the islamization process of the region, because they have imposed their own "religious" ideology as an invented tradition through the conquests. They were not particular about treating the local authority, neither in collaborating with them. Therefore Marxism and scientific atheism were imposed, as a new "religion" on the peoples of Central Asia by all means of destroying traditional Muslim Society existed since IX century.

Central Asian leaders are afraid of the Islamic extremism coming from Afghanistan, the Batken campaign in 1999, which occurred in the southern border between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, this made think about it, not only Kyrgyz President. This problem could grow strong and could be a crucial point in the political life not only in Kyrgyzstan but also in the whole region. Political Islam is actually a social movement. It appears in the society with the high rate of marginalization and also the social gap, where there is no middle classes at all or it is too slaw in its development. The endemic illiteracy that also has place in the country. And also we should take in to consideration the economic condition and its period of stagnation, quoting Marx's wards that the existence identifies the consciousness, so for the lack of economic situation people face double problem with the true faith. There is certainly the possibility that Islamic radicalism could grow if the economic conditions deteriorate, repressions intensify and the authority loses the people's confidence, because in some countries the line between the government and the society is wiped out ant the notion of ...