Institute for Central Asia Development
The Institute for Central Asia Development (ICAD) is a non-governmental organization of scientists, who share a common interest in studying the multilateral problems of Central Asia, first and foremost the problem of ensuring the stable development of the region and the facilitating of integration processes within the CIS. It was founded on September 1999 in Moscow by specialists from different institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Central Asian academic organizations.
By AZIZ NIYAZI
The main purpose of ICAD is to unite intellectual forces to carry out theoretical and applied research into conflicts caused by social and ecological abuses and to encourage their participation in working out stable development models designed to overcome existing and potential conflict situations at the Muslim regions of the CIS. The major projects of ICAD are:- Central Asia and the Caucasus peace through stable development
- Environment, Society, and Tradition in the Muslim World
- Russia and the Muslim World: together towards stable development
- Russia and Central Asia: integration and stable development
The Socio-ecological approach has taken pride of place in the Theory of Development during the last few years. The World Scientific Community has reached a common conclusion that the environment has an equal weight with social, economic, and political relations and plays a system-forming role in the life of society. The World in this century will be defined by three global factors: the population growth, the exhaustion of non-renewable natural resources, and the degradation of the environment.
The gloomy forecasts of the Club of Rome about socio-ecological catastrophes are now already becoming a reality, but not in the post-industrial West. They are becoming a reality within the so called Third World, to which most of the republics of the former Soviet Union may be reckoned. By ignoring environmental and climatic conditions, demographic process and traditional culture in the southern regions of the Soviet Union, above all in Central Asia and the Caucasus, the industrial development of the last few decades, has contributed to the growth of conflict potential. There are around 100 conflict spots or which have potential unrest, pinpointed by the experts in these regions. Societies, in which trespassing technological risk leads to degradation processes in biosphere and after that to changes of social behaviour leading to aggression, begin to erupt from the inside.
Similar processes can be observed in the rest of the Muslim East. As a rule, the deep-seated reasons of social and ecological disharmony, the outcome of accelerated modernization, constitute the basis for conflicts both within the countries and between the countries, which is what is happening in the Muslim regions of the CIS. The industrialization, often senseless, of mainly agricultural and traditional societies is accompanied by irrational and wasteful use of natural resources, namely a violent attitude towards traditional culture. The Muslim countries of the CIS and outside it are facing the same problems: overpopulation of towns, cities, and fertile valleys, poverty, forced or involuntary migration, monocultural development of agriculture, the development of big metallurgical, chemical, machine-building, and electric power-generating enterprises ignoring their possible danger to environment, as well as paying no heed to local natural and climatic peculiarities. All this is accompanied by accelerated demographic growth, scarcity of water, land, energy, and food resources, which leads to a detrimental impact both on environment and society. The industrial attack on traditional societies eventually leads to degradation of all spheres of life.
Tajikistan serves as a vivid example of this. The research carried out by us shows that the above-mentioned processes constitute the inner impetus of the conflict in this country. The same observation was true of Iran during the reign of the Shah, Algeria, Egypt, Chechnya, Sudan and some other countries. A similar threat exists in Kirgizia, Dagestan, some regions of Uzbekistan. The threat is universal. It is characteristic of a system crisis of the «new generation» a crisis in social life, in the environment, economics, demography, spiritual and cultural life, a crisis of intellect, state, politics, in fact of the whole system of human life. Such a deep crisis usually unfolds in semi-industrial / semi-traditional countries, notwithstanding the models of their political statute. Different 'isms' are of no great importance under these circumstances.
There is a great need for new decisions about overcoming such a crisis. The experience of many developing countries, especially in Muslim regions, demonstrates that it is impossible to overcome the crisis simply by implementing liberal political institutes and imposing the economic values of the developed post-industrial countries. Being laid over the matrix of well-established local social ties, such ideologies do not bring the expected result, and sometimes, which is even worse, slow down social development.
The solution can be found in working out general principles for a stable development model, and adding modifications for different countries and regions. There is a need for inter-subject investigations for working out long-term strategic programmes of simultaneous complex decisions of problems of demography, settlement policy, economics and state, harmonization of the business activities with environment. Alongside it, the stabilizing cultural traditions of the Muslim world, those traditions which preserve spiritual and physical health of a person and maintain careful attitude towards nature should be taken into consideration.
'A green alternative' to the destructive impact of consumption society is gaining strength simultaneously in the West and in the East, each choosing its own way. The East applies to a cultural and civilizing foundation, namely an ethical philosophy. In its search of a way out in state and political models constituting 'the third way'. The West relies first of all upon modern science and technology. But the leading ideas of both the East and the West are very similar despite the barely fleeting acquaintance with each other's theories of development and experience. The materialistic industrial ideology of the subjugation of nature and unbridled consumption is now giving way to acquiring the values of harmony with nature and limited consumption.
The aim of ICAD is to support the green tendency and to contribute to uniting the Eastern and Western experiences on the path of stable development. We would be glad to strengthen contacts with foreign scientists and scientific centres which are interested in this work.
Bulletin 'Russia and the Muslim World'
In collaboration with the Institute of Oriental Studies and the Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, ICAD is taking part in publishing a monthly bulletin of analytical reviews and information 'Russia and the Muslim World'. The bulletin covers spiritual, social, and economic, as well as ecological and political processes in the traditionally Muslim regions of Russia, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and also in 'distant foreign countries'. The main topics are Russia and Islam, and Russia and the Muslim World. *
Aziz Niyazi, Director ICAD, can be reached at: Department of Comparative Theoretical Studies, Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 12 Rozhdestvenka Street, Moscow 103031, Russian Federation
Tel.: +70-95-925 7384 or 179 8808
Fax: +70-95-975 2396
E-mail: nxrniya@cityline.ru