Central Asian Ethnicity Compared: Evaluating the Contemporary Social Salience of Uzbek Identity in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan
In this article, I utilise a contextual understanding of ethnicity and unique data to demonstrate that the ethnic Uzbek identity category is both widely available and frequently a useful means of making sense of the world in both Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. While Uzbek ethnicity is generally salient in both states, the context in which it becomes so varies across space. In particular, there are significant urban–rural distinctions that affect when Uzbek ethnicity is utilised to interpret the world. In addition, compared to others, rural Tajikistani Uzbeks perceive that the boundary between Uzbeks and the titular groups is particularly permeable.
Structural violence and horizontal inequalities: conflict in southern Kyrgyzstan
ABSTRACT This article, which offers a new theoretical explanation of the violence between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks that emerged in southern Kyrgyzstan in 2010, explores the importance of historical legacies through structure and grievance-based theoretical approaches to conflict. In so doing, it argues that structural violence born in the pre-Soviet era fueled the 1990 riots, persisted and generated contradictions for Osh Kyrgyz and Osh Uzbeks during the Soviet and post-Soviet eras, and ultimately caused the 2010 riots. The article draws on existing scholarship, primary sources, Russian-language newspapers, and data collected during fieldwork in Osh. Its main contribution is to further develop the theoretical literature on conflict by showing that economic and demographic horizontal inequalities can be just as explosive as political inequalities. The article concludes with a discussion of what persisting contradictions and post-conflict coping strategies reveal about contemporary social dynamics and future conflict in the region.
Resource Allocation In R&D Departments
AbstractThis paper examines the problem of allocating funds within research and development organizations, where several departments and multiple research areas must be considered. Furthermore, impacts arising from budget shifts must be measured in terms of various factors or criteria that may be qualitative or quantitative. Using a particular research and development organization, Ontario Hydro, as a backdrop, we develop a framework for evaluating budget changes when (a) multiple criteria, (b) multiple opinions, and (c) qualitative factors are involved. A three stage procedure for budget allocation is proposed. In the first stage, management responses regarding the perceived impacts of budget changes are combined to arrive at a consensus. In stage two, the multiple criteria consensus values are used to derive an overall impact rating for each proposed budget shift pertaining to each of a set of research areas. Finally, in stage three an optimal subset of budget shifts is chosen from the set of all possib...