Authors

Discussion

This paper explains the transformation of independent Uzbekistan starting from its integration into the global economy as a primary commodity producer for export. As such, it problematises the ‘transition’ literature’s framing of the country as an example of failed reform or successful developmentalism, highlighting instead how change in Uzbekistan – evident in rent-subsidised “backward” industrialisation and the rise of a vast relative surplus population (RSP) – paralleled developments in other raw material exporting countries of the Global South. With the decollectivisation of agriculture, a significant portion of the rural population in Uzbekistan was expropriated from the land, access to which was privatised to subsidise domestically-oriented “backward” industrialisation via cotton rents. This resulted in the rise of a vast RSP in and out of work in the informal economy, including as labour migrants particularly to Russia and Kazakhstan, given that the majority could not be absorbed by “backward” industries due to their limited (domestic) scale. Relatively declining cotton yields and rising commodity prices since the 2000s due to China’s rapid industrialisation led to gold and natural gas replacing cotton in Uzbekistan’s export basket, explaining the current “liberalisation” policies including in agriculture. Still, Uzbekistan remains integrated into the global economy as a raw materials exporter and “backward” industrialiser and, as such, as a reservoir of RSP.