State Making and Environmental Cooperation: Linking Domestic and International Politics in Central Asia (Global Environmental Accord: Strategies for Sustainability and Institutional Innovation)

287 Pages·2002·1.26 MB·English

by  Erika Weinthal

State Making and Environmental Cooperation
Global Environmental Accord: Strategies for Sustainability and
Institutional Innovation
Nazli Choucri, editor
NazliChoucri,editor, GlobalAccord:EnvironmentalChallengesandInterna-
tionalResponses
PeterM.Haas,RobertO.Keohane,andMarcA.Levy,editors,Institutions
forthe Earth:SourcesofEffectiveInternationalEnvironmentalProtection
RonaldB.Mitchell,IntentionalOilPollutionatSea:EnvironmentalPolicy
andTreatyCompliance
RobertO.KeohaneandMarcA.Levy,editors,InstitutionsforEnvironmental
Aid:PitfallsandPromise
Oran R.Young,editor,GlobalGovernance:DrawingInsightsfromthe Envi-
ronmentalExperience
Jonathan A.FoxandL.DavidBrown,editors, TheStruggle forAccountabil-
ity:TheWorldBank,NGOs,andGrassrootsMovements
DavidG.Victor,KalRaustiala,andEugeneB.Skolnikoff,editors,TheImple-
mentationandEffectivenessofInternationalEnvironmental Commitments:
Theory andPractice
Mostafa K.Tolba,withIwonaRummel-Bulska,Global EnvironmentalDiplo-
macy:NegotiatingEnvironmental Agreementsforthe World,1973–1992
KarenT.Litfin,editor, TheGreeningofSovereigntyinWorldPolitics
EdithBrownWeissandHaroldK.Jacobson,editors, EngagingCountries:
StrengtheningCompliancewithInternationalEnvironmentalAccords
Oran R.Young,editor,TheEffectivenessofInternationalEnvironmental
Regimes:CausalConnectionsandBehavioralMechanisms
RonieGarcia-Johnson,ExportingEnvironmentalism:U.S.MultinationalChem-
ical CorporationsinBrazil andMexico
LasseRingius,RadioactiveWasteDisposal atSea:PublicIdeas,Transnational
PolicyEntrepreneurs,andEnvironmentalRegimes
RobertG.Darst,SmokestackDiplomacy:CooperationandConflictinEast-
WestEnvironmental Politics
Urs LuterbacherandDetlefF.Sprinz,editors, InternationalRelationsand
Global ClimateChange
Edward L.Miles,ArildUnderdal,SteinarAndresen,Jørgen Wettestad,Jon
BirgerSkjærseth,andElaineM.Carlin,Environmental RegimeEffectiveness:
ConfrontingTheorywithEvidence
ErikaWeinthal,StateMakingandEnvironmentalCooperation:Linking
Domestic andInternationalPoliticsinCentralAsia
State Making and Environmental Cooperation
Linking Domestic and International Politics in
Central Asia
Erika Weinthal
The MITPress
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
 2002MassachusettsInstituteofTechnology
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedinanyformbyany
electronicormechanicalmeans(includingphotocopying,recording,orinforma-
tionstorageandretrieval)without permissioninwriting fromthepublisher.
SetinSabonbyAchornGraphicServices,Inc.Printed andboundinthe United
States ofAmerica.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Weinthal,Erika.
State makingandenvironmentalcooperation:linkingdomestic andinterna-
tionalpoliticsinCentralAsia/ErikaWeinthal.
p.cm.—(Globalenvironmentalaccord:strategiesforsustainabilityandinsti-
tutionalinnovation)
Includesindex.
ISBN0-262-23220-0(alk.paper)—ISBN0-262-73146-0(pbk.:alk.paper)
1.Environmentalpolicy—Asia,Central. 2.Environmentalmanagement—Asia,
Central—Internationalcooperation. 3.Environmentalprotection—Asia,
Central—Internationalcooperation. 4.Environmentaldegradation—AralSea
Watershed(UzbekistanandKazakhstan). 5.Post-communism—Asia,Cen-
tral. I.Title. II.Globalenvironmentalaccords
GE190.A783W45 2002
(cid:1) (cid:1)
363.7 05260958—dc21
2001049200
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
1 The Aral Sea Crisis 1
2 International Riparian Politics: Concepts and Constraints 19
3 Building Environmental Cooperation under Conditions of
Transformation 43
4 Cotton Monoculture as a System of Social Control 73
5 The Need for Aid: Failed Reform, Potential Conflict, and the Legacy
of Cotton Monoculture 103
6 The Willingness to Intervene: Paying the Costs of the
Transition 133
7 Reconstructing Cooperation in the Aral Sea Basin: Adding and
Subtracting Sectors 173
8 Making States through Cooperation 201
Appendix: The Aral Sea Basin Program 225
Notes 227
References 251
Index 271
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Acknowledgments
SimilartothemakingoftheCentralAsianstates,thisbookisembedded
within a web of transnational actors and organizations. The initial idea
of this project began with a summer grant from the Harriman Institute
at Columbia University to study the political economy of cotton in
Uzbekistan in 1992. Karen Peabody O’Brien braved the first Aeroflot
flight with me to Toshkent. Throughout my journey along the rivers of
CentralAsiaandathomeinboththeUnitedStatesandIsrael,theintellec-
tualguidanceandsupportof numerouspeoplehaveshapedthisproject.
In particular, I am greatly indebted to Jack Snyder, Barnett Rubin, and
Steven Solnick fortheir knowledge and inspiration; moreso, their sense
ofhumor wasgreatly appreciatedevery timeI sentthem emailfrom the
field. Kate O’Neill andPauline Jones Luong alsoread the manuscriptin
its entirety at its various stages. In Central Asia I was fortunate to have
the friendship of Pauline Jones Luong; we shared many unforgettable
momentsandmuchlaughter.Othersthathavetakenthetimetoprovide
feedbackandcommentsatthevariousstagesofthisworkincludeRobert
Bates, Valerie Bunce, Ken Conca, David Epstein, Rajan Menon, David
Downie, Elinor Ostrom, and Brian Silver.
Many institutions provided funding and support for this project in
CentralAsia.In1994IparticipatedinaYoungInvestigatorProgramon
WaterResourcesManagementwithTurkmenistanandUzbekistanspon-
sored by the National Academy of Sciences. The International Research
and Exchange Board (IREX) funded my fieldwork in Kazakhstan, Kyr-
gyzstan, and Uzbekistan in 1995. Cassandra Cavanaugh was extremely
helpful as the IREX representative in Toshkent. Besides Pauline and
viii Acknowledgments
Cassandra, Elizabeth Constantine and Derek Johnson were wonderful
companionsinUzbekistan.TheMinistryofWaterinUzbekistanandthe
ToshkentInstituteofEngineersofIrrigationandAgriculturalMechaniza-
tion served as myhost institutions during my IREX grant.I am grateful
to the many people in Central Asia who facilitated my research in the
water, energy, and environmental sectors. They gave me much of their
valuabletimetoexplaintomethecomplexnatureofwatermanagement
inCentralAsia.IamparticularlyindebtedtotheAvazmatovfamily,who
opened up their home to me in Toshkent and on the state farm in the
Fergana Valley. In Uzbekistan, the librarians at the Central Library in
Toshkent and at the State Archives were extremely accommodating in
locating materials. I am also appreciative for the assistance I received
fromthedonorcommunityandfromthescholarswhowerealwayswill-
ingtosharetheirexpertisewithmeconcerningCentralAsianwaterpoli-
tics—Jitzchak Alster, Michael Boyd, Arrigo di Carlo, Bill Davoren,
Akhmal Karimov, Anatoly Krutov, Daene McKinney, Philip Micklin,
Marcella Nanni, Werner Roeder, and Peter Whitford.
Other institutions that provided financial support to carry out and
write up my resultsinclude the Graduate School of Artsand Sciences at
Columbia University (through the Presidents Fellowship Program), the
Carnegie Corporation Fellowship on Political Order and Conflict in the
Soviet Union, the Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowship for Uzbek,
andtheSocialScienceResearchCouncil(SSRC).SusanBronsonatSSRC
deservesspecialthanks.TheCenterforInternationalSecurityandCoop-
eration(formerlytheCenterforInternationalSecurityandArmsControl)
atStanfordUniversityprovidedmewithawarmandcongenialhomefor
3years.AaronBelkin,LynnEden,MelanieGreenberg,DavidHolloway,
andDonaldKennedygavememuchencouragementatStanfordUniver-
sity while I completed the final draft of my dissertation. The last place
onthisjourneywastheDepartmentofPoliticalScienceatTelAvivUni-
versity, where I was fortunate to have the first semester off to complete
the manuscript revisions. Harry Leich at the European Division of the
LibraryofCongressansweredallmyinquiriesabouthowtobesttranslit-
erate from the Central Asian vernacular into English. Finally, I thank
Paul Bethge, Nazli Choucri, and Clay Morgan.
Acknowledgments ix
This project would not have materialized without the support of my
family, who over the years had to learn where remote rivers and towns
existonthemap.Iamdeeplygratefultomysiblings,BenjaminWeinthal
and Lois Weinthal. I thank my partner Avner Vengosh for his love and
support. This book is dedicated to my mother, Silvia Weinthal, and in
memoryofmyfather,Henry Weinthal, whopassedawayshortlyafterI
received my doctorate. He would have been pleased to see it in print.