Introduction

The Soviet Union had a highly developed scientific establishment and a strong education system that valued rigorous scientific training and research, though it was poorly adapted to the requirements of a modern market economy. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, this system suffered throughout the entire Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), especially in the remote and poor countries of Central Asia. While there remain networks of researchers spanning the boundaries of the new republics, the scope for the development and sharing of knowledge and for creating a modern knowledge society has narrowed. The Russian language, a long-established lingua franca, is still widely used in Central Asia, but it is increasingly giving way among members of the younger generation to national languages. Finding regional approaches and solutions for these issues will be an important part of managing the overall educational and knowledge-management challenge.

There are many important national policy and institution-building issues that fundamentally affect human development and human security, but that do not have direct cross-border impacts. Even in these areas, regional cooperation can contribute to national policy and institutional reform by setting regional benchmarks for progress and by sharing lessons from experiences in implementing reforms. Gender and governance issues are just two of the areas in which Central Asian countries face similar and serious problems, though the extent and precise nature of these problems vary. Other areas include community development, independent media, human rights and democratic reforms.