In this episode, Nate speaks with Dr. John Heathershaw, associate professor in the Department of Politics at the University of Exeter, about his new book with Columbia University’s Harriman Institute Director Alexander A. Cooley, Dictators Without Borders: Power and Money in Central Asia, published this month by Yale University Press.
The book challenges the typical situating of post-Communist Central Asia as an isolated hinterland by illustrating the ways in which Central Asian authoritarian regimes use their “connectivity” with global financial and law enforcement mechanisms to stash national assets offshore and punish their opponents abroad. It builds its sophisticated critique of conventional wisdom on detailed and up-to-date case studies from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, drawing on the research compiled in the Central Asia Political Exiles Database by the Exeter Central Asian Studies Network.
Editor’s Note:Nate Schenkkan is the Project Director for Nations in Transit at Freedom House and a veteran host of The Central Asianist Podcast. EurasiaNet is excited to support The Central Asianst, which offers a unique take on developments in Central Asia, featuring top experts and journalists from around the world.
