Source: Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty               Date: August 24, 2011

It has been 20 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, but Central Asian nations such as Mongolia are still trying to realize a common regional identity. The Central Asian region as well as each of the nations within it are trying to cope with ethnic clashes and move on from stagnating soviet mechanisms. Education is the greatest hope for the next generation and peace in the region.

The “Friendship of Nations” movement sponsored by the Soviet Union has long since passed and ethnic groups in Central Asia are becoming more nationalistic and intolerant towards ethnic minorities and foreign influences. Border disputes propagated and nations started resenting their neighbors. The bubbling pot boiled over last year when conflicts manifested in the violence against minorities in Southern Kyrgyzstan. Ironically, Kyrgyzstan was thought to be the best example of a nation pointed towards success as a democratic and developing nation. Last year's violence resulted in the death of over 400 people, instilling fear in the region.
"It's a very turbulent neighborhood," said Anna Matveeva, a fellow of the Crisis States Research Center at the London School of Economics. "Afghanistan, Iran on the southern borders of the region, of course, causes a lot of apprehension among the Central Asian states.”

Matveeva said historical claims to territory and identity are today being exacerbating by the conflict over resources. These conditions makes it difficult for nations to work cooperatively with one another.

Educating the post-soviet generation was a top priority for nations such as Kazakhstan and Mongolia. They hope scholarship programs sending students to western universities will give them competitive international skill sets. It’s creating a modern “leadership class,” that may create reforms in nations who clutch to old soviet ways.

Yet, any sort of pan-Eurasian unity is trumped by an opportunity to put individual concerns before regional or global ones, as was the way during 70 years in the USSR.