An Alternative Conception of Nation: Islamism in the Central Asian Republics

The collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the bipolar system led the Central Asian Republics that were predominantly Muslim to a sudden, unexpected, and, in some cases undesired independence from Moscow. This led the republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan (now renamed the Republic of Kirghisia), Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to redefine their identities out of the ashes of the old artificial state reality created by the USSR. In this context, a kind of sui generis nationalism has developed, which, though based on ethnic groups, finds its chief connecting element in a trans- and supra- national conception of Islam. Previously there was no national identity in Muslim countries. Following E. Gellner’s approach (1997), modern Muslim nations, and especially the “colonized” former Soviet republics, are simply the outcome of the Muslim people living in a given territory. However, this has brought about a situation in which Islam provides these peoples with a common identification in the definition of self against other. In other words, a wave of Islamic fundamentalism has become a tool for the reactions of those Muslims who are newly urbanized, disoriented, suffering from the loss of their religious cults and local structures, and who are consequently keen to define themselves in opposition to an overbearing 'other.' Today this is more than a religion, since it entails laws, social structures, values and a common cause. The sense of belonging and of devotion to Islam present in the republics of the former Soviet Union can be considered today a powerful alternative to the European concept of “nation”. The Islamic world has never conceived the nation in the civic and ethnic terms which are typical of the European Union, because its peoples are different, as are their needs, circumstances and time-frames. The topic presented demands a broad perspective, both historical and contemporary. In fact, the Islamic issue has emerged in an explosive and violent way not just in the present but after centuries of latency in the USSR.