Policymakers in Moscow, from General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in the second half of the 1980s to Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar in the early 1990s, viewed Central Asia as a backward region resistant to political and economic reform. However, during that dramatic period, Central Asian policymakers and economists debated intensely about the deficiencies of state planning, the needed reforms, and ways to build effective sovereignty. After the collapse of the USSR, they could draw on U.S. assistance aimed at helping the region's newly independent states transition to market economies and strengthen their sovereignty. The panel sheds light on these debates inside Central Asia and the role American assistance played in the post-independence transition to market economies.
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