The strength of weak states in Eurasia

Once only European, the modern state has gone global. Yet, states vary in their institutional strengths and international reputations.  Eurasia is understood to be the site of “weak” states which struggle to exercise control over their societies and are susceptible violent political upheaval. The post-Soviet states were only lately decolonized, and the whole of Eurasia from the former Yugoslavia to Mongolia has been profoundly disrupted by the end of Soviet Union and the conditions of the end of socialism.  Many suffered political crisis and some faced armed conflict linked to separatist or factional struggles.  The five post-Soviet Central Asian states (along with Afghanistan and Pakistan) are often understood collectively as exemplars of state weakness and protracted conflict.   But how different are these states from each other and from states in other parts of Eurasia which are also deemed weak?  Furthermore, what explains the endurance and even strengthening of many of these polities? 
This conference is a collaboration between John Heathershaw of the University of Exeter and Edward Schatz of the University of Toronto.  It addresses these questions via papers presented by leading academics from Asia, Europe and the North America.  It is anticipated that the papers from the conference will be published in a book which will be influential in the policy debate over state weakness and instability in the region. 
The conference is funded by the universities of Exeter and Toronto.  Additional funding is provided by the UK’s Economic and Social Science Research Council under the research project Rising Powers and Conflict Management in Central Asia involving the universities of Exeter and Newcastle and the non-governmental organisation Saferworld.