Tobias Kraudzun | Freie Universität Berlin (original) (raw)
Refereed articles and book chapters by Tobias Kraudzun
This paper scrutinises the translation of sovereignty into daily actions at the border. The Sovie... more This paper scrutinises the translation of sovereignty into daily actions at the border. The Soviet Union established a heavily securitised and sealed border, which was perpetuated in post-Soviet, civil war-stricken Tajikistan by assigning the task to the Russian Federation’s border forces. After having taken over the task of guarding the border, the slowly recovering post-conflict state tried hard to maintain its own border control. Drawing on interviews with borderland people, this article discusses the convergence of Tajikistan’s strong claim but weak support for sovereignty, with the daily life of the borderland people. It will show how – given the Pamirs’ special status as a border district – far-reaching sovereign authority of state agents, aiming to provide security at the border, has been translated into arbitrary actions ensuring individual benefits and has been hidden by intransparency. The article argues that the lack of adequate support from the central government encourages state representatives at the border to reinterpret the sovereign power assigned to them in order to serve their own individual benefits and purposes. Instead of being used to maintain the state territory, the sovereignty’s power is diverted to serve individual interests, in the end serving to destabilize the border, the opposite of the intended purpose.
Russian and Soviet (geo-)political interests rendered the Pamirs as a borderland place. This pers... more Russian and Soviet (geo-)political interests rendered the Pamirs as a borderland place. This persisting functional perspective framed the people’s experiences and development agency towards the region. This chapter exemplifi es how realities of the Soviet economic system’s breakdown, persisting border institutions, as well as external humanitarian relief and development projects infl uenced individual decisions of people during the transition period. It argues that persisting local narratives about a region dependent on external support combined with uncertainty about economic frame conditions shape peoples’ decisions about coping and adaptation strategies and constrain their livelihood trajectories.
This paper deals with the strategies of households living in a peripheral high-mountain region i... more This paper deals with the strategies of households living in a peripheral high-mountain region
in order to cope with the post-Soviet energy crisis. The Soviet modernization project failed at
connecting the region to the grid, and imported coal for heating and fuel for producing electric
energy at high costs over long distances. After the collapse of this alimentation system, people
have substituted energy demands with wood and shrubs, and used increasingly available lowcost
Chinese solar equipment to produce electrical energy. International development actors
have failed to increase acceptance for energy efficiency technologies. Despite the Pamirs’
high potential for solar and wind energy and decreasing installation costs, Soviet-style state
planning of energy infrastructure still favours big hydropower stations, despite their high
(social) costs and the limited potential on the Pamir plateau. The paper will discuss bottomup
effects of household decisions and top-down strategies as potentials and obstacles for a
sustainable energy supply in the Pamirs.
Pastoral Practices in Transition: Animal Husbandry in High Asian Contexts, Mar 28, 2012
This chapter focuses on the adaption of livelihood strategies based on livestock-breeding in the ... more This chapter focuses on the adaption of livelihood strategies based on livestock-breeding in the Eastern Pamirs to the new politico-economic conditions in post-Soviet Tajikistan. Furthermore, its effects on the changing socio-economic struc-tures are analysed. Peculiarities like the introduction of a household responsibility system and the disorder during the years of the Tajik civil war eased private live-stock appropriation and delayed all further steps to reorganise the societal set-up. By recording and interpreting household biographies, it could be revealed how in-dividuals perceived opportunities and chances during the transitional period, and how their economic decisions altered their livelihoods. Given the growing gap of socio-economic disparities within the community, the significance of the live-stock-based economy could be shown in terms of the division of labour, pasture user rights, herd management, entrepreneurial and trade opportunities.
Subverting Borders, Sep 28, 2011
Mountain Research and Development, Aug 2012
Rangeland stewardship in Central Asia: Balancing Improved livelihoods, Biodiversity Conservation and Land Protection, Nov 20, 2012
Mountain Research and Development, Oct 2012
Micro-Level Analysis of Well-Being in Central Asia, 10.-11.05.2012, DIW, Humboldt-Universität Berlin, Jun 2012
Ökozonen im Wandel, Jan 2011
Herausforderungen für die Mensch-Umwelt-Beziehungen in den Hochgebirgsregionen Tadschikistans und Kirgistans, Jan 2009
Books by Tobias Kraudzun
Papers by Tobias Kraudzun
Introduction This paper deals with the economic well-being of the inhabitants in the peripheral a... more Introduction This paper deals with the economic well-being of the inhabitants in the peripheral and economically disadvantaged high mountain region of the Pamirs in Tajikistan. Here, as in most transition countries, all forms of well-being declined dramatically after the Soviet dissolution. As one of the poorest republics in the Soviet Union, the decline in welfare was even further amplified as a consequence of the Tajik civil war (Falkingham 2000, Reissner 2000).
Geographische Rundschau, 2013
Advances in Asian Human-Environmental Research, 2016
This paper scrutinises the translation of sovereignty into daily actions at the border. The Sovie... more This paper scrutinises the translation of sovereignty into daily actions at the border. The Soviet Union established a heavily securitised and sealed border, which was perpetuated in post-Soviet, civil war-stricken Tajikistan by assigning the task to the Russian Federation’s border forces. After having taken over the task of guarding the border, the slowly recovering post-conflict state tried hard to maintain its own border control. Drawing on interviews with borderland people, this article discusses the convergence of Tajikistan’s strong claim but weak support for sovereignty, with the daily life of the borderland people. It will show how – given the Pamirs’ special status as a border district – far-reaching sovereign authority of state agents, aiming to provide security at the border, has been translated into arbitrary actions ensuring individual benefits and has been hidden by intransparency. The article argues that the lack of adequate support from the central government encourages state representatives at the border to reinterpret the sovereign power assigned to them in order to serve their own individual benefits and purposes. Instead of being used to maintain the state territory, the sovereignty’s power is diverted to serve individual interests, in the end serving to destabilize the border, the opposite of the intended purpose.
Russian and Soviet (geo-)political interests rendered the Pamirs as a borderland place. This pers... more Russian and Soviet (geo-)political interests rendered the Pamirs as a borderland place. This persisting functional perspective framed the people’s experiences and development agency towards the region. This chapter exemplifi es how realities of the Soviet economic system’s breakdown, persisting border institutions, as well as external humanitarian relief and development projects infl uenced individual decisions of people during the transition period. It argues that persisting local narratives about a region dependent on external support combined with uncertainty about economic frame conditions shape peoples’ decisions about coping and adaptation strategies and constrain their livelihood trajectories.
This paper deals with the strategies of households living in a peripheral high-mountain region i... more This paper deals with the strategies of households living in a peripheral high-mountain region
in order to cope with the post-Soviet energy crisis. The Soviet modernization project failed at
connecting the region to the grid, and imported coal for heating and fuel for producing electric
energy at high costs over long distances. After the collapse of this alimentation system, people
have substituted energy demands with wood and shrubs, and used increasingly available lowcost
Chinese solar equipment to produce electrical energy. International development actors
have failed to increase acceptance for energy efficiency technologies. Despite the Pamirs’
high potential for solar and wind energy and decreasing installation costs, Soviet-style state
planning of energy infrastructure still favours big hydropower stations, despite their high
(social) costs and the limited potential on the Pamir plateau. The paper will discuss bottomup
effects of household decisions and top-down strategies as potentials and obstacles for a
sustainable energy supply in the Pamirs.
Pastoral Practices in Transition: Animal Husbandry in High Asian Contexts, Mar 28, 2012
This chapter focuses on the adaption of livelihood strategies based on livestock-breeding in the ... more This chapter focuses on the adaption of livelihood strategies based on livestock-breeding in the Eastern Pamirs to the new politico-economic conditions in post-Soviet Tajikistan. Furthermore, its effects on the changing socio-economic struc-tures are analysed. Peculiarities like the introduction of a household responsibility system and the disorder during the years of the Tajik civil war eased private live-stock appropriation and delayed all further steps to reorganise the societal set-up. By recording and interpreting household biographies, it could be revealed how in-dividuals perceived opportunities and chances during the transitional period, and how their economic decisions altered their livelihoods. Given the growing gap of socio-economic disparities within the community, the significance of the live-stock-based economy could be shown in terms of the division of labour, pasture user rights, herd management, entrepreneurial and trade opportunities.
Subverting Borders, Sep 28, 2011
Mountain Research and Development, Aug 2012
Rangeland stewardship in Central Asia: Balancing Improved livelihoods, Biodiversity Conservation and Land Protection, Nov 20, 2012
Mountain Research and Development, Oct 2012
Micro-Level Analysis of Well-Being in Central Asia, 10.-11.05.2012, DIW, Humboldt-Universität Berlin, Jun 2012
Ökozonen im Wandel, Jan 2011
Herausforderungen für die Mensch-Umwelt-Beziehungen in den Hochgebirgsregionen Tadschikistans und Kirgistans, Jan 2009
Introduction This paper deals with the economic well-being of the inhabitants in the peripheral a... more Introduction This paper deals with the economic well-being of the inhabitants in the peripheral and economically disadvantaged high mountain region of the Pamirs in Tajikistan. Here, as in most transition countries, all forms of well-being declined dramatically after the Soviet dissolution. As one of the poorest republics in the Soviet Union, the decline in welfare was even further amplified as a consequence of the Tajik civil war (Falkingham 2000, Reissner 2000).
Geographische Rundschau, 2013
Advances in Asian Human-Environmental Research, 2016
Im Vortrag soll gezeigt werden, wie sich die durch den Bürgerkrieg verzögerten Transformationspro... more Im Vortrag soll gezeigt werden, wie sich die durch den Bürgerkrieg verzögerten Transformationsprozesse des postsowjetischen Tadschikistans im Produktionssystem mobiler Viehwirtschaft im Ost-Pamir manifes-tieren. Das schon zum Ende der SU-Ära eingeführte Vieh-Pachtsystem, welches die Verantwortlichkeiten von der Leitung der Staats-bzw. Kollektivwirtschaften an die Viehhirten delegierte, wurde trotz schwin-dender Produktionsvoraussetzungen und fehlender Absatzmärkte beibehalten, bis es völlig kollabierte. Diese Phase führte zu einem massiven Rückgang an Vieh, dessen Bestand sich erst seit der späten Privati-sierung 2000 erholte. Von diesem Zeitpunkt an ist die Viehzucht kleinbäuerlich organisiert, wobei die Stratifizierung der Viehzüchter und die Bedeutung externer Großeigentümer in den letzten Jahren zu-nimmt. Bezüglich der Verfügbarkeit saisonal unterschiedlicher Weideflächen ist vor allem die Knappheit geeig-neter Winterweiden zu nennen. Während angesichts momentaner Viehbestände a...
Central Asian Survey, 2014
ABSTRACT This paper deals with the strategies of households living in a peripheral high-mountain ... more ABSTRACT This paper deals with the strategies of households living in a peripheral high-mountain region in order to cope with the post-Soviet energy crisis. The Soviet modernization project failed at connecting the region to the grid, and imported coal for heating and fuel for producing electric energy at high costs over long distances. After the collapse of this alimentation system, people have substituted energy demands with wood and shrubs, and used increasingly available low-cost Chinese solar equipment to produce electrical energy. International development actors have failed to increase acceptance for energy efficiency technologies. Despite the Pamirs' high potential for solar and wind energy and decreasing installation costs, Soviet-style state planning of energy infrastructure still favours big hydropower stations, despite their high (social) costs and the limited potential on the Pamir plateau. The paper will discuss bottom-up effects of household decisions and top-down strategies as potentials and obstacles for a sustainable energy supply in the Pamirs.
Journal of Environmental Management, 2014