Hermann Kreutzmann

Ethnic minorities and marginality in the Pamirian Knot: survival of Wakhi and Kirghiz in a harsh environment and global contexts

This paper challenges the thesis that mountain areas are regions of refuge. The refuge concept attributes irrelevant exchange and limited communication to isolated mountain habitats which mainly depend on production for home consumption. In contrast, it is shown that exchange relations in all walks of life have been affected not only recently but for nearly two centuries in Central Asia, although the continued importance of subsistence strategies in the agricultural sector can be observed. The Pamirian Knot provides the mountainous interface between South and Central Asia for case studies of two ethnic communities – Wakhi mountain farmers and Kirghiz pastoralists – in order to exemplify socio-political developments in similar mountain environments. Examples are presented from Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, and the People’s Republic of China. The territories have been separated since the late nineteenth century by international boundaries conceived as the result of the imperial ‘Great Game’. Emphasis is placed on developments in the livestock sector and it is shown that adaptation to changing socio-political frameworks has affected the livelihood strategies of nomads and mountain farmers alike.

The Karakoram Highway: The Impact of Road Construction on Mountain Societies

The opening up of regions in the high mountains for motorized traffic has led world-wide to consequences concerning the penetration of these formerly remote areas. Not only have running-times and means of transport been reduced through the modern routes, but also radical developments in the mountains have been induced. In this context physio-geographical and socio-political frame conditions are of predominant importance for the installation of functional communication systems. Especially in the high mountain regions of Asia relief, snow-covers in passes, glacial movements, earthquakes, water level fluctuations of rivers at fords and limited possibilities of fuel, fodder and foodstuff supplies all restrict the chances for the development of major trade routes. Yet, more important were the security of the routes and the struggles for power in the mountains over slave trade and exchange possibilities for certain products which influenced the flowering and decay of the famous Silk Road (cf. Herrmann I910, I915; Richthofen I877). All these factors which were crucial in the formation of a trade network covering the Hindukush, Karakoram, Pamir and Himalayan mountains in a widespread way, can only partially explain the recent extension of metalled roads (Table i). After the decolonization of the Indian subcontinent there were preponderantly strategic reasons in the extended Kashmir conflict area for the development of the comThis paper is an extended and revised version of an article in Die Erde I 18 (Heft i,

Globalization, spatial integration, and sustainable development in northern Pakistan.

The internationalization of global issues has become quite familiar in the sphere of ecological problems with impact on the earths conditions of survival. Development related aspects are now incorporated into a discussion of sustainability in which issues such as global governance, structural adjustment programs for aid-receiving economies, and control measures for migration play a prominent role. In a holistic approach towards sustainable development the interrelationship of environment and economy needs to be stressed and simultaneously the time scale of socio-political transformation needs to be considered. These developments affect high mountain areas of Third World countries in a similar manner to other peripheral regions. This paper focuses on four aspects connected with development issues in high mountain regions which are exemplified for Northern Pakistan: the function of international boundaries; the governance of conflicts on local administration; the impact of road access on regional development; and the effects of external interests such as tourism and conservation of nature on local socioeconomic conditions. These aspects have been selected to show the complexity of international relations, the high degree of integration into the world market system experienced by marginal regions, and the minority position of mountain people in this network. Along these lines the hypothesis is substantiated that an analysis of interest conflicts, exchange patterns, and regional disparities is required in order to understand the present development processes in remote mountain regions of the Developing World.

Development Indicators for Mountain Regions

Abstract The human dimension of development processes in high mountain regions regularly escapes appropriate assessment due to a lack of applicable methods. Comparative data are lacking, and it is difficult to substantiate the position of mountain societies within nation-states. In view of the International Year of Mountains, consideration should be given to the focus of research and the need for comparative approaches. Using examples from case studies in South Asian high mountain regions, this article introduces an approach that applies widely known human development indicators to different regional levels. Evaluating the results and interpreting the dimensions of these indicators reveal pressing problems in mountain research as well as fields for further investigation.

Pastoralism: A Way Forward or Back?

Perceptions and experiences differ widely in the world of pastoralism. The case studies presented in this volume provide fieldwork-based insights and evidence from a widespread area between the Pamirs, Tien Shan, Hindukush, Karakoram, Himalaya and the Tibetan Plateau. More important than the ecological breadth and spread of environmental properties and changes seem to be the societal embeddedness of pastoralism, the politico-economic framework and the understanding of ‘modernisation’. The debate on the ‘tragedy of the commons’ seems to have developed through a supposed ‘drama of the commons’ to an institutional ‘tragedy of responsibility’ under similar pretexts as in the early stages. Norms and viewpoints govern judgements about actors and victims in relation to their pastoral practices.

Sharing water : irrigation and water management in the Hindukush, Karakoram, Himalaya

This interdisciplinary collection brings together the writings of experts from different countries on irrigation and water managemet in the mountainous regions of South and Central Asia. Most knowledge about water in these regions comes out of oral traditions. The case studies in this volume try to preserve some of this knowledge and present it to a wider audience.

Contested commons – multiple insecurities of pastoralists in North-Eastern Afghanistan

Pastoralists in North-Eastern Afghanistan are exposed to a multitude of contemporary challenges and threats while practising mobile animal husbandry in differing locations and within the spheres of varying power constellations. In this article a historical perspective is adopted to explore the challenges and multiple insecurities of Pashtun and Uzbek pastoral communities who seasonally engage in long-distance migration from the lowlands in Northern Afghanistan to the high pastures of Badakhshan. The same pasture area is regularly utilised by Shughni mountain farmers who practise combined mountain agriculture in the high mountain settlements close to Lake Shewa. Debates about nomadism’s place in transforming societies, the drama of the commons, human security, and vulnerability issues frame the discussion of pastoralism in contested commons. Based on empirical evidence derived from open interviews with migrating pastoralists and sedentary groups on the Shewa plateau in Badakhshan, interpretations of pastoralism are presented, embedded in the context of contemporary Afghanistan. Pastoralism as a valuable survival and adaptive strategy is challenged by multiple environmental, social and political insecurities, by militancy and weak state authorities, and it unfolds in contested commons and along dangerous routes. The nexus of legal pluralism, tenure insecurity and changing control of space is identified as an important determining factor for the shape of mobile pastoralism in present-day Afghanistan.

Accessibility for High Asia: Comparative Perspectives on Northern Pakistan's Traffic Infrastructure and Linkages with Its Neighbours in the Hindukush- Karakoram-Himalaya

Starting with a discussion of development concepts which were applied in practice and which followed the developmentalist paradigm the expansion of traffic infrastructure in colonial and post-colonial periods is presented for the High Asian mountain rim. Selective railways and roads are the major feature of this development, which aimed first on serving the convenience of hill station visitors and followed strategic considerations later on. This bias between regional planning and implementation remains a characteristic feature. At the same time traffic infrastructure without asphalt roads is important for the mountain areas, thus breaking up the strong correlation between development and asphalt roads.

From modernization theory towards the ‘clash of civilizations’: directions and paradigm shifts in Samuel Huntington's analysis and prognosis of global development1

This paper critically discusses Samuel Huntingtons contribution to development studies. Long before his currently debated work on the clash of civilizations, Huntington wrote on the political order in changing societies. In this highly influential book of the late 1960s he argued on the basis of modernization theory for strong governments to accompany the inevitable and universal process of modernization. His clash of civilizations seems to argue from different assumptions. It insists on the essential differences between cultures based on religion. These cultural differences would now give rise to the most important conflict constellations. In his earlier and later work Huntington insists on the primacy of Western values and the need to defend them. The author critiques the assumptions, concepts and some of the empirical evidence of Huntingtons recent study.

Dividing the World: conflict and inequality in the context of growing global tension

Abstract The central themes in development theory have addressed exclusion of social groups, poverty gaps and strategies to overcome development deficits. In order to perceive the spatial structuring of inequality, concepts defining three separate worlds found ubiquitous appreciation and omnipresent adaptation. Coinciding with the end of the Cold War the ‘endism’ debate also suggested the end of the ‘Third World’. Presently it has become apparent that development theories which have ordered global space into three different worlds are experiencing rejuvenated appreciation. Nevertheless, the recourse towards trichotomising the world is not necessarily stimulated by the same concepts as previously. In the era of globalisation and post-developmentalism concepts favouring nation-states as sole reference points have been challenged and criticised, although the debate about failed states has again drawn attention to those entities. The post-9/11 perception of world order, chaos and conflicts has structured the previously acknowledged limitation of resources and the impossibility of catching-up strategies for developing countries in such a manner that ‘new’ Third World theories point at the exclusion from the developed world of outsiders, by attributing them pre-modern levels of state development and sovereignty. A prominent result of this debate is a perception of ordered space along lines which seemed to have been abandoned some time ago. This paper compares and scrutinises contemporary concepts of dividing the world.