The ambivalent empire Soviet rule in the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, 1945-1964

Abstract

This thesis analyses the functioning of Soviet rule in the Uzbek Soviet republic from 1945 to 1964. Thereby, it focuses on the effects of two fundamental forces that characterised Soviet rule in Uzbekistan: On the one hand, the Moscow leadership held a strong claim to power resulting in quasi-imperial practices to ensure the implementation of central government interests in the Uzbek Soviet republic. On the other hand, even during the Stalinist dictatorship, the Uzbek periphery was subject to a continuous integration into the Soviet Union through central government investment in all spheres of the country in the name of communism. This ambivalence of Soviet rule was accompanied by the condition of limited statehood. Yet, instead of merely understanding limited statehood as a sign of weakness of the Soviet state or as opposition to the Soviet project on side of the Uzbeks, the thesis uses limited statehood as an analytical concept to provide a better understanding of the centre-periphery relations in the Soviet Union. The thesis thus contributes to a growing body of literature on the late-Stalin and the Khrushchev periods and sheds light not only on the tremendous changes Soviet rule had for Uzbek society, but also on the changes and continuities in its form under Stalin and Khrushchev.