Policy Issues
Taylor Strong
CJS/231
September 14, 2015
Jacqueline Waltman

Policy Issues
“Drug Control in Central Asia” by Hilton (2002) from the film “Bitter Harvest: The War on Drugs Meets the War on Terror,” more than a few and circumstances issues turn out to be clear. The people in the film of five Central Asian nations on the Old Silk Road—Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan” are not prepared to fight the drugs war, a war revealed by the narrator the U.S. and other richer countries have failed to win. The U.S. additionally has influenced the idea of tying Muslims and Islamists to the drug trade (2002). This had led to even additional divisions in society and improper policies engaged in in particular Uzbekistan (Marat, 2006, p. 94). After all, it has ostracized a lot of Muslims, planted drugs on people it deemed “separatists” and perpetuated several of the policies and practices the Soviet Union employed in regions of ethnic (p. 94, 95; Hilton, 2002, “U.S. State”).
This simply deepens the divide between persons who seek a independent vibrant country and those that fail to believe it can happen (Marat, 2006, p. 94, 95). The disparities of socioeconomic, the abuses of human rights and the lack of government legitimacy after all, speak tomes. The failure of the government moreover, to address their grievances, to meet their political, social, religious and economic demands also signals problems with corruption. It substantiates the favored educated few (p. 95). The current regimes in Central Asia in this way, are more inefficient and more cruel than those administrations established beneath the Soviet Union based upon ethnicity and regional economic and geographical conditions (p. 94-96). They have engendered because of this, perhaps, the rise of the shadow economies and businesses coauthored by illegal businesses and drug trade (p. 97, 98).
For citizens in each region, the geography, history, and distance from the convergence zone in the Soviet Union occupied a function in the existing problems (Gabbidon, n.d.). Tajikistan after all, was predominantly agricultural and in the transition zone where people and goods move through in accordance with the transition zone affiliations and rules (Gabbidon, n. d.; Marat, 2006, p. 96, 98). Tajikistan yet was the most weakened of the five economically and politically after the civil war (p. 94). This, of course less to the rise of clans and militant regimes in the region brokering drug trade deals with the Afghans (p. 96). Whereas, some people have interpreted this as a break among the Communists and religion, South and North Tajikistan have fought for control. The government economically exhausted, might not secure its borders of the region (p. 103).
For people caught in the zone of transition where ties are stronger than in the zone of concentric where people make deals to realize economic success and security in terms of the country or more norms of legitimate, the lack of legitimate government induced mechanical solidarity and loose rules (Gabbidon, n.d.). Building upon ethnic and/or religious ties in a place that was virtually unrecognizable after the Soviets, this is understandable (Marat, 2006, p. 96). After all, the people realized a disparate chance of attaining economic viability, safety and security.
As Professor Robert Fuller (n.d.) construed Merton’s Strain theory, this consequence induces strain. One might argue that those who established the cooperative agreements with the Afghans or others in the shadow industries were innovative. They do after all, work hard and are willing to attain for the economic viability to which Central Asia aspires.
Several persons in the region are ritualists, those who as per to Merton (as cited by Fuller, n.d.) just go along with societal practices and norms. For ethnic populations this also means performing one’s occupation or societal duty in the narrow lines (Marat, 2006, p. 96, 104). These persons would also be those who attend the state Mosque in Uzbekistan (Hilton, 2002, “U.S. State”). The problems enter in when these ritualists are targeted by the government as rebellionists (“U.S. State”). In the film in fact, the U.S State Department Report on Human Rights, “Bitter harvest: The War on Drugs Meets the War on Terror,” demonstrates successfully how a government which is oppressive coauthors rebellionists and retreatists (Hilton, 2002). The government after all, targets Muslims, argues these Muslims have contraband of Islamic, which is often planted and then takes those away (2002). In 2 days they are usually held on charges of drug, their families and friends contend are false (2002). This leads to fatalism for youths caught between and betwixt. Engaging in use of heroin merely contends a need, a release form the pressures of society and the strain socioeconomic persistent equality engenders (Gabbodin, n.d.).
Of course, for ethnic groups and other Muslims, unfair persecution and discrimination either induce participation in the drug trade as a rebellion or coauthor participation of militant (Hilton, 2002, “U.S. State”). The latter draws upon mechanical solidarity the familial and ethnic ties that have bound together people for generations (Marat, 2006, p. 96-98). In the middle of the uncertainty posed by the illegitimate government and authoritarian and societal organic solidarity, this is a natural extension. This is even more commonplace living in the transition zone.
The region’s stability and security understandably, have significantly weakened ever since the days of the U.S.S.R. and its administrations of regional charged with these districts. However, the emancipation costs, of the people’s wished for support of administration, for stability and for more statuses of equitable socioeconomic led inevitably to the reaffirmation and reestablishment of mechanical solidarity and clan ties (Marat, 2006, p. 94-97). In a region built upon such ties, one that has thrived through tourism and trade since its Silk Road days, the shadow industries and occupations have also served other needs. They have given rise to legitimate businesses and occupations (Hilton, 2002, “Central Asia”). However, these ritualists often become trapped in the middle of unfair or unjust policies, dissimilar solidarity roles and functions and ultimately find themselves trapped between the choice of innovation, retreat or rebellion (Gabbodin, n.d.).
The UN in Central Asia, its office of regional charged with punctuating and obstructing the drug trade on the Old Silk Road, for all the aforementioned reasons then, must do much more than increase pay for its officers. It must draw upon the ties the regional peoples do and start rebuilding security, trust, and a sense of stability. Devoid of ethnic and socioeconomic support, the UN office and its Central Asia mission will not succeed.

References
Fuller, J. (n.d.). Robert Merton.
Gabbidon, S. (n.d.) Concentric Zone Theory.
Hilton, C. (2002). Drug Control in Central Asia. Bitter Harvest: The War on Drugs Meets the War on Terror. Retrieved from http://digital.films.com/PortalViewVideo.aspx?xtid=36164&loid=39394
Marat, E. (2006). Impact of drug trade and organized crime on state functioning in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. China and Eurasia Quarterly. Retrieved from http://www.silkroadstudies.org/