Islamic Economic Thinking in the Countries of Post-Soviet Central Asia and Transcaucasia — Myth or Reality?

Abstract: A large number of theoretical and applied research papers on Islamic economics and its different aspects have been written since the 1970s. Several Muslim economists focused on confirming the legitimacy of the terms “Islamic economics” and “Islamic economic thinking”. These issues became topical also in the post-Soviet countries of Central Asia and Transcaucasia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the return of Islam to the former Soviet republics. They rose several challenges for the local people, which brought both hope and disappointment in the turbulent domestic political life. Islamic economic thinking and Islamic finance, in particular, are on the rise worldwide and they have the potential to grow. In our paper, we try to describe the potential and constraints of Islamic banking in some post-Soviet republics of Central Asia and Transcaucasia and find out to what extent re-Islamisation is gaining ground in economic and banking instruments. The research purpose of our paper is accomplished through the comparative analysis of the selected countries in Central Asia and Transcaucasia.

Key words: Islamic revival; Islamic finance and banking; Islamic economic thinking

JEL codes: G23, N25, O57