Project Overview

This thesis argues that Soviet-era property regimes and territorial management frameworks created a distinctive capacity for ensemble nominations that continues to structure UNESCO inscription strategies three decades after the USSR's dissolution. Comprehensive state property ownership, inherited from Soviet legal frameworks, eliminates the need for private owner consent, which creates administrative barriers in systems with fragmented ownership. Soviet museum-city and museum-reserve designations (Khiva 1969, Bukhara 1985) established territorial management infrastructure decades before independence, providing ready-made frameworks that successor states could activate for UNESCO nomination with minimal modification. However, capacity does not determine deployment. Through controlled comparison, the research demonstrates that while all fifteen post-Soviet states inherited identical institutional frameworks when the USSR dissolved in 1991, they deployed this capacity dramatically differently based on evolving political priorities. Uzbekistan exclusively pursues ensemble inscriptions serving tourism infrastructure and territorial control, while Kazakhstan inscribed a standalone monument serving nation-building through monumental Islamic architecture, revealing that inherited frameworks create options while political calculation determines activation. 

Uzbekistan's evolution reveals strategic calculation rather than passive inheritance. Phase 1 (1990-2001) consolidated major Silk Road cities as "heritage capitals," embedding Islamic sacred sites within secularized state management frameworks. Phase 2 (2001-2023), a twenty-two-year pause despite maintained capacity, indicates that inscriptions serve evolving political priorities rather than automatic institutional continuation. Phase 3 (2023-present) shifts to transnational corridor designations and includes Soviet Modernism on the tentative list, demonstrating capacity originally created for pre-Soviet Islamic heritage now deployed for the Soviet period's architecture, coinciding with Uzbekistan hosting UNESCO's 2025 General Conference. Despite inheriting identical Soviet frameworks, Kazakhstan inscribed the Yasawi Mausoleum (2003) as a standalone monument rather than ensemble. The Azret Sultan Museum-Reserve provided clear ensemble potential comparable to Uzbekistan's inscribed historic centers, yet Kazakhstan focused international recognition on a singular pre-Soviet symbol of Turkic Islamic culture serving nation-building in a multi-ethnic state where Russian settlement created demographic challenges to Kazakh cultural dominance. This divergence demonstrates that inherited capacity creates options while political context determines activation.