Economic Refrom in BerdiMuhamedev's Turkmenistan: a Modern Liberal Approach

In almost all the literature that examines the economic and political situation in Central Asian countries and the former soviet nations as a whole, Turkmenistan is referred to as a country with a closed economic and political system. In the economic aspect, this system is known with the government’s tight control on the various economic sectors, a very weak private sector and a totally planned and single-product economy. During Safarmurat Niyazov’s reign, all of these features were clearly visible in the Turkmen economy; but since Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov’s coming to power in 2007, some signs of change appeared in this process. However, what is at the stake is the extent to which the practice of these new policies and changes has been successful at providing a basis for Turkmenistan’s transition to another level and reaching a new sustainable principle and foundation. In the economic aspect - which is the main focus of this article - the issue could be raised as to what extent Berdymuhammedov’s reformist acts have been successful in moving Turkmenistan toward economic development? On this basis, by adopting the “modern liberal” approach as the basis of the analysis, this article tries to answer the question that whether Turkmenistan’s economic reforms in the Berdymuhammedov era have resulted in the economic development of the country. This article claims that although many of Berdymuhammedov’s acts could be classified under the notion of “economic reforms”, regarding the retain of government’s top status in the economy, the lack of infrastructural reforms and the structural and institutional problems in Turkmenistan, this is not possible to speak about economic development in this country.