Islam Karimov, courtesy Kremlin.ru

Pauline Jones wrote a piece for the Washington Post's Monkey Cage blog about the implications that Uzbek President Islam Karimov's death has for the stability of the Central Asian country and its neighbors. Karimov has led the landlocked country since before it became independent with the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Jones outlines the internal and external forces at play in Uzbekistan, ultimately arguing that the status quo will likely be maintained and that a smooth transition to a new leader is likely. Read the article here.

Pauline Jones is professor of political science and director of the International Institute at the University of Michigan. Her scholarly work contributes broadly to the study of institutional origin, change, and impact in a wide variety of settings: newly emergent states with multiple competing subnational identities, states transitioning from planned to market economies, states rich in natural resources, and states with predominantly Muslim populations. She has studied the five Central Asian states that were formerly part of the Soviet Union (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) extensively.