Well-Being in Central Asia and the Caucasus

Abstract

This paper deals with four countries that, like Rwanda, suffered economic and social collapse in the early 1990s. It develops a sociologically informed understanding of what influences the well-being of people living in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan (Central Asian Republics) and Armenia and Georgia ( the Caucasus), four of the successor states of the Soviet Union. The focus is influences on the experience of well-being and what makes a society liveable for all. The Social Quality approach is used to derive indicators with which to model what makes for a liveable or at least tolerable society, with subjective satisfaction - how people feel about life in general - as the ultimate outcome indicator of individual well-being. Parallels are drawn with the experience of Rwanda and differences pointed out.

Keywords: Social Quality Model; Satisfaction with Life; Central Asia; Caucasus; Empowerment