Soviet Central Asia refers to the section of Central Asia formerly controlled by the Soviet Union, as well as the time period of Soviet administration (1918–1991). In terms of area, it is nearly synonymous with Russian Turkestan, the name for the region during the Russian Empire. Soviet Central Asia went through many territorial divisions before the current borders were created in the 1920s and 1930s.

The beginning of the 18th century marked the zenith of the Kazakh Khanate. During this period the Little jüz participated in the 1723–1730 war against the Dzungars, following their "Great Disaster" invasion of Kazakh territories. Under the leadership of Abul Khair Khan the Kazakhs won major victories over the Dzungar at the Bulanty River (1726) and at the Battle of Anrakay in 1729.In the 19th century, the Russian Empire began to expand, and spread into Central Asia.

The Anglo-Russian colonialist "Great Game" period is generally regarded as running from approximately 1813 to the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907. Following the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 a second less intensive phase followed. The tsars effectively ruled over most of the territory belonging to what is now the Republic of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Russia anexed Lake Issyk Kul in north east Kyrgyzstan of off China in the 1860s.

Central Asia is the core region of the Asian continent and stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to China in the east and from Afghanistan in the south to Russia in the north. It is also sometimes referred to as Middle Asia, and, colloquially, "the 'stans" (as the five countries generally considered to be within the region all have names ending with that suffix) and is within the scope of the wider Eurasian continent.

In modern contexts, all definitions of Central Asia include these five republics of the former Soviet Union: Kazakhstan (pop. 16.6 million), Kyrgyzstan (5.5 million), Tajikistan (7.6 million), Turkmenistan (5.1 million), and Uzbekistan (29.5 million), for a total population of 64.7 million as of 2012. Other areas included are Afghanistan, Pakistan, Mongolia, and sometimes Xinjiang and Tibet in western China and southern Siberia in eastern Russia.

Various definitions of its exact composition exist, and no one definition is universally accepted. Despite this uncertainty in defining borders, it does have some important overall characteristics. For one, Central Asia has historically been closely tied to its nomadic peoples and the Silk Road. As a result, it has acted as a crossroads for the movement of people, goods, and ideas between Europe, West Asia, South Asia, and East Asia.

Daniel Schwartz (1929–) is an illustrator. His work has appear in publications including Redbook.

Rawi E. Abdelal is the Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School in the Business, Government, and International Economy Unit. His primary expertise is international political economy, and he is a faculty associate of Harvard's Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies and Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.

Professor Abdelal's first book, National Purpose in the World Economy, won the 2002 Shulman Prize as the outstanding book on the international relations of eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. He recently completed his second book, Capital Rules, which explains the evolution of the social norms and legal rules of the international financial system.

Recent honors include Harvard Business School's Robert F. Greenhill Award and the Student Association's Faculty Award for outstanding teaching in the Required Curriculum.

Abdelal was a President's Scholar at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he received a B.S. with highest honors in Economics in 1993.