During the anti-Gorbachev coup in August 1991 most communist leaders from Soviet central Asia backed the plotters. Within weeks of the coup's collapse, those same leaders - now transformed into ardent nationalists - proclaimed the independence of their nations, adopted new flags and new slogans, and discovered a new patriotism. How were these new nations built, without any traditional nationalist reference points? This book argues that Soviet practice had always been to build on local institutions and promote local elites, and that Soviet administration - as opposed to Soviet policy-making - was therefore always surprisingly decentralized. Thus, with home-grown political leaders and administrative institutions, national identities in central Asia emerged almost by stealth. The book's analysis of the new states in central Asia - Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tadjikstan, Kirghizstan and Azerbaijan - helps to provide an understanding of the geo-politics of the region.