Erika Dailey’s scientific contributions

Turkmenistan stands out in this book—and possibly in global ex-perience—as a country where education reform has not been merely hampered by the many objective challenges common to the post-socialist transformations in the region. Until 2007, it has been de-liberately propelled backward toward illiteracy and isolation from the world for political ends. The unexpected death in December 2006 of "president for life" Saparmurat Niyazov (Turkmenbashi, "leader of the Turkmen"; later Beyik Turkmenbashi, "great leader of the Turkmen") (r. 1991–2006), who instituted retrograde mea-sures and was one of the world's most notorious dictators, has pro-vided an equally unexpected opportunity to slow and possibly reverse the backward slide. In one of the most surprising developments in the region's educational history, the man now championing educa-tional reform—President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov—was a senior education official who, under Niyazov, oversaw the educa-tion system's demise. 1 President Niyazov's zeal in imposing one-man rule and rapidly creating a unique post-Soviet identity for Turkmenistan, which had An education expert living in Turkmenistan contributed invaluable infor-mation to and commentary on the draft. Although that person cannot be cred-ited by name for fear of reprisals, the authors gratefully acknowledge the contribution.