Most of the Muslim societies of the world have entered a demographic transition from high to low fertility, and this process is accompanied by an increase in youth vis-à-vis other age groups. Political scientists and historians have debated whether such a "youth bulge" increases the potential for conflict or whether it represents a chance to accumulate wealth and push forward social and technological developments. This book introduces the discussion about youth bulge into social anthropology using Tajikistan, a post-Soviet country that experienced civil war in the 1990s, which is in the middle of such a demographic transition. Sophie Roche develops a social anthropological approach to analyze demographic and political dynamics, and suggests a new way of thinking about social change in youth bulge societies.

Sophie Roche studied Central Asian Studies and Social Anthropology in Berlin and did long-term fieldwork in Tajikistan while at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle, Germany, between 2005 and 2010. She has conducted research on the impact of conflicts on individual biographies and on demographic change. Her most recent work focuses on Islam and has resulted in the innovative edited volume, Central Asian Intellectuals on Islam (ZMO Studien 2013).