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271. China's Laboratory

Author:
Stephen J. Blank
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of International Security Affairs
Institution:
Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs
Abstract:
China's rising economic and military power is unmistakable. There is enormous concern today, in Washington and elsewhere, about the future trajectory of PRC power and policy. Chinese President Hu Jintao has repeatedly promised that his country will never be an imperial power, or pursue military hegemony over anyone.1 Obviously the true test of these statements, however, is China's actual approach to its neighbors and interlocutors. And Central Asia, which includes China's restive province of Xinjiang, home to a large and discontented Muslim population, is one place where we can see Chinese policy in action. The rioting that occurred in the summer of 2009 underscores the extent of potential unrest there and its importance to China.
Political Geography:
China, Washington, and Central Asia

272. The Great Game, Round Three

Author:
Jeff M. Smith
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of International Security Affairs
Institution:
Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs
Abstract:
When the eight states that now constitute Central Asia and the Caucasus freed themselves from the grip of the Soviet Union in 1991, it was perhaps inevitable that outside powers would rush to fill the vacuum. Of the eight at least three, the Caspian Basin states (Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan) found themselves awash in natural resources. The remaining five (Georgia, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan), though less endowed materially, are strategically situated along crucial energy, trade, and logistics corridors.
Political Geography:
Central Asia, Caucasus, Tajikistan, and Soviet Union

273. Ethno-Diplomacy: The Uyghur Hitch in Sino-Turkish Relations

Author:
Yitzhak Shichor
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
East-West Center
Abstract:
Beginning in 1949, China considered, and dealt with, so-called Uyghur separatism and the quest for Eastern Turkestan (Xinjiang) independence as a domestic problem. Since the early 1990s, however, Beijing has begun to recognize the international aspects of this problem and to deal with its external manifestations. This new policy has affected China's relations with Turkey, which has ideologically inspired Uyghur nationalism, offered sanctuary to Uyghur refugees, and provided moral and material support to Eastern Turkestan movements, organizations, and activities.
Topic:
International Relations, Diplomacy, Ethnic Conflict, and Minorities
Political Geography:
China, Central Asia, and Turkey

274. (RE)DISCOVERING CENTRAL ASIA

Author:
Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh
Publication Date:
02-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Issues: Slovak Foreign Policy Affairs
Institution:
Slovak Foreign Policy Association
Abstract:
The article discusses the issues of unitary and multiple polarities in relation to state inter-dependency in the Central Asian region. The author makes the case that regionalism among nation states will be the determining factor in implementing long term policies for human security and cooperation. The article proposes that regional associations, such as the UNRCCA, can act as a structural arbitrator setting norms, organizing collective actions, sharing information, assessing risk and spreading interlinkages. Examples from Central Asia are offered throughout the article.
Political Geography:
Central Asia

275. Political Dimensions of the Northern Afghanistan Resupply Routes

Author:
Gregory Gleason
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
A series of insurgent attacks in Pakistan targeting U.S./NATO supply lines took place during the latter half of 2008 and early 2009. As much as 75 percent of the cargo to support military operations and development programs in Afghanistan previously had been shipped through Pakistan, passing through a small number of precarious transport corridors, constrained by chokepoints and subject to disruption. As a result of insurgent attacks, carriage of supplies through the Khyber Pass along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border was repeatedly interrupted for brief periods. These events in Pakistan shifted Allied attention from the southern routes to Afghanistan's northern access routes. The existing transit routes for supplies entering Afghanistan from the north passed across European and Eurasian countries and then through the Central Asian countries. This combination of port, air, rail, and road facilities came to be referred to within the framework of Afghanistan's normalization operations as the NDN-the "Northern Distribution Network."
Topic:
NATO
Political Geography:
Pakistan, Afghanistan, United States, Europe, and Central Asia

276. Islam in Uzbekistan: Religious Education and State Ideology

Author:
Martha Brill Olcott and Diora Ziyaeva
Publication Date:
07-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
Islam in Uzbekistan: Religious Education and State Ideology is the fourth paper of the ongoing series on Islam in Central Asia. It provides a historical overview of religious education in Central Asia, focusing on the hujra system and its founders, and assesses the efforts of the Uzbek government to define the content of Islam that has been presented in public life since independence was obtained in 1991. It examines the presentation of Islam in the schools—especially in Tashkent Islamic University, seen as the premier training institution for secular teachers of Islam—and the presentation of Islam in the mass media.
Topic:
Civil Society and Education
Political Geography:
Central Asia, Asia, and Uzbekistan

277. Turkey's Foreign Policy Vision: An Assessment of 2007

Author:
Ahmet Davutoğlu
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Insight Turkey
Institution:
SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:
Turkey's foreign policy needs a new orientation in the light of the new regional and global developments. As a major country in the midst of the Afro-Eurasia landmass, Turkey is a central country with multiple regional identities that cannot be reduced to one, unified category. In terms of its sphere of influence, Turkey is a Middle Eastern, Balkan, Caucasian, Central Asian, Caspian, Mediterranean, Gulf, and Black Sea country all at the same time. Turkey should appropriate a new position in its region by providing security and stability not only for itself but also for its neighbors and the region. Turkey's engagements from Africa to Central Asia and from EU to OIC are parts of new foreign policy vision. Domestically, Turkey needs to deepen and enrich its democracy, accommodate the differences within its society, and strengthen the coordination and balance among its institutions in 2008 and the years that follow. These initiatives will make Turkey a global actor as we approach 2023, the one hundredth anniversary of the establishment of the Turkish Republic.
Political Geography:
Africa, Central Asia, and Turkey

278. Turkish Policy toward Central Asia

Author:
Bülent Aras
Publication Date:
04-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, a Turkish world from the “Adriatic Sea to the Chinese Wall” became a new topic of discussion in Turkish policy circles. While Turkey tried to develop close political, economic and cultural relations with the newly independent Central Asian Republics, the mid and late 1990s witnessed a steady decline in the relations and failed to produce any concrete results. With its new foreign policy outlook, Turkey is seeking to increase its field of sphere in Central Asia by revitalizing its efforts to reconnect with the sister Turkish states. Security, economic cooperation, energy and civil society initiatives are the new dynamics of the Turkish- Central Asian relations
Topic:
International Relations and International Political Economy
Political Geography:
Central Asia, Turkey, and Middle East

279. Participation in International Development Discourse and Practice. 'State of the Art' and Challenges

Author:
Frank Bliss and Stefan Neumann
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for Development and Peace
Abstract:
Participation has become one of the most important buzzwords in the international development discourse since at least the middle of the 1990s. In the same way as older key terms such as gender and socio-cultural conditions of development, or new concepts such as good governance and ownership, the increasing claims for participation (of target groups, of beneficiaries, of stake-holders etc.) are usually accompanied by a critical assessment of previous development cooperation which needs to be improved by stronger, more comprehensive or target-oriented participation. However, this positive connotation of participation shared by almost all actors in the field is increasingly challenged through critical remarks forwarded by theoreticians and practitioners alike.
Topic:
Civil Society, International Cooperation, Politics, and Poverty
Political Geography:
Central Asia

280. Islamic Movements and Democracy in Central Asia: Integration or Isolation?

Author:
Anthony Bowyer
Publication Date:
05-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
The Central Asian republics of the former Soviet Union have been independent for nearly seventeen years following seven long decades of communist rule in which their identities and traditions were altered through Sovietization and the Russification that preceded it. The region was divided into Khanates and Great Hordes, which had their first experience with Islam dating back to the 8th century, consolidated through successive invasions by Persians and Arabs from the fifteenth century onward, and formed the northernmost expanse of the Islamic world. The gradual encroachment of Imperial Russian influence, first eastward into Siberia, southward into the North Caucasus and later into the steppe of Central Asia and beyond, came about as a shock to the traditional lifestyles and power structures of the region. The establishment of Tsarist military outposts was accompanied by often brutal suppression of local populations including seizure of land and imposition of alien social values. No strangers to outside invasions, the people of Central Asia adapted as best they could under the circumstances, struggling to maintain their cultures and history but capitalizing on the positive elements that contact with the Russians brought, namely trade and infrastructure modernization. Acceptance of the Tsar's rule was not universal, and as of the late 19th century much of the region was not under the Tsar's control.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, Government, Islam, and Politics
Political Geography:
Russia, Central Asia, Caucasus, and Soviet Union