Central Asia in World Politics

1
Central Asia in World Politics (3 credit units,
108 hours)
2

• Objectives
• Developing a comprehensive understanding of the
  role played by Central Asia (Kazakhstan,
  Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and
  Uzbekistan) in the contemporary international
  relations and global political, economic and
  social processes
• revealing major factors and trends shaping the
  emergence and development of Central Asian
  countries foreign policies, of their relations
  with Russia and other powers with substantial
  interests in this region
• developing an understanding of the scope and
  dynamics of economic, migratory and humanitarian
  links between Central Asia and Siberia as well as
  of their security interdependence
• learning the art of tracing the dynamics of
  fundamental parameters of the regional security
  environment, of analyzing its implications for
  Russian national interests and security and
  assessing the tendencies and prospects of Central
  Asian countries political and economic
  development.

3

• Competences
• A graduate must know
• the specifics and major trends of the
  development of international relations in Central
  Asia as well as of political, economic and social
  processes in the countries of the region
• the major phases, problems and tendencies of
  development of relations between Central Asian
  countries and Russia and other powers active in
  the region
• the fundamental parameters of the regional
  security environment.
• A graduate must be able to
• reveal and analyze the major political, social
  and economic problems and contradictions
  influencing the structural characteristics and
  dynamics of international relations in Central
  Asia
• discern the major areas of multilateral and
  bilateral inter-state cooperation in Central
  Asia
• discern the specifics of Central Asian
  countries foreign policies, political and
  economic developments as well as of Russian
  interests in this region
• analyze and make scenarios of the development
  of economic, migratory and humanitarian links
  between Central Asia and Siberia, make
  assessments of the security interdependence
  between Central Asia and Siberia.

4
Major units of the course Central Asia in Global
Political and Economic Developments
Major trends - consolidation of sovereignty and
foreign-policy actorness - emergence,
consolidation and the beginning of the decay of
authoritarian regimes - growth of social
tensions and protest sentiments - integration
into world economy as raw material suppliers -
emergence as workforce exporters -
re-agrarianization of economies - growth of
poverty and social inequalities - growing
deficit of water and land resources -
degradation of education and health-care systems.

5

• Central Asian Regional Security Complex.
• Traditional and Modern Challenges
• Poles of the complex Kazakhstan and
  Uzbekistan.
• Axes of social construction
• struggle for leadership between Kazakhstan and
  Uzbekistan
• allied relations between Kazakhstan and
  Kyrgyzstan
• tensions between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan
• confrontation between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan
• Turkmenistans self-isolation.
• Institutional superstructure
• dissolution of the Organization Central Asian
  Cooperation
• International Aral Sea Salvation Fund (headed by
  the Council of Heads of State)
• Interstate Commission for Water Coordination.

6

• Russian Policy in Central Asia in the 1990s and
  the 2000s
• Projects of Economic and Military-Political
  Integration
• within the CIS framework (the first half of the
  1990s)
• Customs Union of the 1990s
• Eurasian Economic Community
• Collective Security Treaty Organization
• Customs Union and the Joint Economic Space of
  Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan
• Toward the Eurasian Economic Union?
• Bilateral Relations
• consolidation of the union with Kazakhstan
• crisis in Kyrgyzstan and Russian reaction
• attempts to retain the influence in Tajikistan
• fictitious alliance and genuine contradictions
  with Uzbekistan
• weak presence in Turmenistan.
• Major Geostrategic Problems
• Uncertain future of Afghanistan

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• Central Asia in International Organizations
• All the countries of the region are members of
• the UN
• the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
  Europe (OSCE) Kazakhstan held presidency in
  2010
• the Islamic Cooperation Organization (ICO)
  Kazakhstan held presidency in 2011
• the CIS (Turkmenistan associate member)
• NATOs Partnership for Peace Program
• Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO)
  (Turkmenistan associate member).
• All the countries of the region except
  Turkmenistan are members of
• the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)
• the Conference on Interaction and
  Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (?ICA).

8

• Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are members
  of
• the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC)
• the Collective Security Treaty Organization
  (CSTO)
• Eurasian Development Bank.
• Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are members of the
  Turkic States Cooperation Council.
• Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are members of the
  Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).
• Kazakhstan is member of the Customs Union and the
  Joint Economic Space with Russia and Belarus.
• Kyrgyzstan is member of the World Trade
  Organization (WTO).

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• Recommended Topics of Master Dissertations
• The Problems of Interaction between Russia and
  Central Asian Countries the Coverage in Siberian
  Media.
• 2. Economic and Humanitarian Cooperation between
  a Siberian Region and a Central Asian Country.
• 3. The Project of the Eurasian Economic Union
  utopia or a real opportunity?