International Relations of Central Asia

The international relations of Central Asia, consisting of the five republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, present a diversity of complexities that makes the region a valuable case to study for international relations (IR) scholars. The region’s geographic location, neighboring Russia and China, and the historical interests of the United States and European states in it, paired with geopolitical events from the years of independence, forced Central Asia to assert its sovereignty and rely on great-power management. The region historically maintained ties with external actors and occupied a central place in the wider geopolitical landscape. Post-independence foreign relations with main partners (Russia, China, the European Union, the United States, and among Central Asian states) show bilateral cooperation on security, economy, and culture, and within different multilateral organizations and formats. Domestic factors also play a role in foreign policy making, especially in relation to the individual impact of Central Asian leaders on foreign policy strategies. With the rise of contemporary reflections on decoloniality in IR, the researchers on Central Asia challenge the Western-centric approaches and colonial narratives, revisit history by incorporating local voices, and highlight Indigenous knowledge-production and postcolonial discourses in the region and its impact on contemporary international relations of Central Asia.