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Democracy promotion, security and energy are the predominant themes of US policy in Central Asia after the Cold War. This book analyses how the Bush administration understood and pursued its interests in the Central Asia states, namely Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan. It discusses the shift in US interests after September 11 and highlights key ideas, actors and processes that have been driving US policy in Central Asia. The author examines the similarities between the Bush and Obama administrations’ attitudes towards the region, and he points to the inadequacy of the personality focused, partisan accounts that have all too often been deployed to describe the tw...
This book explores Central Asia’s relationship with Southeast Asia and ASEAN. It examines the “Southeast Asian vector” in the Central Asian countries’ mostly multi-vector foreign policies and the key dynamics that are transforming interregional relations into one of greater engagement. It argues that Central Asian states are interested in developing stronger ties with Southeast Asian countries, amongst others, as part of their hedging strategy in order to diversify their foreign economic relations and to lessen their overdependence on neighbouring great powers. It also looks at Central Asian views of ASEAN as a successful model of regionalism and as a hedging platform for Central Asian states to collectively manage relations with external powers.
The Routledge Handbook of Political Islam provides a multidisciplinary overview of the phenomenon of political Islam, one of the key political movements of our time. Drawing on the expertise from some of the top scholars in the world it examines the main issues surrounding political Islam across the world, from aspects of Muslim integration in the West to questions of political legitimacy in the Muslim world. Bringing together an international team of renowned and respected experts on the topic, the chapters in the book present a critical account of: Theoretical foundations of political Islam Historical background Geographical spread of Islamist movements Political strategies adopted by Islamist groups Terrorism Attitudes towards democracy Relations between Muslims and the West in the international sphere Challenges of integration Gender relations. Presenting readers with the diversity of views on political Islam in a nuanced and dispassionate manner, this handbook is an essential addition to the existing literature on Islam and politics. It will be of interest across a wide range of disciplines, including political science, Islamic studies, sociology and history.
Kazakhstan, a former post-Soviet state, has been successful in the development of e-government. This book analyzes the e-government politics in the country from a multitude of dimensions. It examines the adoption of a wide range of technology-driven public sector projects and platforms and identifies the key drivers, challenges, regulation policies and stakeholders of e-government reforms in this transitional society. Furthermore, it suggests that a universal framework can be applied when investigating e-government projects in the developing world.
Uzbekistan’s foreign policy from 1991 to 2016, starting from independence right up to the death of its first president, Islam Karimov, is one of the more distinctive approaches to international politics since the end of the Cold War. This distinctiveness rests on the republic’s gradual struggle for self-reliance upon becoming independent. Authorities in Uzbekistan, especially its President, were sceptics of the norms that came to prevail across regional and broader international politics. This book addresses the making of Uzbekistan’s general foreign policy and its corresponding effects outside Central Asia, particularly at the highest level, among state officials, heads of state and m...
This book presents the changing roles of urban governments and how local governments struggle to gain administrative, fiscal, and political power to combat current urban challenges in Kazakhstan. Focusing on the cities and regions selected by the national government of Kazakhstan to be the drivers of national economic development, the author analyses the impact of decentralization on the role of local governments. The book examines the practical experiences of city and regional governments with an emphasis on urban planning, public investment in national projects, and management of urban transport. Due to the complexity and irregular distribution of political reforms at different levels of l...
Water is an irreplaceable and transient resource, which crosses political boundaries in the form of rivers, lakes, and groundwater aquifers. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, led to the birth of fifteen countries including the five Central Asian republics, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. When the USSR ceased to exist, so did the centralised Soviet resource distribution system that managed the exchange and allocation of water, energy, and food supplies. A whole new set of international relations emerged, and the newly formed Central Asian governments had to redefine the policies related to the exchange and sharing of their natural resources. This book ...
Turkmenistan is a country which is almost sealed off from the rest of the world but it has attracted foreign attention due to the eccentricities of its late president Saparmurat Niyazov Türkmenbaşy, whose ideological construction and dynamics of power have remained in place after his death. This book offers a thorough analysis of why this personality cult developed in Turkmenistan in a way that has not been seen in other newly developed Central Asian countries. In assessing the Türkmenbaşy phenomenon, this book explains the causes and origins of the personality cult by drawing a comparison with Qadhdhafi’s Libya. The author understands the Niyazov cult not as a discrete phenomenon but ...