The Constraints of the Past and the Failure of Central Asian Regionalism, 1991–2004

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Constraints of the Past and the Failure of Central Asian Regionalism, 1991–2004

AU - Rosset, Damian

AU - Svarin, David

PY - 2014

Y1 - 2014

N2 - This article examines the failure of regional integration in post-Soviet Central Asia. It proposes a narrative of the rise and fall of Central Asian regionalism between 1991 and 2004 centered on the perceptions and expectations of the region’s republics. The argument is that these states did not emerge from the USSR in an ideational vacuum, where their construction of self at the international level was to be defined from scratch. Rather, the Central Asian elites inherited pre-existing understandings of the role and place of their respective state in the new international system. At the regional level, an actual and a perceived set of power relations led to incompatible preferences and strategies, thus making it impossible to find common ground for Central Asian regionalism.

AB - This article examines the failure of regional integration in post-Soviet Central Asia. It proposes a narrative of the rise and fall of Central Asian regionalism between 1991 and 2004 centered on the perceptions and expectations of the region’s republics. The argument is that these states did not emerge from the USSR in an ideational vacuum, where their construction of self at the international level was to be defined from scratch. Rather, the Central Asian elites inherited pre-existing understandings of the role and place of their respective state in the new international system. At the regional level, an actual and a perceived set of power relations led to incompatible preferences and strategies, thus making it impossible to find common ground for Central Asian regionalism.

U2 - 10.1353/reg.2014.0011

DO - 10.1353/reg.2014.0011

M3 - Article

SN - 2166-4307

VL - 3

SP - 245

EP - 266

JO - Region: Regional Studies of Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia

JF - Region: Regional Studies of Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia

IS - 2

ER -