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Central Asia Views From Washington Moscow and Beijing |
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reviewed by Hasan Selim Ozertem |
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Author: Eugene Rumer, Dmitri Trenin and Huasheng Zhao |
ISBN:
978-0-7656-1994-5 |
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Publisher:
M. E. Sharpe Inc. |
Page:
223 |
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Type:
Hardcover |
Price:
$78.95 |
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Place of Publication:
Washington D.C. |
Published in:
2007 |
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Review: |
The last two decades preserve two important milestones for world politics. The first one is the collapse of the Soviet Union, which puts an end to the traditional understanding of power struggle in a bipolar world. The end of communism, while pushing Sovietologists to make self critique due to failing to see the demise of the USSR in the eve of the 21st century, was also defined as the triumph of liberalism and free market dynamics by scholars like Francis Fukuyama.
The emergence of new states from the ashes of the Soviet Union also opened new study areas for the followers of Sovietology as well as for other scholars of social sciences. New groupings of this great landmass in geographical terms, in a way, redefined the area studies in the post Soviet era. Central Asia, Caucasus, Baltic Region, Russia and Eastern Europe are the main areas of focus in specific terms.
While the collapse of the Soviet Union was the main rhetoric of 1990s, it has been substituted by 9/11 after terrorist attacks to World Trade Center in 2001. International terrorism and concerns regarding national and international security have redefined the dynamics of international relations.
In the framework of these two events, Rumer, Trenin and Zhao analyze the power struggle in Central Asia within the terms of international politics and security concerns of the US, Russia and China. In fact, these three states are defined as geostrategic players in Brzezinski's The Grand Chessboard. Just ten years after Brzezinski, Central Asia: Views from Washington, Moscow and Beijing represents a good insight to analyze the changing dynamics in Eurasia within specific reference to Central Asia.
The book consists of three chapters and an introductory part. Rajan Menon tries to summarize the book in terms of main discussions regarding the region. Talking about imperial legacy, Menon touches upon the problems of the region and contradictory characteristics between opening of the region to the world and "the perils of repression", and claims that globalization increases the cost of authoritarianism while also making it harder to apply. The power of internet and the economic development in the region are shown as several blessings of the new era that increase the cost of dictatorship.
In the framework of authoritarianism, Eugene Rumer attempts to make an analysis of democratization rhetoric of the US foreign policy while examining the two terms of Bill Clinton and the post 9/11 period politics of America in Central Asia. He tries to answer the question of "Why Central Asia is important for the US?". He proposes several reasons such as hydrocarbon resources in the region, the very nature of Central Asia as a "strategic beachhead" in the heart of Eurasia or as a target of American efforts to promote democracy. He concludes that alone themselves, these are not the issues high on the agenda, but together they represent a rationale for the US foreign policy.
He mainly argues that during 1990s, it is hard to talk about a well-defined foreign policy in the region. Rather, such issues as non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and assisting political and economic reforms in the region were dominating the US agenda. However, after 9/11 Bush administration had to redefine American interests in Central Asia, regarding its fight against international terrorism especially in Afghanistan.
However, Rumer claims that Andijan events caused the US to lose ground in the region while Russia is getting stronger in an environment of scepticism emerged among local leaders after coloured revolutions in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.
In the last analysis, Rumer claims that the US has to develop a new strategy that takes into account Central Asia's complex legacy and new geopolitical realities. In spite of stating the importance of Russian and Chinese existence and their influence in the region, Rumer does not give a clear cut definition of foreign policy for the US. However, he is well aware the fact of Realpolitik dynamics in the region and the insufficiency of democratization rhetoric alone as a policy.
Realpolitik in the region is seen one of the main characteristics by the three authors of the book. Trenin also makes emphasis to this reality and after making a short geographic definition of Central Asia discusses the Russian interests and policies in the five states of this great landmass. Thinking about such an introduction, I believe this article could also have been the first part of the book. Since, this part of the article helps to understand the region in a historical pattern and geographical framework.
Just like Rumer, Trenin also discusses a lack of consistent foreign policy, but rather a reactionary one. However, he puts the strengths of Russia in a well designed manner. Such as the linguistic and cultural advantages of the country as well as 7.5 million of Russians as the ethnic minority in the region. In fact, this number is well above the three states' populations in Central Asia. But still, all three of the writers tend to talk about the region as having a homogenous Muslim community.
Trenin states that Putin era policies and the coloured revolutions that undermined the popularity of the US among local leaders helped Russia to enhance its position in Central Asia. Moreover, he emphasizes the importance of regional institutions that gives Russia upper hand, such as CIS, CSTO, EAEC, and SCO.
Looking at Trenin's article one may easily see the dominance of security issue, energy politics and Kazakhstan while talking about Russian interests in the region. In fact, it is so clear that Kazakhstan is one of main the priorities of Russian policymakers when the factors like Russian minority in the country, 7000 km length of borderline with Russia and having the biggest economy in Central Asia are taken into account.
One of the handicaps of the article is some prejudicial approaches while discussing regional dynamics. While talking about drug trade he uses a reductionist and eurocentric discourse and states that "As elsewhere throughout the Muslim world, widespread government corruption is one of the major reasons for popular disaffection and radicalization under Islamist slogans." However, it is not unique to this geography that we can talk about corruption. It is one of the main problems of post-Soviet states and many other underdeveloped countries in the world. As known, corruption is indicated as one of the reasons of collapsed economy in the Soviet era as well.
The last article, Central Asia in China's Diplomacy penned by Huasheng Zhao also discusses Chinese foreign policy in Central Asia in a similar manner with Rumer and Trenin. However, there are so many repetitions in the article that he mainly stresses upon three points; energy issue (in terms of economic interests), geopolitics and security.
Even though the main argument is on Central Asia, he puts Chinese concerns in a well designed fashion and states that one of the priorities of China is Taiwan issue. Moreover, he also makes emphasis on the importance of stability in Central Asia and East Turkestan issue in several cases.
Unlike Rumer and Trenin, he develops a better economic analysis while defining Chinese interests in the region. He concludes that Sino-Central Asian relations both poses challenges and opportunities for China and in these terms the country should increase its investment, expand trade and develop new networks in the region.
In conclusion, Central Asia: Views from Washington, Moscow and Beijing is a well written book in terms of giving an insight of last one and a half decade of Central Asia after independence. Though being edited and written by three authors there are some repetitions. While being boring sometimes, this feature of the book also gives reader different perspectives on the same issue. However, it lacks a historical context, and also may be a perspective of a local scholar who would discuss the policies of Moscow, Beijing and Wahington in a critical and comparative manner. In terms of graduate studies it can be a good reference book and can contribute to the studies of International Relations. Moreover, it can be a complimentary book for Zbigniew Brzezinski's "The Grand Chessboard American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives" by analyzing geostratigic players' policies since 1991.
Note: This book review was previously published in Journal of Central Asian and Caucasian Studies, Vol.3 No. 6
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about book: |
The disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991 rapidly and irrevocably transformed Central Asia's political landscape. This region of five sovereign states with a population of some fifty million people quickly became a major focus of interest and influence for competing poles of power.
The eminent contributors to this volume offer a four-part analysis of the region's new importance in world affairs. Rajan Menon examines the place of Central Asia in a global perspective. Eugene Rumer considers the perspective of the post-9/11 United States. Dmitri Trenin looks at the region from the standpoint of traditional hegemon Russia. Huasheng Zhao provides the view from economic superpower-in-the-making China.
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