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Since the emergence of post-Soviet states in the Eurasian space
there has been considerable reflection on the role that the state
has played in the local and global arenas. Transformation from
being part of the 'Soviet' to independent existence has meant state
involvement in the forging of new nations out of disparate
identities based on the criteria of national languages, the
reinterpretation of historical events, depiction of
personality-centric themes, the portrayal of illustrative careers
and the rhetoric of development. This volume focuses on some of the
aspects of this involvement through studies of the performative
role of the Central Asian states in the arena of politics,
diplomacy, culture, historical memory, and their interaction within
the Eurasian space. It reflects on ways in which the state reacts
to society and how discourses in the field of economy, society and
culture dovetail with or diverge from the political discourse about
state-building. Relations between formal institutions and informal
structures; emerging conceptions of democracy in the context of the
Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan and the disruptive events in western
Kazakhstan during the twentieth anniversary of the republic's
independence; the nature of bilateral and multilateral alignments
among regional and interregional actors are some of the aspects
through which the role of the state has been examined by the
authors. The volume seeks to address the question of how the state
acts as an agent of influence and control not just on performative
traditions but also in the creation of a single community as the
basis for a nation.
While security concerns have assumed salience across the globe,
Afghanistan's proximity to Central Asia has meant that security or
perceptions of insecurity dominate the strategic discourse in the
region. Issues that stand out include the challenges that the
Central Asian states will face in terms of stability, ethnic
tensions, radicalization of youth, destabilization of commodity
flows and energy security and the impact that these could have on
Central Asian society. However, security cannot just be defined in
terms of security at the borders. It needs to be defined in
'cosmopolitan' terms through an array of issues like movements
across borders, radicalism within states, the sharing of water, and
various multilateral attempts at combating insecurity. This volume
is an attempt to focus on some of these issues that reflect on
perceptions of security principally from Indian and Uzbek
positions. It examines shifts over the last two decades, from
debates on the geopolitical importance of the region from a great
game perspective to the salience of new engagements within the
international arena.
While strategic issues continue to be the critical element for
foreign policy formulation there are significant dimensions outside
the hard core of policy framework that remain by and large
unappreciated in policy-related literature. These dimensions
envelop a rather wide range of actions/activities that essentially
comprise what could be broadly referred to as constituting cultural
dynamics. These entail looking beyond the radar of strategic
relationships, at socio-cultural engagements encompassing both
institutions and communities. These in turn involve a large number
of citizens cutting across boundaries and reiterating and
reemphasising a sense of belonging or (un)belonging. This volume is
an attempt at looking beyond the realms of strategy in the Asian
geopolitical space. This compilation of essays, commentaries,
research notes and film review is an attempt at presenting a
nuanced understanding, analysis and appreciation of the cultural
linkages in the Asian milieu.
This volume examines themes like contemporary factors shaping the
emergence of the Bay of Bengal region as a critical strategic
theatre in Indian foreign policy; the inter-connectedness of the
Indian and Pacific Oceans; the importance of oceans to security and
commerce and India's role within the broader region; the
twenty-first century maritime Silk Road and Indian alternatives and
the possibilities of reconnecting disconnected spaces through
re-imagining a Bay of Bengal Community. In this connection the
volume takes particular note of the emerging regional cooperative
order for the promotion of peace and development in the Bay of
Bengal region (BIMSTEC). The volume brings together historians,
political analysts and political economists to emphasize the
interconnectedness of the oceanic space through a detailed analysis
of the Bay of Bengal as a space of strategic and economic
significance, particularly for India, but also as a space for
re-imagining a new regional community. Print edition not for sale
in South Asia (India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and
Bhutan).
This book maps the convergence of governance and connectivity
within Asia established through the spatial dynamics of trade,
capital, conflict, borders and mobility. It situates Indian trade
and governance policies within a broader Asian and global context.
Focussing on India's North-East, in particular on India's Look and
Act East Policy, the volume underscores how logistical governance
in the region can bring economic and political transformations. It
explores the projected development of the North-East into a gateway
of transformative cultural interaction among people, just as the
Silk Road became a conduit for Buddhism to travel along with
musical instruments and tea. Comprehensive and topical, this book
will be useful for scholars and researchers of political studies,
international relations, governance studies, development studies,
international trade and economics and for think tanks working on
South and Southeast Asia.
This book maps the convergence of governance and connectivity
within Asia established through the spatial dynamics of trade,
capital, conflict, borders and mobility. It situates Indian trade
and governance policies within a broader Asian and global context.
Focussing on India's North-East, in particular on India's Look and
Act East Policy, the volume underscores how logistical governance
in the region can bring economic and political transformations. It
explores the projected development of the North-East into a gateway
of transformative cultural interaction among people, just as the
Silk Road became a conduit for Buddhism to travel along with
musical instruments and tea. Comprehensive and topical, this book
will be useful for scholars and researchers of political studies,
international relations, governance studies, development studies,
international trade and economics and for think tanks working on
South and Southeast Asia.
Heartlands of Eurasia explores how received metageographical
knowledge informs the understanding of global processes and is
subsequently transformed into geopolitical reasoning with foreign
policy implications. It provides a detailed examination of
writings, from both within the region and outside, that look into
the significance of Halford Mackinder's heritage in the context of
a vastly changed world situation. In particular, it attempts to
examine how policy makers and strategic thinkers have used these
geopolitical concepts as justification for their policy in the
region. Finally, it attempts an analysis of the extent to which
this policy thinking was translated into practice. While the study
looks into how the vision of the "pivotal" significance of a vast
expanse of land finds its echoes in contemporary narratives, it
also underlines the very creative ways in which Mackinder's ideas
have been reinterpreted in keeping with the changing global
dynamics. Making use of the way in which the region has been
traditionally defined and the way in which the people defined
themselves, the study brings into focus a debate on the usefulness
of region or "area"-based studies that are located in geographical
imaginations. Anita Sengupta uses this connection to examine the
following issues: geopolitical imaginations and their relevance in
identifying "areas" in the present context; the intersection
between how areas are defined from an outsider perspective and how
people define themselves; the extent to which these definitions
have influenced policy; and the possibility or feasibility of the
development of alternative geostrategic discourses. Mackinder
himself did not specify the geographical area identified first as
the "pivot" and later the "heartland," but his ideas were focused
on the "closed heartland of Euro-Asia," an area that was
unassailable by sea power. This study therefore centers its debates
around the Eurasian space in general, though the focus is on the
Central Asian region and Uzbekistan in p
Within one century the Uzbek state was formed twice: once when it
was 'created' as the Soviet Socialist Republic of Uzbekistan in the
post revolution period and then again when it was reborn as the
sovereign Uzbek Republic after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
The Formation of the Uzbek Nation-State: A Study in Transition
examines the process of nation-state formation in Central Asia,
providing a detailed and insightful look at the transitions the
Uzbek state has undergone in governance, politics and culture, and
the problems it has confronted. Author Anita Sengupta pays
particularly close attention to the social construction of the
cultural elements that are so often the basis for deliniation of
territorial boundaries, and the relationship between political and
cultural factors in the Uzbek state. Compelling and persuasive, The
Formation of the Uzbek Nation-State challenges traditional theories
about the formation of nation-states to confront the long-term
transitions that shape cultures and governments.
This book discusses the significance of cultural symbols/'images'
in the nation-building of Eurasian states that emerged out of the
former Soviet Union. It particularly focuses on the cases of
Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in the post-Soviet era and argues that
the relationship between nation- and image-building has been
particularly relevant for Eurasian states. In an increasingly
globalized world, nation-state building is no longer an activity
confined to the domestic arena. The situating of the state within
the global space and its 'image' in the international community
(nation branding) becomes in many ways as crucial as the projection
of homogeneity within the state. The relationship between politics
and cultural symbols/ 'images', therefore acquires and represents
multiple possibilities. It is these possibilities that are the
focus of Symbols and the Image of the State in Eurasia. It argues
that the relationship between politics and cultural symbols/
'images', became particularly relevant for states that emerged in
the wake of the disintegration of the Soviet Union in Central Asia.
It extends the argument further to contend that the image that the
state projects is largely determined by its legacy and it attempts
to do this by taking into account the Uzbek and Kazakh cases. In
the shaping of the post-Soviet future these legacies and
projections as well as the policy implications of these projections
in terms of governmentality and foreign policy have been decisive.
The volume discusses what the Turkish Model, or Turkish Development
Alternative, was and why it was promoted in the Central Asian
republics immediately following the dissolution of the Soviet
Union. It argues that the Turkish Model was a myth that transferred
the ideal of a ''secular, democratic, liberal society'' as a model
for the post Soviet Turkic world and in the process encouraged a
''Turkic" rhetoric that emphasized connection between the two
regions based on a common ancestry. The volume begins with an
understanding of the reality of the Model from a Turkish
perspective and then goes on to examine whether the Turkic world as
a "cultural-civilizational alternative" makes sense both from a
historical as well as contemporary perspective. It concludes by
looking at the re-emergence of the Model in the wake of the events
in West Asia in early 2011 and examines how in the light of a
search for options the Turkish Model is once again projected as
viable.
In Asia Annual 2007, contributors have engaged with the notion of
'regions' in Asia from the standpoint of various disciplines of
social sciences. In their choice of regions under discussion, the
contributors have tackled Asiatic Russia, Central Asia, West Asia
and South Asia -- which, interestingly, comprise the very regions
that have attracted the greatest attention in the realm of Area
Studies since the Cold War. The articles in this volume have
approached the question of 'regions' from the standpoint of
history, international relations and economics, which bring out the
interdisciplinary character of the imagination of any region. All
the contributors have emphasised the amorphous character of the
category of the 'region' itself. They have argued that the process
of conceptualisation of an 'area' or a 'region' is strongly rooted
in the historical conjuncture when the concept develops. A logical
conclusion which could follow from such an understanding of the
category of 'region' is that there is little or nothing in the
features of a 'region' (barring its geography) that is immutable.
This calls for an interrogation of the very discipline of Area
Studies itself. The volume also includes other essays, research
notes, review articles and reviews of books.
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