Will China continue to defer to Russia in Central Asia’s international security relations? Revised: 2 November 2015 What kind of great power is China in Central Asia? It was this question that animated our discussions in October as colleagues and new contacts of ExCAS gathered in Shanghai and London to discuss China’s emerging role in the region. […]
This post originally appeared on FT.com’s Beyond Brics: http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2015/09/29/us-looks-away-as-tyranny-steals-a-march-in-central-asia/ Photocredit: David Trilling, Eurasianet.org Central Asian democracy was dealt another critical blow this month, in open defiance of Western efforts and engagement. It is clear that the United States and Western powers have abandoned political engagement in Central Asia in the face of a resurgent Russia […]
What does the Hoji Halim rebellion tell us about conflict management and the state in Central Asia? By John Heathershaw Photocredit: RFE/RL For three years, Nick Megoran, David Lewis, our partners at Saferworld, and I have been studying the management of minor armed conflicts in Central Asia under a project funded by the UK Economic […]
Between 3rd and 5th June, the OSCE Academy in Bishkek hosted an international conference organised jointly with UK-based researchers working on the ESRC-funded project Rising Powers and Conflict Management in Central Asia. The conference drew together panellists from cities around the world including Odessa, Tashkent, Florence, Bonn, Kabul, California, Tbilisi, Birmingham and Bishkek, each of […]
DATE: 3-4 June 2015 VENUE: OSCE Academy, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, (in collaboration with the UK Economic and Social Research Council) SYNOPSIS For more than 20 years, the Eurasian region has been subject to supposed ‘global models’ of conflict analysis and peace studies, in both academic and practical discourse, derived from other regions and ostensibly […]
This is a re-post. The original article can be found here. Not every despotic and corrupt ruler of a former Soviet state is the target of US Government plots to overthrow him, not even those whose taste in interior decoration and jewellery is as awful as Victor Yanukovich’s, the ex-president of Ukraine. Emomali Rahmon (image), […]
On 1 April 2014, John Heathershaw spoke at the inaugural meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Tajikistan at the Houses of Parliament. Heathershaw was the guest of the groups co-chairs Baroness Vivien Stern and Nigel Mills MP. Also in attendance were the Ambassador of Tajikistan to the UK, the Ambassador of the UK to Tajikistan […]
On 7 March 2014, David Lewis spoke at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office seminar, ‘Afghanistan as a threat to Central Asia: myth or reality?’. Jos Boonstra from EU Central Asia Monitoring also spoke and Roy Allison from Oxford was discussant. ExCAS members John Heathershaw and Anna Matveeva were also in attendance. It was generally agreed […]
1.00-2.30pm, Feb 26th Amory 115 Dr Roy Allison, University of Oxford, ‘Putin’s Eurasian Union: a divisive political project or a new impetus for regional coordination?’ Roy Allison is University Lecturer in the International Relations of Russia, Eastern Europe and Eurasia at St Antony’s college, University of Oxford. He previously held a Readership in International Relations at the London School […]
Friday 24th January, 2-4 pm, Amory 143 Dr Anna Matveeva, Honorary Fellow, University of Exeter “Border Security or security of the Border: how border regimes contribute to instability and tensions in the Ferghana Valley” Anna Matveeva works both as an academic and a practitioner, specialising in conflict studies and developmental aspects of international peacebuilding. The geographical […]
Richard Wood, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, ‘The UK Government’s Building Stability Overseas Strategy’ Monday 13 January, 3.30-4.30pm Building:One Marchant Syndicate Room A Richard Wood is Deputy Head of Mission of the British Embassy in Tajikistan and the former FCO officer for the Building Stability Overseas Strategy (BSOS). He will speak about BSOS following its review by […]
Originally posted at: FutureForeignPolicy.com blog. Much attention has been paid to a series of visits undertaken by the new Chinese President Xi Jinping to the Central Asian republics last month. Notwithstanding the ostensible trade-orientated nature of the visits, speculation has run rife as to the political- as opposed to economic- implications of this in the form of a […]