CIAO DATE: 06/05

Thinking Strategically: The Major Powers, Kazakhstan, and the Central Asian Nexus

Robert Legvold

MIT Press

March 2003

 

Abstract

More than ten years after the breakup of the Soviet Union, none of the major powers, including Russia, has developed a cohesive geopolitical strategy for dealing with the countries and regions that once made up the USSR. Even after September 11 and the sudden importance of Central Asia in the struggle against global terrorism, the United States continues to deal with the region in fragmented and incomplete ways. Thinking Strategically, the first volume in a series focusing on security challenges posed by the former Soviet Union, addresses the economic, political, and security interests at stake in Kazakhstan for Russia, the US, China, Europe, and Japan.

Kazakhstan presents an interesting case study both because of its role as a pivot point between Russia and the world beyond and because of its position in Central Asia. The contributors to this book call it variously a buffer, a meeting place, a bridge, a gateway, and a strategic arena. Because of its internal problems -- which include great economic uncertainty despite vast oil wealth, a disintegrating infrastructure, and the potential for internal instability -- and its geopolitical position, Kazakhstan and the region of Central Asia present a complex set of opportunities and dangers for the major powers.

The authors of each chapter, who come from Russia, the United States, China, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Kazakhstan, address the security challenges posed by Kazakhstan and Central Asia from the point of view of their respective countries or regions. From the Russian perspective, for example, Kazakhstan itself is central -- as a bulwark against instability and a close economic partner -- and Central Asia subordinate; other countries tend to view the entire Central Asia region strategically.

Robert Legvold is Professor of Political Science at Columbia University.

 

Table of Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Glossary of Acronyms

Intoduction: Great Power Stakes in Central Asia
Robert Legvold

Chapter 1: Russian Policy Toward Kazakhstan (PDF, 28 pgs, 105 KB)
Vitaly V. Naumkin

Chapter 2: U.S. Policy Toward Kazakhstan
Robert Legvold

Chapter 3: China's Foreign Policy Toward Kazakhstan
Xing Guangcheng

Chapter 4: European Strategy Toward Kazakhstan
Neil MacFarlane

Chapter 5: Japanese Policies in Relation to Kazakhstan: Is There a 'Strategy'?
Tomohiko Uyama

Chapter 6: Great Power Policies and Interests in Kazakhstan
Bulat Sultanov and Leila Muzaparova

Conclusion: The Strategic Challenge of Kazakhstan and Inner Asia
Sherman W. Garnett

Contributors

Index