Identity and Politics in Central Asia and the Caucasus

ISBN-13: 9781138840218 / Angielski / Twarda / 2015 / 212 str.

Murad Ismayilov; Mohammed Ayoob

Opis

The multicultural region of Central Eurasia is living through its early post-independence years and as such serves as an ideal case to study and analyse theories of identity and foreign policy in a non-European context. Looking to re-introduce identity as a multidimensional factor informing state behaviour, this book analyses the experiences of the different Central Eurasian states in their post-independence pursuits. The book is structured into two broadly defined sections, with the first half examining the different ways in which the combination of domestic, regional, international and trans-national forces worked to advance one national identity over the others in the states that comprise the region of post-Soviet Central Eurasia. In the second half, chapters analyse the many ways in which identity, once shaped, affected foreign policy behaviours of the regional states, as well as the overall security dynamics in the region. The book also looks at the ways in which identity, by doing so, enjoys an intricate, mutually constitutive relationship with the strategic context in which it bears its effects on the state and the region. Finally, given the special role Russia has historically played in defining the evolutionary trajectory of the regional states, the book discusses the ways in which Russia itself and its post-cold war policies towards its former colonies have been conditioned by factors associated with Russia's evolving post-Soviet identity. Placing the region firmly within existing theories of identity and state practices, the book will be of interest to students and scholars of Central Asian Politics, Security Studies, Foreign Policy and International Relations.

Spis treści

Introduction: Identity as a source and an output of foreign policy and regional security in post-Soviet Central Eurasia: Towards integrating nationalism scholarship into IR constructivism PART I: Nation-building and emerging identities in post-Soviet Central Eurasia 1. Threat perceptions of Islam in a post-communist secular context: Public policies towards Islamic finance in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan and the effects on nation-building 2. Language and sovereignty: A comparative analysis of language policy in Tatarstan and Kazakhstan, 1991-2010 3.Identity recovered vs. identity redefined: Three post-Soviet cases 4. Domesticating elite education: Raising patriots and educating Kazakhstan’s future PART II: From identity to foreign policy back to identity 5. Russian foreign policy toward Central Asia and the Caucasus since the end of the Cold War: A search for identity with geopolitical characteristics 6. International commitments to elections and election observation in the Caucasus and Central Asia: The interplay between political identity, foreign policy and regional affiliation 7.Identity and alignment in Central Eurasia 8.International cultural engagements and their domestic effects: Eurovision and nation-building in Azerbaijan