The European Union and Central Asia

ISBN-13: 9780415562362 / Angielski / Twarda / 2010 / 224 str.

Jenniver Sehring;Alexander Warkotsch

Opis

In June 2007, the Council of the European Union (EU) adopted The EU in Central Asia: Strategy for a New Partnership, highlighting the growing importance of Central Asia to the EU. This book examines the EU's policy towards the five Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in light of this Strategy. The analysis focuses on the EU's Central Asia Strategy and provides an evaluation of the EU's performance in meeting its policy goals in the region. It starts by looking at the EU as an actor, and discusses the general framework of EU-Central Asia cooperation. The book goes on to focus on the Strategy's general strategic directions and, in particular, its set of concrete policy commitments and questions whether these are adequately designed and implemented so they are able to contribute to regional security and stability. The book contributes to a better understanding for the pitfalls of overall stability in Central Asia, as well as studies on European Union and International relations.

This book examines the European Union’s policy towards the five Central Asian states, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The growing importance of Central Asia to the EU has been expressed by an increase in EU’s regional resource allocation and the formal specification of areas of co-operation between the EU and Central Asia, including human rights, trade, education, environmental issues and energy.

The analysis focuses on the EU’s Central Asia strategy and provides an evaluation of the EU’s performance in meeting its policy goals in the region. In particular, the book identifies and assesses European interests in the region and introduces the EU’s set of instruments for safeguarding them. Against a set of performance indicators, the book examines the extent to which these interests have been achieved or are likely to be achieved in the short-and medium term. Furthermore, the book assesses the international environment in which the EU conducts its policy in Central Asia and identifies obstacles to and opportunities for the advancing of own interests through the presence of other international actors, such as , Russia, China, OSCE, and the United Nations, in the region. More generally, in providing substantial analysis of the fields in which the EU currently strengthens its engagement, the book contributes to a better understanding for the pitfalls of overall stability in Central Asia.

Recenzje

"The publication can be considered a significant contribution to the discussion on the issue of the European Union and Central Asia. It also provides us with a significant amount of important information on the efficiency of the European Union's strategies, and not only in this region. The publication brings a very useful and competent analysis of the Strategy after three years." - Peter Plenta, Department of Political Science, Comenius University in Bratislava; International Issues & Slovak Foreign Policy Affairs, Vol. XX, No. 3 | 2011

Spis treści

1. Introduction Alexander Warkotsch  Part 1: The Tool-Kit and Framework of EU-Central Asian Cooperation  2. The EU Central Asia Strategy: An Exercise in EU Foreign Policy Andrea Schmitz 3. The tool-kit of EU-Central Asian Cooperation Sigita Urdze  4. EU Member-States in Central Asia Jackie Gower  5. EU-Central Asian Bilateral Cooperation Nargis Kassenova  6. The EU and Central Asian Geopolitics Alexander Warkotsch  Part 2: Fields of Cooperation  7. Security Assistance and Border Management Katarzyna Czerniecka and John Heathershaw  8. Human Rights, Democratization, and Good Governance Alexander Warkotsch  9. Youth and Education Martha C. Merrill and Askat Dukenbaev  10. Economic Development and Trade Richard Pomfret  11. Energy Cooperation: The Southern Gas Transport Corridor Roland Gotz  12. Water and Environmental Sustainability Lena Partzsch  13. The Dialogue of Civilizations, Inter-Cultural Dialogue or Engaging 'Islam' in Central Asia Tim Epkenhans

O autorze

Alexander Warkotsch is an Associate Researcher at Würzburg University, Germany. He was a DAAD research fellow at the University of Western Australia and a Lecturer in European Studies at King’s College London, UK. He has published widely on European politics in Central Asia.