IRMO Brief 02/2023 - Rising Regionalism between the Eagle, the Bear and the Dragon: Central Asia in the Scope of Global Players

Central Asia is a vital region in global politics. Located at the crossroads between Europe and Asia, this part of the world has been a strategic and cultural center of influence for centuries. In the mirror of current geopolitical processes, Central Asia is of particular importance as a platform of interaction and projection for the global powers – China, the US and Russia. Although the EU is trying to act as a shaping actor in the region, it has so far been of secondary importance.

The reasons for this lie not least in the strengthening of the regional leading powers Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan through internal consolidation, partial transformation of the power elites and the search for new alliance constellations in foreign policy in view of the war in Ukraine. This occurs beyond Russian-dominated structures such as the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

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