New Eastern Europe 6/ 2017

Dear Reader, Central Asia is an ethnically, geographically and culturally diverse region, covering a similar land mass as the European Union. Yet, it remains one of the least familiar to the general public in the West. An important region in its own right, located in a volatile geopolitical area between Russia, China, Afghanistan and Iran, the five states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan rarely make headlines in the mainstream media. Owing to this neglect the region has fallen victim to orientalist clichés, presenting it as a spacious blank steppe dividing the big players or as a collection of post-Soviet artificial entities devoid of agency in international relations. In this issue we seek to confront that trend by showing Central Asian states as players in the international arena with diverse societies facing different internal and external dilemmas. While it is true that authoritarian tendencies, poor economic performance and Islam have been common features uniting the five states, the reality on the ground is much more complex. In the opening article, Filippo Costa Buranelli takes on the well-worn new Great Game narrative to show that the exhausted metaphor has been little more than a misused stereotype simplifying the regional dynamics in Central Asia. Analysing the region as a whole, Mariya Y. Omelicheva looks at the unique nation building experiences of Central Asian countries following the collapse of the Soviet Union and explains how the respective societies have built their understanding of democracy and its institutions. Taking a similar region-wide approach, Peter Leonard discusses the pressing issue of water scarcity in Central Asia engulfed by interstate animosities, competition and diplomatic frictions. We could not have overlooked the worrying authoritarian tendencies in the region. In his article about Turkmenistan, Christopher Schwartz anticipates a looming humanitarian catastrophe which may follow the current economic crises facing one of the world’s most repressive regimes. Anna Cieślewska explains how the increasingly authoritarian regime in Tajikistan is using anti-religion laws and rhetoric to tighten its control over the population. At the end of the issue, we have prepared a special section in memory of the 40th anniversary of Charter 77 – a human rights initiative by Czechoslovak opposition groups. In this section we look at the legacy of the endeavour for Polish-Czech relations as well as the characteristics of both societies across generations. Lastly, we encourage all of our readers to visit our new web site where print and online subscribers have access to all the material from this issue as well as our entire digital archive. We also would like to take this opportunity to wish you a happy and peaceful holiday season. The Editors