Title: New Great Game: Players, Interests, Strategies and Central Asia
Abstract: AbstractThe hinterland of Central Asia had been the centre stage of nineteenth century imperial rivalry between Britain and Russia. The centrality of Central Asia did not diminish even in the New Great Game, though changed its dimension. The disintegration of Soviet Union changed the geopolitical realities in the region as well as in the world politics as the five Central Asian states, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan emerged. The three factors accrued significance to the Central Asian states in the International Politics. First factor is the geographical location of the region. Its geographical location makes it the landlocked region with no access to the Oceans. Hence it needs well developed land routes to access other countries. The second factor is the closeness of the region to the important world powers such as Russia and China. These States are rich in energy resources such as natural gas and oil. These three factors play an important role in initiating the new phase of the Great Game in Central Asia. This research focused on the three dimensions of the New Great Game which are geo-economics, geopolitical and geostrategic with special reference of Central Asia. These three dimensions, according to this research, are interconnected and the development in one dimension affects the other. The major players of this New Great Game are Russia, China, United States, Iran, Turkey and Pakistan. These actors are pursuing their policies to achieve their objectives in the New Great Game. Regional actors such as Russia and China are trying to keep USA out of this region while USA aims to contain Russian and Chinese influence in the region. Another important aspect of the New Great Game is the pipeline politics. The involved stakeholders are trying to build the pipelines which fulfil their aims to dominate energy reserves of this region.Key words:IntroductionGeopolitics, as the word indicates, studies the relationship between the politics and the geographical location of a region or of a state and its effects on the behaviour in conducting the relations with other countries and directions it chooses to play its role in the world affairs. In geopolitics different factors such as economy, demography, technology and strategic options play their role in deciding state's behaviour in the world politics.The world has witnessed the new trends and patterns of geopolitical relations after the collapse of the bipolar system because century long system of two power blocks changed after the disintegration of the Soviet Union (Dhaka, 2005 & Dwivedi, 2006).Central Asia according to Mackinder's geopolitical theory is the Heartland of the world politics. It has been the chessboard of imperial rivalry existed between British and Russian empires caused by their expansionist polices. So there had been a competition between British and Tasrist Russia for influence over Central Asia owing to its location at crossroads of different civilizations and old silk route. The significance of this imperial rivalry was attributed by Mackinder's geopolitical analysisand named it as heartland. So whoso ever wanted to be an influential power player in terms of political dominance with economic fruition had to turn towards Mackinder conception of Heartland? (Fatima, 2012). The nineteenth and twentieth century imperial rivalry was ascribed as Great Game first by Rudyard Kipling then by Arthur Connally, an officer from the British East India Company. According to Hopkirk the Great Game involved three phases. The first one began with the expansion of the Russian Empire in the Caucasus and Central Asia in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, generating apprehensions in the East India Company, the defacto power in India. Fearing Russia's intentions, the company sent officers to explore the way, by land to the northern border of India. During the nineteenth century, the British govt sought to engage more intensely in Central Asian issues transforming the great game , until then , private in nature into an essential element of the defence of the empire as well as foreign and colonial policy. …
Publication Year: 2014
Publication Date: 2014-07-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 9
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