OSCE Academy holds an Online Discussion on the Foreign Policies of Central Asian Countries

On 28 April 2023, the OSCE Academy hosted an online discussion on “Central Asia’s International Relations: Decision-Making Actors and Processes.” The workshop was organized by Dr. Shairbek Dzhuraev, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the OSCE Academy, within the Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme implemented in partnership with Volkswagen Foundation.

Dr. Indira Satarkulova, Acting Director of the OSCE Academy, opened the discussion by welcoming the participants and expressing the strong commitment of the OSCE Academy to supporting scholarly research and debate on Central Asia. Dr. Dzhuraev, the moderator of the event, introduced the workshop’s theme, highlighting the growing need to “unbracket” Central Asian states and their external partners as foreign policy actors.

The workshop covered individual Central Asian states and their external partners, with speakers shedding light on the actors and factors that shape policy processes and decisions. In the first session, speakers discussed the defining characteristics of foreign policy decision-making in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. The second session examined key decision-making actors shaping Central Asia policies of the region’s most significant external partners: the EU, China, Russia, and the US.

The speakers included Dr. Nurseit Niyazbekov from KIMEP University in Almaty, Dr. Farkhod Tolipov from Bilim Karvoni in Tashkent, Dr. Karolina Kluczewska from the University of Ghent in Belgium, and Dr. Emil Dzhuraev from the OSCE Academy in Bishkek. In the second session, the speakers were Dr. Paul Stronski from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Dr. Aijan Sharshenova from the OSCE Academy in Bishkek, Mr. Vito Acosta from Crossroads Central Asia, and Mr. Jos Boonstra from EUCAM at the Centre for European Security Studies.

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