Undermining Hegemony? Building a Framework for Goods Substitution
The logics that we have outlined may, indeed, be applicable to a wide array of international actors and organizations that are aspiring to play public goods substitution roles. Likewise, they are applicable to a number of actors seeking alternative access to public goods. For example, supply and demand factors may help explain both the growing pains and potential power of the BRICS and recast debates about the role of alternative lenders in the developing world. Ultimately, our project is an appeal to think more precisely about the components of hegemonic order and the more hidden mechanisms that may contribute to its transformation or, in certain cases, enduring resilience.
Russia and China in Central Asia
Over the last three years, Russia and China have increased their engagement in Central Asia in response to NATO’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. Moscow has deepened its security cooperation with the Central Asian states with a new strategic purpose– guarding against instability spilling over from northern Afghanistan– and has promoted the expansion of the Eurasian Economic Union. China also has dramatically accelerated its economic activities in the region by announcing the One Belt One Route (OBOR) initiative, an ambitious project to upgrade regional infrastructure and connect China to Europe and the Middle East. Although both Beijing and Moscow claim to be regional partners and not rivals, since the Ukraine crisis Russia has been forced to accept China’s terms of cooperation in order to signal that it has non-Western partners and opportunities.
Societal inclusion in expert venues: Participation of interest groups and business in the european commission expert groups
Erika Fatland: Sovjetistan
En diskusjon som lenge har pågått i forskningen på postsovjetisk Sentral-Asia er hvor mye mening det gir å avgrense det som et eget forskningsfelt. Hvor like er egentlig Kasakhstan, Kirgisistan, Tadsjikistan, Turkmenistan og Usbekistan, og bør man inkludere Afghanistan i regionsdefinisjonen? Den samme ambivalensen gjenspeiles i måten styresmaktene snakker om seg selv på. Forsøkene på regionalt samarbeid – ofte initiert av eksterne aktører – har som regel feilet på grunn av en blanding av manglende tillit og manglende vilje til å gi avkall på kontroll over interne affærer vis-a-vis sine naboland. Dyrkingen av den nasjonale identiteten har vært i sentrum siden uavhengigheten, blant annet i forsøk på å integrere de mange subnasjonale identitetene. Det er ikke ofte man møter på folk i disse landene som ser seg selv som en del av et større sentralasiatisk felleskap: de mange andre identitetsmarkørene er langt viktigere.