Central Asian Women as Agents of Political Violence in the Islamic State

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatyana Dronzina ◽  
Ilya Roubanis

The investigation, charge, prosecution, and rehabilitation of female terrorists is a controversial subject because patriarchal values widely drive the context of jihadi violence. Thousands of women made their way from over 80 countries worldwide to the Islamic State realms in Syria and Iraq, with Central Asia accounting for 20 per cent of this migration. As the forces of ISIS were retreating – and even before – Central Asian countries were keen to repatriate women and children from Syria and Iraq. In contrast to Western Europe, public opinion was supportive of these humanitarian operations. This study is informed by the debriefing of approximately fifty of these women, in a context in which they have already faced the legal repercussions for “joining” the ranks of ISIS. The women interviewed hail from Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan; it is clear women left an overwhelmingly patriarchal context to find a dehumanisingly misogynistic jihadi society. Their agency as second-class ISIS “citizens” needs to be systematically explored to inform effective counterterrorism strategy, be it profiling, legislation, preemptive intervention and rehabilitation policies.

Subject Central Asian policies on repatriating nationals associated with Middle East insurgency. Significance Central Asian governments' concerns about radicalisation among Muslim-majority populations were amplified when hundreds of nationals went to Syria and Iraq in 2014-15 to join Islamic State (IS) and other jihadist groups. They are prioritising the repatriation of women and children, in contrast to European governments' reluctance to approve blanket returns. Impacts The security drive against local extremists will be sustained across Central Asia. Policies towards returning women will not be affected by IS-attributed attacks unless a direct link is made. In Russia, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov is leading on repatriation efforts focused on children.


Author(s):  
Boris G. Koybaev

Central Asia in recent history is a vast region with five Muslim States-new actors in modern international relations. The countries of Central Asia, having become sovereign States, at the turn of the XX–XXI centuries are trying to peaceful interaction not only with their underdeveloped neighbors, but also with the far-off prosperous West. At the same time, the United States and Western European countries, in their centrosilic ambitions, seek to increase their military and political presence in Central Asia and use the military bases of the region’s States as a springboard for supplying their troops during anti-terrorist and other operations. With the active support of the West, the Central Asian States were accepted as members of the United Nations. For monitoring and exerting diplomatic influence on the regional environment, the administration of the President of the Russian Federation H. W. Bush established U.S. embassies in all Central Asian States. Turkey, a NATO member and secular Islamic state, was used as a lever of indirect Western influence over Central Asian governments, and its model of successful development was presented as an example to follow.


2020 ◽  
pp. 72-79
Author(s):  
S. Gavrilova

For several decades, the European Union has been steadily increasing its presence in Central Asian countries. The EU's interests in the region are due to a number of reasons, including the desire to expand its influence in the Central Asian countries, the high importance of the region as a transit corridor between Europe and China, the prospects for economic cooperation, and the importance of the region's energy potential. In May 2019 The European Union has presented a new Strategy for Central Asia, designed to intensify cooperation in a number of areas of interaction. The new strategy is aimed at both implementing these interests and expanding cooperation in a number of other areas.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 110-121
Author(s):  
Karlygash MUKHTAROVA ◽  
Yermukhambet KONUSPAYEV ◽  
Klara MAKASHEVA ◽  
Karim SHAKIROV

Improving the forms and mechanisms of regional economic integration, deepening the mutual understanding on the formation of an economically and politically secure integrated space, expanding trade and economic relations, elaborating joint actions to maintain regional peace and stability, creating a single information space are among the key areas that have become the basis of cooperation among the Central Asian region (CAR) states. The authors reveal the positive aspects of cooperation among the CAR countries—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan. First and foremost, these include common historical roots, linguistic and cultural similarity, convenient geographical location and established economic ties, which allow the states of Central Asia (CA) to establish a deeper and more active understanding of each other, to solve economic and political problems related to finding and realizing domestic investment potential and expanding regional trade and economic ties. The joint establishment of international transport corridors and infrastructure will help reduce the transport costs for Central Asian countries that supply export products to external markets, which is an important area of ​​cooperation in Central Asia. In addition, the economic problems that exist among the regional countries largely determine the nature of relations between them. Future solution of problems determines the subsequent viability of the Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) and the regional development prospects. Based on the use of economic research tools, the authors examine the problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and their impact on the state of trade and economic relations between the regional states. Post-crisis plans for economic recovery in the Central Asian countries will be developed and implemented in the context of the need to solve the present-day problems associated with the gradual lifting of quarantine measures. In this regard, the quickest possible transition of economies to an upward growth trajectory should launch the expansion of trade and economic cooperation and ties among the Central Asian countries. The authors emphasize the fact that another important problem within CAREC is the fact that CAR economies are dominated by raw materials, which does not solve the problems of reducing social inequality and improving the welfare of the regional population. For this reason, Kazakhstan, like other Central Asian countries, is currently in search of a new economic model. The transformation is crucial because the country needs to overcome its excessive long-term dependence on the export of oil and raw materials. The new economic model should be focused on further industrialization and diversification of the economy, on the search for new innovative approaches and development strategies.


2021 ◽  
pp. 48-52
Author(s):  
M. M. Butakova ◽  
O. N. Sokolova

The article is devoted to researching and assessing the state of affairs, identifying problems and prospects for Russia’s presence in the markets of Central Asian countries. The relevance of the problem is connected with the goals of maintaining the export positions of the Russian Federation in this market and with the goals of increasing the volume of non-resource non-energy exports. The authors investigated the dynamics and structure of world and Russian exports to the countries of Central Asia, highlighted the dominant commodity groups of Russian exports for each importing country. As a result of the study of the territorial aspect and the related specifics of trade and economic relations, it was concluded that a deeper study of export opportunities and prospects of Russian regions bordering on countries-importers of Russian products in Central Asia was made. The article outlines the problems of increasing competition in the markets of Central Asia and the negative impact on the prospects of Russian exports of falling incomes of the population and reducing market capacity due to the pandemic, the need to take a set of measures to maintain Russia’s competitive position in this market. As a result the studies of the problems of the development of Russian exports the authors came to the conclusion that it is mutually beneficial and promising, to increase the supply Russian products to the countries of Central Asia the need to find ways to increase its efficiency, and strengthen state support for non-resource non-energy exports.


2020 ◽  
pp. 51-60
Author(s):  
Ekaterina Borisova ◽  

The development of international trade implies the use of the territory of Central Asia as a transit zone, through which the routes China–Europe, China – the middle East should be laid. The existing communication capabilities are not enough, so new directions are being developed (Railways “China–Kazakhstan – Turkmenistan–Iran”, “Turkmenistan– Afghanistan–Tajikistan”, ”China–Kyrgyzstan–Uzbekistan”; multimodal transit corridors” Lazurit”,” TRANS – Caspian international transport route”; such highways as “Western China– Western Europe”). However, paved roads, both rail and road, do not always meet expectations in terms of the volume of cargo passing through them (projects “China – Kazakhstan – Turkmenistan – Iran” and the Lapis lazuli corridor). Their loading is delayed “until better times” either due to the unstable political background, or due to the lack of necessary commodity flows in both directions. In some cases, there is a lack of political will to make appropriate decisions. Finished projects are unprofitable. None of the international transit projects announced or even completed over the past 20 years through the Central Asian republics has been fully operational. Meanwhile, international transit allows not only to fill the state budget, but also to solve issues of internal connectivity of territories. This task is most relevant today for Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, which have become hostages of their own geography, with localities separated by impassable mountain ranges.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (9) ◽  
pp. 250-253
Author(s):  
A.A.Erkuziev

Central Asia has played an important role in the political, economic and cultural relations of different nations and countries since ancient times as one of the centers of the world civilization. The Great Silk Road, which passed through this region, brought together the countries on the trade routes, the peoples living in them, and served to spread information about their traditions, lifestyles, location, historical events. These data, in turn, brought different peoples closer and served as the basis for the establishment of mutual economic and cultural relationships between them. One of the important scientific issues here is the study of the spread of information about the Central Asian region, where most of the Great Silk Road passed, to Western Europe through other countries.


Author(s):  
A. S. Yufereva ◽  
◽  
Iu. S. Kukharenko ◽  

This article provides a systematization and specification of the established communication technologies used by Yekaterinburg universities, public and state institutions in order to adapt students to the academic and cultural environment. The study involved a group of methods, as a result of which the features of the use of communication technologies by universities, public and social institutions when interacting with students from Central Asian countries, as well as their subsequent adaptation to the educational, social, and cultural environment in general, were revealed.


2021 ◽  

On the 30th anniversary of the dissolution of the USSR, this book collects selected contributions which analyse patterns of stability and transformation that characterise the politics and societies of three Central Asian countries—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan—along with those of Central Asia as a region. In particular, this edited volume investigates gender equality discourses in Uzbekistan, the electoral rights of people with disabilities in Kyrgyzstan, neo-realism in the regional context of Central Asia, the role of Islam in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan as a provider of international security as well as the EU’s support of civil society and social capital in Kazakhstan. With contributions by Nora Becker, Dr. Shalva Dzebisashvili, Aziz Elmuradov, Prof. Dr. Matthias Kortmann, Dr. Aliia Maralbaeva, Laura Karoline Nette, Dr. Chiara Pierobon and Dr. Steve Schlegel.


Author(s):  
Paulo Afonso Brardo Duarte

Central Asia has gained extraordinary importance in recent years in the framework of global energy security. China is the most significant example of a power that looks to its periphery as a viable option for energy supply. In Central Asia, Chinese companies are dynamic players having even broken the long Soviet and Russian monopoly over regional pipelines. This chapter examines the importance of the region within China's energy security, while not overlooking the potential contribution of the China-Pakistan economic corridor in the energy transit. In addition, Central Asia is likely to help China reduce the energy deficit in Xinjiang, through the import of hydroelectricity generated in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Although Central Asia's contribution to global energy security is low, it matters in a context of energy diversification, in which China's One Belt One Road brought a more promising dynamics to the cooperation between Beijing and Central Asian countries.


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