...Jamie Coomarasamy The essay summarizes a recent reporting trip by the author to Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan for the BBC, during which he examined the reasons for and observed the practical impact of China’s growing influence in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia. The author provides...

...Emilian Kavalski This essay examines the domestic logic informing the creation of Bulgaria's foreign policy. It contextualizes inferences made from Bulgaria's diplomatic attempt to “play the EU” during the visit by the Bulgarian minister of foreign affairs to Central Asia in September 2007...

... is a member of the editorial advisory board of Mediterranean Quarterly . The Crisis in Central Asia, NATO, and the International Community Alessandro Minuto-­Rizzo International security is a problem concerning everybody, in the same way that energy...

...Roland Flamini Alessandro Minuto-Rizzo: The Road to Kabul: The International Community and the Crisis in Central Asia (Italian). Bologna, Italy: Il mulino, 2009. 192 pages. €16.00. ISBN 978-88-15-12736-5. Ronald Flamini is a Washington-based writer specializing in foreign affairs. His most...

...Subodh Atal Mediterranean Affairs, Inc. 2003 Subodh Atal is a Washington, D.C.–based analyst, specializing in South and Central Asian Affairs. Central Asia Geopolitics and U.S. Policy in the Region: The Post–11 September Era Subodh Atal...

...Anthony N. Celso This essay studies the rise, decline, and rebirth of al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and its transformation into the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). It first examines AQI’s distinctive vision and its defiance of al Qaeda central. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s anti-Shiite jihadist...

...Gregory Hall; Tiara Grant Increasingly, Central Asia, and specifically the Caspian Sea Basin (CSB), is becoming a crowded place, as government officials and oil interests from European Union countries, the United States, Russia, China, Iran, Turkey, and elsewhere (including increasingly energy...

...” position in Serbia resigned themselves to the compromise. The central argument is that states seek to secure mobility not only for economic reasons but also to mark themselves as normal, respectable members of the international community. Serbia’s visa waiver decision provides a lens with which to view...

..., practically all of the visions, movements, and concrete institutional arrangements working toward European integration during this period placed Africa’s incorporation into the European enterprise as a central objective. As much of the scholarly, political, and journalistic accounts at the time testify...

... of al Qaeda activism that is likely to undermine its jihadist cause; (3) al Qaeda’s fragmentation and its multiple trajectories in the post-9/11 era violate bin Laden’s original intent and are beyond al Qaeda Central’s direction; and (4) the dysfunctional nature of al Qaeda’s ideology and its excessive...

...Spyridon N. Litsas Since 2010 Greece has been between a rock and a hard place. In particular, since May 2010 the so-called troika (European Commission, International Monetary Fund, and European Central Bank) has provided financial support to Greece through an economic adjustment program while...

... are suspicious of China’s strategic intentions and addressing China’s own knowledge and capacity deficits in dealing with the governmental and nongovernmental actors in the Central Asia, South Asia, and Middle East regions. Minghao Zhao is a research fellow at the Charhar Institute, a Chinese international...

... non-oil-producing states struggled to provide better living conditions to their populations. Meanwhile, the war in Syria continued, the Islamic State (ISIS) was extending its efforts to establish a caliphate, and a massive influx of refugees was reaching Central Europe seeking asylum. In this context...

... dependency on the central government and reluctance to protest and (2) the exigency to raise land-based demands beyond the confines of elections. Together these introduce URP residents as a new critical urban force in their respective democracies. Sultan Tepe is associate professor of political science...

... nexus of institutions and procedures. The central argument of this essay is that Washington's policy was formulated under various contradictory considerations. Cardinal among them was the necessity of preserving the basic requirements of the Bretton Woods regime. The stability of currency parities...

...Aeshna Badruzzaman; Matthew Cohen; Sidita Kushi The debate over the ban on women wearing headscarves in Turkey has served as a central symbol for Turkey's soul, torn between secular and religious identities. This essay explores the multifaceted narratives of Turkish secular and religious groups...

... Turkey's traditional one, Kemalism. It is argued that the AKP aims to replace Kemalism to reconstruct the imagined Turkish community anew. It is further argued that collective memory is central to AKP discourses and repertoires in the party's attempt to construct stabilized, sedimented, dominant...

... neighbors has become increasingly prominent. The central place of environmental projects in the Union for the Mediterranean, launched in July 2008, is the clearest indication of the growing place of the environment in Mediterranean cooperation. Growing public and political awareness of environmental...

... explores the role of institutional arrangements at the regional level in determining national adjustment. In the Basque Country the relative power and the particular interests of the regional state have been central factors in promoting distinctive patterns of coordination. At the same time, actors...

...Randall Newnham The question of how to deal with so-called rogue states, especially those trying to obtain weapons of mass destruction (WMD), is currently of central importance to the world. Advocates of military action, who predominated immediately after 9/11, have lost credibility in recent years...