Central Asia’s new ‘Great Game’

Central Asia, for over a century perceived as an arena of struggle between external powers, and during the Cold War confined within the structures of the USSR, is today increasingly formulating its own strategic agenda.

- Piotr Opalinski

The region’s states are pursuing multi-vector policies, balancing influence and developing a network of partnerships encompassing both global players - China, the US, Russia, India, and European Union — and regional actors such as Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, and the Gulf states.

The contemporary version of the ‘Great Game’ is not only a race for raw materials and trade routes, but also for technological, digital, and institutional dominance. Alternative models of cooperation and mechanisms based on competence, systemic resilience, and a lack of political conditionality are gaining importance. A region once considered peripheral is now emerging as an autonomous actor and a hub of the new Eurasian architecture. The involvement of key global and regional geopolitical actors in Central Asia is part of a broader process of transforming Eurasia into a polycentric space.