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Central Asia has long been a venue of contest among great powers. In the 19th century, the British and Russian empires vied for influence in the region, using both military power and diplomacy in what came to be called the Great Game. In the 20th century, Soviet control over most of the region assured that the United States, too, would take an interest in what happened there, although much of that focused on Afghanistan, with all the attendant tragedy for the Soviet Union and later the US — and for the people of Afghanistan.
But today, Central Asia is emerging in an altogether different light. To be sure, great-power interests continue to operate in the background, and sometimes in the foreground, as Russia’s longtime sphere of influence is increasingly transformed or displaced by growing Chinese influence, including through the Beijing-led Belt and Road Initiative. Turkey’s longtime links have also deepened and grown. Even US and European companies are now beginning to see the potential of investing in Central Asia.
But profound changes of another order are also taking place in the five Central Asian countries that obtained independence from the former Soviet Union — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. As the articles in the cover package of this issue of Global Asia illustrate, a sense of Central Asian identity is slowly emerging. With it is coming greater calls for regional co-operation and integration, and collective approaches to addressing common problems. With its rich natural resources, its relatively youthful population and its location at strategic crossroads between north and south and between east and west, Central Asia is collectively poised to become a new middle power in the region.

Global Asia Magazine Description:

Global Asia is a quarterly publication of the East Asia Foundation. The foundation, established in Seoul in January 2005, strives to promote peace, prosperity, security and sustainability in East Asia by creating an open and creative forum for the exchange of ideas on regional co-operation and integration, among other goals.
The mission we have set for ourselves with Global Asia is both bold and urgent: It is to provide a compelling, serious, and responsible forum for distinguished thinkers, policymakers, political leaders and business people to debate the most important issues in Asia today.
Global Asia is not a journal with a fixed point of view, or a particular agenda. Our aim is to give voice to the global dimension of what is happening in Asia. In our pages and on our web site, we aim for Asia to speak to the world, and the world to Asia. That is important at a time when this region is playing an ever greater role in world affairs.
There are other fine publications on international affairs. What sets us apart is our focus: Asia. We believe that the world is moving into “the Age of Asia,” to borrow a phrase from one of the articles in the inaugural issue of Global Asia in September 2006. This transformation is not going to occur overnight, but it has already begun.
The region’s dynamic economic growth, stable and accountable political systems, maturing democracies, and evolving sense of community are giving Asia greater weight in the world. These developments will have enormous implications for governments, businesses, societies and individuals across the globe. How that transformation is viewed, and shaped, from within Asia and how it is perceived outside Asia is an essential part of the story we have to tell.
The forces of globalization are having a profound impact throughout the world. And they are being influenced and channeled in different ways in different parts of the world. Ours is the story of Asia’s experience with globalization, and the ideas and debates influencing it. In pursuing our mission, we aim to play a part, however modest, in helping to shape the future of Asia.