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DearReader,
CentralAsiaisanethnically,geographicallyandculturallydiverseregion,cover-
ingasimilarlandmassastheEuropeanUnion.Yet,itremainsoneoftheleastfa-
miliartothegeneralpublicintheWest.Animportantregioninitsownright,locat-
edinavolatilegeopoliticalareabetweenRussia,China,AfghanistanandIran,the
fvestatesofKazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan,Tajikistan,TurkmenistanandUzbekistanrare
-
lymakeheadlinesinthemainstreammedia.Owingtothisneglecttheregionhas
fallenvictimtoorientalistclichés,presentingitasaspaciousblanksteppedividing
thebigplayersorasacollectionofpost-Sovietartifcialentitiesdevoidofagency
ininternationalrelations.
InthisissueweseektoconfrontthattrendbyshowingCentralAsianstatesas
playersintheinternationalarenawithdiversesocietiesfacingdifferentinternaland
externaldilemmas.Whileitistruethatauthoritariantendencies,pooreconomic
performanceandIslamhavebeencommonfeaturesunitingthefvestates,the
realityonthegroundismuchmorecomplex.Intheopeningarticle,FilippoCosta
Buranellitakesonthewell-wornnewGreatGamenarrativetoshowthattheexhausted
metaphorhasbeenlittlemorethanamisusedstereotypesimplifyingtheregional
dynamicsinCentralAsia.Analysingtheregionasawhole,MariyaY
.Omelicheva
looksattheuniquenationbuildingexperiencesofCentralAsiancountriesfollowing
thecollapseoftheSovietUnionandexplainshowtherespectivesocietieshavebuilt
theirunderstandingofdemocracyanditsinstitutions.Takingasimilarregion-wide
approach,PeterLeonarddiscussesthepressingissueofwaterscarcityinCentral
Asiaengulfedbyinterstateanimosities,competitionanddiplomaticfrictions.
Wecouldnothaveoverlookedtheworryingauthoritariantendenciesinthere-
gion.InhisarticleaboutTurkmenistan,ChristopherSchwartzanticipatesalooming
humanitariancatastrophewhichmayfollowthecurrenteconomiccrisesfacing
oneoftheworld’smostrepressiveregimes.AnnaCieślewskaexplainshowthein-
creasinglyauthoritarianregimeinTajikistanisusinganti-religionlawsandrhetoric
totightenitscontroloverthepopulation.
Attheendoftheissue,wehavepreparedaspecialsectioninmemoryofthe
40thanniversaryofCharter77–ahumanrightsinitiativebyCzechoslovakopposi-
tiongroups.InthissectionwelookatthelegacyoftheendeavourforPolish-Czech
relationsaswellasthecharacteristicsofbothsocietiesacrossgenerations.
Lastly,weencourageallofourreaderstovisitournewwebsitewhereprintand
onlinesubscribershaveaccesstoallthematerialfromthisissueaswellasouren-
tiredigitalarchive.Wealsowouldliketotakethisopportunitytowishyouahappy
andpeacefulholidayseason.
TheEditors
