Heather Shaw Megoran - Contesting Danger

8/6/2019 Heather Shaw Megoran - Contesting Danger

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Contesting danger: a new agenda

for policy and scholarship on Central Asia

JOHN HEATHERSHAW AND NICK MEGORAN*

International Aairs87:3 (2011) 589612 2011 The Author(s). International Afairs 2011 The Royal Institute o International Afairs. Published by Blackwell PublishingLt, 9600 Garsingtn Ra, Or ox4 2dq, UK an 350 Main Street, Malen, MA 02148, USA.

It is the receive wism plicy, jurnalistic an entertainment cmmunities,as well as much the acaemic wrl area stuies, that Central Asia is a surce

an site particular angers. As a cnseuence this wiesprea belie amngpinin-rmers, Central Asia has becme embee in western public cnscius-nesses, particularly in English-speaking cuntries, as a place great insecurity,terrrism an Islamism, where vilent plitical cnict is ever reay t erupt.Hwever, ur research an eperience living in the pst-Sviet parts CentralAsia has le us t rather ierent cnclusins. Inee a cnsierable amunt elwrk an several interpretative stuies cnucte in an n Central Asia inrecent years paint a mre cmplicate picture anger an its varius live reali-ties in the regin. This article thus cntens that it is time the precnceptins anversights this iscurse anger were epse.

The uestin we aress in this article is: Hw, why, an t what eect is

Central Asia imagine in ppular, schlarly an cial cntets as a particularlcus anger? Our answer ienties an eplres a iscurse anger thatmakes the regin knwable t western publics, acaemic cmmunities an cials.We cnten that the cntents much internatinal plicy an practice, news ancurrent aairs writing, cumentaries an lms, an even acaemic stuies security, cnict an internatinal aairs in Central Asia are nt the results animpartial search r the acts. Rather, their claims an cntentins are erive inaccrance with a precnceive an sel-reerential iscurse anger whichienties threats t us while ignring insecurity as it is eperience by CentralAsian cmmunities.

This article eplres the way in which Central Asia is written int glbal spaceas the bject multiple an intersecting rmal, practical an ppular gep-litical iscurses which imagine an inscribe it as a particular lcus anger.The task such geplitical analysis is imprtant r tw reasns. First, althughthese links are prly unerst, the way that pepleembee in rganiza-tinal structures an as iniviualsthink abut certain places aects the way

* The authrs wul like t thank James Niey an Annette Bhr r inviting us t present a versin thisarticle at a stimulating Chatham Huse seminar, an Maeleine Reeves, Davi Lewis, Daniel Neep an DaviMntgmery r their helpul cmments. Frerunners were presente in Gergetwn (Washingtn DC),Durham, Eeter, an the Schl Oriental an Arican Stuies (Lnn).


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John Heathershaw and Nick Megoran

590International Aairs 87: 3, 2011Cpyright 2011 The Author(s). International Afairs 2011 The Royal Institute o International Afairs.

they act twars them. Thus the iscursive envirnment shapes plicy-makingan plitical chices twars an within the regin, s that the western iscurse anger itsel enangers Central Asia. Secn, this assumptin anger has

prun implicatins r the kins acaemic research that get une anpublishe. The stuy Central Asia is, t sme egree, being shape by assump-tins anger an the simplistic analysis that ten masueraes as the evientialbasis r these assumptins.

The article presents a challenge t this western geplitical visin CentralAsia. It is als a call t ur clleagues in Central Asian stuies t challenge theunstate assumptins, istrtins an versights much security an cnictanalysis n the regin. It prcees in ur parts. First, we intruce the thereticallens thrugh which we view this ebate, critical geplitics, an utline the ebaten anger in Central Asia. We ientiy three imensins enangerment, threecharacteristics attribute t Central Asia in geplitical iscurse: Central Asia asobscure, orientalanractious. In the secn part we rst cnsier hw the ppularUS TV rama abut presiential plitics, The West Wing, characterizes the reginas obscure. In the thir, we eamine hw Washingtns reign plicy iscursescripts the regin as oriental. In the urth, we eplre hw acaemic, evelp-ment, cinematic an televisual iscurses cnceive Central Asia asractious uet the putatively inherent nature its ethnic an plitical gegraphy. Finally, wetest the thesis by asking whether it is isprve by the Osh catastrphe 2010, anby shwing hw the iscurse anger rames plicies an practices cnictreslutin an internatinal ai that themselves enanger the regin. We cnclueby highlighting the iscursive ecnmy anger that has emerge an hw it

can be cnteste by plicy-makers, jurnalists an acaemics wh are attentivet alternative lcal narratives anger an the wier glbal ecnmic prcesseswhich are transrming sciety an ecnmy in Central Asia.

Endangering space

Geplitics is the stuy hw The wrl is actively spatialise, ivie up,labelle, srte ut int a hierarchy places greater r lesser imprtance byplitical gegraphers, ther acaemics an plitical leaers.1 Classical geopoliticsassumes that the physical gegraphy the wrl signicantly etermines thecurse human histry.2 The traine epert can uncver this ramewrk withinwhich internatinal relatins ccur, an thus cme t unerstan the angerspse t his r her state an avise n actins t cunter them. Critical geopolitics,n the ther han, enaturalizes the glbal rer by prtraying it as scially anhistrically cnstructe.3 It es this thrugh an eaminatin the gegraph-ical assumptins, esignatins, an unerstanings that enter int the making

1 Jhn Agnew, Geopolitics: re-visioning world politics (Lnn: Rutlege, 2003).2 Mark Plelle, Raising cartographic consciousness: the social and oreign policy vision o geopolitics in the twentieth century

(Or: Leingtn, 1999).3 E. Jerey Ppke, Recasting geplitics: the iscursive scripting the Internatinal Mnetary Fun, Political

Geography 13: 3, 1994, pp. 25569 at p. 255.


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A new agenda or policy and scholarship on Central Asia


wrl plitics,4 eplring hw escriptins places an peple are stitchetgether t narrate an eplain events.5 It es nt eny that the wrl is aangerus place r many peple, but emphasizes the enuiry int hw, why an

with what eects certain places becme unerst as angerus.Critical geplitics cntens that geplitics is mre than the rmal writings acaemic geplitical eperts, encmpassing the practical gepliticaliscurses bies such as reign plicy think-tanks an gvernment bureau-cracies, an the ppular geplitical ieas encuntere in the mass meia, lms,nvels, televisin cumentaries an the like. As Tuathail an Dalby cnten,in tracing ut this threel scheme, Geplitics saturates the everyay lie natins.6 It is nt simply that ppular an practical geplitical representatinssupplement the rmal scripts plitical gegraphers an internatinal relatinsschlars but that there is cnsierable verlap an interplay between these threemes iscurse. Critical geplitical analysis therere eplres the pruc-tin, istributin an cnsumptin unerstanings an representatins anger within an between these sites. In this article we use this apprach teplre the way in which Central Asia is written int glbal space as the bject multiple an intersecting rmal, practical an ppular geplitical iscurseswhich imagine an inscribe it as a particular lcus anger.

Debating danger in Central Asia

Althugh this article cuses n recent geplitical imaginatins, we cntenthat anger has lng been ne the pre-eminent lenses thrugh which Central

Asia has been mae knwable t Eurpeans an Nrth Americans. An unknwnan unaligne Central Asia was seen as a ptential anger t epaning Britishan Russian imperial pwer in the nineteenth century, cnguring what iscmmnly terme the Great Game: a cmple cmpetitin r knwlegeabut an inuence ver the regin.7 Danger i nt subsie with cnuest.Mrrisn argues that the victrius tsarist Russians plicies twars their newlyacuire territries in Central Asia were inuence by an eaggerate rea a Muslim revlt.8 The iea that Central Asia presente an enuring anger tMscw was repeate in minant western literatures n the regin uring theCl War. Schlars un in latent Turkic natinal prie the rmest an surest

reuge against Sviet attempts t remake the regin.9

Because Sviet Central4 Agnew, Geopolitics, p. 5.5 Klaus Ds, Geplitics in the Freign Oce: British representatins Argentina 19451961, Transactions

o the Institute o British Geographers 19: 3, 1994, pp. 27390 at p. 276.6 Geari Tuathail an Simn Dalby, Intructin: rethinking geplitics: twars a critical geplitics,

in Geari Tuathail an Simn Dalby, es, Rethinking geopolitics (Lnn: Rutlege, 1998), p. 5.7 Peter Hpkirk, The Great Game: the struggle or empire in Central Asia (Or: Or University Press, 1990);

Rbert Jhnsn, Spying or empire: the Great Game in Central and south Asia, 17571947 (Lnn: Greenhill, 2006).8 Aleaner Mrrisn, Russian rule in Samarkand, 18681910: a comparison with British India (Or: Or

University Press, 2008), p. 87.9 Gavin Hambly, with Aleanre Bennigsen, Davi Bivar, Hlne Carrre Encausse, Mahin Hajianpur,

Alastair Lamb, Chantal Lemercier-Queluejay an Richar Pierce, Central Asia (Lnn: Weienel &Niclsn, 1969), pp. 2412.


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Asiaeperience the aile transrmatin,10 the regin maintaine an inherentantagnism t Mscw an pse an Islamic threat t the Sviet state.11

With the cllapse the USSR, western Cl War Svietlgical knwlege

Central Asia was supersee by 1990s transitlgy. Ntwithstaning theaile transrmatin the Sviet peri, this paraigm assume that the newlyinepenent Central Asian republics were making a transitin t western-styleemcratic market capitalism. It was nnetheless haunte by the ear that thisnrmative shit t the western mel was enangere. Fuller, r eample, wrtethat the US was cncerne that the regin might becme the breeing grun civil war, nuclear prlieratin, raical Islamic mvements, a battlegrunr Asian geplitics, an eclgical wastelan, an ecnmic basket case, r thetarget a resurgent Russian imperial visin.12 The ethnic vilence in the reginuring the late Sviet peri an the Tajik civil war seeme t cnrm these earsan le t analysis the regin within a cnict preventin an peacebuilingramewrk, as epitmize by the Center r Preventive Actin (CPA) stuy rthe Cuncil n Freign Relatins, Calming the Ferghana Valley.13 Thus, althughplitical cntrl the regin has shite, it has been cnsistently written intwestern geplitical imaginatins as a place anger.

The challenge t the reaing Central Asias cnict ptential that we willetail belw was begun by schlars wh have engage seriusly with criticalstuies internatinal relatins an geplitics. Builing n pineering wrkby Bichel,14 in a 2000 review essay n Calming the Ferghana Valley Megran criti-cize the CPA prject r its supercial analysis an methlgical eciencies.15Other schlars, many rawing rm the same theretical stream, jine the ebate.

Trjesen an MacFarlanes stuy small arms in Kyrgyzstan uestine theuning assumptin that small arms prlieratin was a challenge r Central Asia,giving empirical evience inicating ppular ppsitin t the isplay an use small arms an highlighting the lack evience r signicant levels track-ing.16 A mre cmprehensive reappraisal cnict preventin an peacebuilingwrk in the regin subseuently came in Heathershaw an Trjesens special issue Central Asian Survey, Discurses anger in Central Asia.17 Cntributrshighlighte the lack empirical evience r claims mae abut anger by variusreginal an internatinal peacebuilers an cnict preventers. In respnse, they

10 William Fierman, e., Soviet Central Asia: the ailed transormation (Buler, CO: Westview, 1991).

11 Aleanre Bennigsen an Marie Brup, The Islamic threat to the Soviet state (Lnn: Crm Helm, 1983).12 Graham Fuller, Central Asia: the uest r ientity, Current History 93: 582, 1994, pp. 1459 at p. 149.13 Barnett Rubin an Nancy Lubin, Calming the Ferghana Valley: development and dialogue in the heart o Central Asia ,

reprt the Ferghana Valley Wrking Grup the Centre r Preventive Actin (New Yrk: CenturyFunatin, 1999).

14 Anthny Bichel, Cntening theries Central Asia: the virtual realities realism, critical IR an theinternet, PhD iss., University Hawaii, 1997.

15 Nick Megran, Calming the Ferghana Valley eperts: a review essay Calming the Ferghana Valley: developmentand dialogue in the heart o Central Asia, by Nancy Lubin, Barnett Rubin an the Centre r Preventive Actin,New Yrk: The Century Funatin Press, 1999, Central Asia Monitor2000: 5, 2000, pp. 2025.

16 Stina Trjesen an S. Neil MacFarlane, Kyrgyzstan: a small arms anomaly in Central Asia? Small Arms Surveyccasinal paper (Geneva: Small Arms Survey, 2004).

17 Jhn Heathershaw an Stina Trjesen, es, Discurses anger in Central Asia, Central Asian Survey 24: 1,2005, pp. 196.


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intruce evience the cping mechanisms an scial sliarities stere byseasnal labur migratin,18 the cnict aviance tactics such as gener masksuse by rinary peple,19 an the cntrl mechanisms ten use successully

by regimes, r eample t limit the availability small arms.20

Danger, theyargue, is iscursively cnstructe. Subseuent research mngraphs by Bichselan Heathershaw have eplre in mre etail hw anger is cnstructe anmaintaine in western geplitical iscurses an practices.21 These cnstructins anger have inavertent eects in practice an, mrever, stan in markecntrast t Central Asian citizens eperiences insecurity.

In 2007 this challenge receive a respnse rm the cnict preventin cmmu-nity in a special issue Communism and Post-Communism, Cnicts in CentralAsia, eite by Sanle an Krstelina Gerge Masn University. The issueinclue a number stuies rm a cnict analysis perspective that eplre theptential r vilence in the regin. Krstelina, r eample, prvie a balancean etremely wie-ranging analysis cnict ptential in Tajikistan, arguingthat the cllectivist culture Tajikistan is mre prne t ientity cnict whilethe lw level intergrup prejuice reuces the pssibility tensins.22 Thesegeneral cnclusins appear reasnable, but they remain base n an unremit-tingly bra an schematize cnceptual ramewrk while prviing nly verygeneral an incnclusive evience r cnict ptential.23 Nevertheless, in thecnclusin t the issue Sanle states that the cllectin papers reasserts thereal prblems an realities n the grun Central Asia.24 T that etent,he argues, they have succeee in cuntering the iscurse anger while,at the same time, pinting t areas cncern that shul be aresse by appr-

priate actrs within the ve scieties cncerne, the immeiate neighburhas well as by the cncerne internatinal cmmunity.25 His analysis prviesa particular an eterminist reaing cnict rmatin where pr eucatinprmpts migratin which in turn generates amily an scial breakwn.26 Asa cnseuence, in Sanles accunt, migrants swell the ranks uncialplitical Islam t rebel against retrenche authritarian regimes, thus having animpact n ecisins mae in the internatinal Great Game ver Central Asiawhich serve t urther eacerbate this rebellin an cnict. Islamic unamen-talism is preictably picke ut as the primary cause instability.27

18 Saat Olimva an Igr Bsc, Labour migration rom Tajikistan (Dushanbe: Internatinal Organizatin r

Migratin/Shar Scientic Research Center, 2003).19 Clette Harris, Control and subversion: gender relations in Tajikistan (Lnn: Plut, 2004).20 Trjesen an MacFarlane, Kyrgyzstan; Jhn Heathershaw, The para peacebuiling: peril, prmise an

small arms in Tajikistan, Central Asian Survey 24: 1, 2005, pp. 2138.21 Christine Bichsel, Conict transormation in Central Asia (Lnn: Rutlege, 2009); Jhn Heathershaw, Post-

conict Tajikistan: the politics o peacebuilding and the emergence o legitimate order (Lnn: Rutlege, 2009).22 K. Krstelina, The system scial ienticatin in Tajikistan: early warning an cnict preventin,

Communist and Post-Communist Studies 40: 2, 2007, p. 235.23 Krstelina, The system scial ienticatin, pp. 226, 236.24 Denis Sanle, Central Asia: managing the elicate balance between the iscurse anger, the Great

Game an reginal prblem slving, Communist and Post-Communist Studies 40: 2, 2007, pp. 25767.25 Sanle, Central Asia, pp. 26061.26 Sanle, Central Asia, pp. 25960.27 Sanle, Central Asia, pp. 260, 264.


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The weakness Sanles accunt lies in his ailure t acknwlege the rle interpretatin (an, within that, preilectins an presuppsitins), whichiners cnict ptential rm Central Asias prblems. This is nt t say that

Central Asia es nt ace iculties an insecurities; hwever, prtagnists the discourse o danger erive their claims an cntentins in accrance witha precnceive an sel-reerential iscurse anger that ienties threats twesterners while ailing t appreciate the insecurities that are elt an eperi-ence by Central Asians.28 The latter may relate less t the prblems ientieby the iscurse anger than t the structural vilence generate by capitalistrestructuring an natinalist bunary-making.29 Mrever, religius etremism(incluing Islamism), rganize crime, illicit tracking an hme-grwn terrristplts are aspects scial lie nt nly in Central Asia but in mst parts thewrl, incluing western states. The issue is the scial an plitical signicance these activitiesthat is, hw they are practise an institutinalize in ailylie, hw they are cntrlle r cpte by the state, an t what etent theyment cnict r cperatin in sciety. The eterministic reaing prere bySanle, in which unerevelpment naturally leas t cnict, is nt justieby the evience an serves t muy the waters urther. Other analysts empha-size the relative weakness Islamism in a regin that remains a relatively barrengrun r religius etremism an the relative lack cnict between greatpwers in the s-calle New Great Game.30

It is, then, a pre-eisting geplitical iscurse anger that prvies theprimary basis r Sanles arguments. We turn nw t utline the three imen-sins this iscurse.

Obscuring space: the erasure o Central Asia in The West Wing

Obscure1 ark, im, glmy, ismal;2 nt clear r plain t the min; vague, uncertain; nt easily unerst; nt clearlyepresse.31

The rst eature the western geplitical gaze that we ientiy is that thebscure. Our use this marker nees sme claricatin. Here we use bscurityas a (negative) eature which is ascribe t Central Asia in ppular an practicaliscurses where the near ttal knwlege the limits an characteristics spaceis assume t be bth attainable an esirable. That Central Asia, accring tsuch analysis, is particularly istant, inaccessible an unintelligible itsel presentsa anger that must be guare against.

28 Heathershaw an Trjesen, Discurses anger.29 Nick Megran, The critical geplitics the UzbekistanKyrgyzstan Ferghana Valley bunary ispute,

19992000, Political Geography 23: 6, 2004, pp. 73164.30 Davi Lewis, The temptations o tyranny in Central Asia (Lnn: Hurst, 2008); Kathleen Cllins an William

Whlrth, Central Asia: eying Great Game epectatins, in R. J. Ellings an A. L. Frieberg, es, StrategicAsia 20032004:ragility and crisis (Seattle, WA, an Washingtn DC: Natinal Bureau Asian Research, 2003),pp. 291317.

31 Shorter Oxord English Dictionary.


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Central Asias suppse bscurity is perhaps the mst istinct eature allgeplitical imaginings the regin generate by rmal, practical r ppularactrs. This stuy ars little space t cmpare the bscurity inscribe t Central

Asia t that apprtine t ther regins the wrl that are als cnsiereistant r untame. Suce it t say that the earlier clnial iscursestenrawn n by the purveyrs western ppular culture t represent a reginare,in the Central Asian case, marke by assumptins istance, lss an unpre-ictability. The Great Game evkes these eatures, particularly as republisheaccunts British an Russian eplrers are picke up in cntemprary accunts the New Great Game.32 Hwever, Central Asia remains especially istant asne the ew regins the wrl where western clnies have never beenestablishe, an where ebates ver respnsibility, racism an guilt have nt beenbrache. It is thus especially imprtant t stuy the means an ramicatins Central Asias representatin as a particularly bscure lcus anger an threat.

Aarn Srkins The West Wing was an etremely ppular an critically acclaimetelevisin series, running rm 1999 t 2006, which represente lie in the ctinalWhite Huse Presient Je Bartlett (playe by Martin Sheen). Its auience,which reache 1520 millin at the height its ame, was largely cmpse the wealthy, pressinal, urban an liberal.33 Srkin argues that in creating theseries he sught t represent an iealize versin Washingtn plitics r alearne auience.34 Thus, The West Wing has been ismisse as The Let Wing bysme cnservative cmmentatrs.35 At the same time, the Bartlett White Husesliberal iealism is cntaine within the parameters a particular representatin the practical realities American plitics uner the limits the cnstitutin,

bureaucratic cnstraints, the separatin pwers, a partisan party system anpwerul special interests. This prtrayal the US gvernment is creible i ntrealistic an is all the mre imprtant r its pinin-rming unctins. As neanalysis The West Wing argues, ppular culture matters an prvies the basis what many peple believe abut the wrl in which they live. 36

The pst-Sviet Central Asian states prvie three strylines acrss the sevenseasns TheWest Wing. Tw these cnstitute sub-plts within single epises,while the thira majr internatinal arme cnict in Kazakhstanis a signi-cant narrative running thrugh the nal seasn. In aitin t these three pltlinesthere are a ew passing mentins Central Asian states. Withut eceptin theseepictins are cnsistent with a general prtrayal Central Asia in The West Wingas bscure, uncertain an thus angerus. What each these representatins

32 Zbigniew Brzezinski, The grand chessboard: American primacy and its geostrategic imperatives (New Yrk: BasicBks, 1997); S. Freerick Starr, Making Eurasia stable, Foreign Aairs 75: 1, 1996, pp. 8092. Fr a iscussinsee Matthew Ewars, The New Great Game an the new great gamers: isciples Kipling an Mackiner,Central Asian Survey 22: 1, 2003, pp. 83102.

33 L. Elber, West Wing at ratings crssras, Assciate Press, 22 Oct. 2002, http://www.b4a.healthyinterest.net/news/000172.html, accesse 31 July 2009.

34 Interview with Aarn Srkin, Seasn 1, DVD b-set special eature.35 Stephen Armstrng, The war n culture, New Statesman,21 May, http://www.newstatesman.cm/arts-an-

culture/2007/05/west-wing-srkin-televisin, accesse 31 July 2009.36 Simn Philptt an Davi Mutimer, Inscribing the American by plitic: Martin Sheen an tw American

ecaes, Geopolitics 10, 2005, p. 338.


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the regin shws is that uncertainty an bscurity have specic ramicatins rhw we imagine plicy an practice twars Central Asia.

Central Asias rst appearance in The West Wing is un in The Leaership

Breakast(seasn 2, epise 11, rst bracast n 10 January 2001), where the ailure an therwise etremely knwlegeable character, Sam Seabrn (Rb Lwe),in cnversatin with a pwerul clumnist, t istinguish between Kazakhstanan Kyrgyzstan (an the latters putative nuclear arsenal), leas t embarrassment.Sam later realizes his mistake in iscussin with a clleague, Dnna Mss (JanelMlney), an is clearly crestallen:

Sam: Kyrgyzstans n the sie a hill near China an has mstly nmas an sheep.Donna: Well maybe there are nuclear weapns in Kyrgyzstan.Sam: There are barely pts an pans in Kyrgyzstan.

The cnusin later in the epise turns arcical as Sam asks Dnna, when shemeets the clumnist at an art gallery later in the week, t rp int the cnversa-tin that he ha bviusly meant Kazakhstan.

On the ne han, curse, this cmic sub-plt is merely light relie alng-sie the tensin serius matters state an internatinal aairs. On the therhan, we suggest that it is n cincience that it is Central Asia that prvesbeyn the limits even Sam Seabrns knwlege. Pst-Sviet Central Asiais cnsistently represente by jurnalists, cmmentatrs, travel writers an lm-makers as lst, uneplre r istant. This treatment Central Asia as appular geplitical bject is hugely imprtant. In that it is naturally mistaken rmisunerst, Central Asia remains in tensin with mern internatinal an

geplitical iscurses that eman intelligible an e bunaries, insies anutsies. Central Asias ailure, rm this perspective, t abie by these certain-ties the mern age enables its actrs an institutins t be iminishe aniscunte: Central Asia is written an rea as an ppnent t ur ieals, but anppnent whse character remains inistinct. This thering situates the regin nthe ringesn the sie a hill, withut pts an pansan thus gestrategi-cally unimprtant.

The apparent bscurity Central Asia is particularly prnunce in itssecn signicant appearance in The West Wing (seasn 6, epise 3, rst bra-cast 1 Nvember 2004), entitle Thir Day Stry, where the gvernment Turkmenistan is treate as a Scaramuche gure, seeking t scupper US attemptst rganize a peacekeeping missin. Ami lts jkes regaring the apparentiisyncrasies real-lie Presient Niyazvs cult persnality, the Turkmengvernment is easily ismisse an ultimately circumvente by the White Huse.Here, as is true acrss all treatments the regin in The West Wing, n recgniz-ably Central Asian characters actually eature in an epise in which Central Asiais represente, a eature terme by Bichel the cinematic erasure Central Asia.37

37 Anthny Bichel, Air Frce One: the cinematic erasure Central Asia, Central Asia Monitor2, 1998, pp. 619.The West Wing is nt eceptinal in being a TV serial rama in which ccasinal epises regrun angeremanating rm a thinly epicte Central Asia. Other eamples are The Agency (CBS, 24 Feb. 2003) an Spooks(BBC1, 18 Oct. 2004), epises TV serial ramas abut cunterterrrist peratins against mainlan threats


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Accring t this visin, hwever etic an intriguing they may prve as inner-time cnversatin tpics, Central Asians can ten be ismisse as ineplicable aniisyncratic when it cmes t matters real geplitics.

The istinct lack Central Asian characters an agenas is cntinue in thethir an much lnger reginal stryline, which takes place acrss mst TheWest Wings nal seasn. But while Central Asia itsel remains istant an inis-tinct, its anger t the West becmes prnunce. Bracast in 20052006, theseepises eature a plt t assassinate the ctinal Presient Isatv Kazakhstan(nce again mistaken at rst, this time r Uzbekistan) an a reginal il cmpanyhea which leas t a rigge electin, civil cnict (the Kazakh peple are ritingin the streets because theyve been screwe ut an electin) an the invasin the cuntry by China an Russia (a war ver il). The tw Great Pwers arekept apart nly by a massive American interventin arun 150,000 trps. AsC. J. Cregg (Allisn Janney, wh plays White Huse chie sta ) cmments,Im trying t keep China an Russia rm annihilating the Nrthern Hemispherever il in Kazakhstan.

This New Great Game pltline is ascinating in that it shws hw an bscurer unknwn Central Asia is mae knwn in terms establishe internatinal angeplitical gmas natinal security an cnict reslutin. The assigne rles the prtagnists reect the key tenets geplitical thinking in the West.38China an Russia are inscribe as essentially cnicting pwers cmpeting vernite an scarce resurces.39 The Unite States, meanwhile, is prtraye as havingits wn alternative set interests but is als assigne the benign persnality a nrmative actr in the rle thir-party peacemaker. Natinal elites remain

in the shaws, crrupte an cntrlle by great pwers, an cmpletely ini-erent t the rights an welare their peples. Finally, the peples CentralAsia remain hien rm view an inscribe with the imagine universal humanesire r plitical transitin t emcracy. The evient geplitical signicance Central Asiaa clear an present anger t the Westis smewhat in cntrastwith the renering cnusin, istance an even absence un in the previustw eamples. Hwever, in eplying this New Great Game stryline The WestWing writers highlight hw an bscure Central Asia can spring increible surprisesn the West. Mrever, while this pltline might nt be accepte in the imperativesensent least because the apparent bscurity Central Asia makes it unthink-able t all but the mst hyperblic New Great Gamers that the Unite Statescul be invlve in a war thereit can be seen as inicative an, t sme etent,cnstitutive the western geplitical imaginary. The rles inscribe in the stry-line are nt at all issimilar t the rles ientie in the geplitical scripting

riginating in Central Asia cnucte by the US an UK secret services respectively. In the rmer, the nlyCentral Asians wh eature are terrrists in Tashkent an a prstitute wh makes a came appearance inWashingtn.

38 See sectin belw n Orientalizing space.39 Chinas rle is a variatin n Great Game thinking in that it is assigne a pr-emcracy psitin brught

abut by the inclusin ethnic Chinese pr-emcracy mvements an Chinese enclaves in Kazakhstan.Hwever, this psitin is represente as erivate wier geplitical interests which themselves areetermine by a nee t secure supplies il.


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the regin by the western press uring the tw mst prminent plitical events 2005, Kyrgyzstans Tulip revlutin an Uzbekistans Anijn massacre. Bthevents were wiely an spuriusly interprete in the press as ppular struggles

r emcracy represse by authritarian gvernments an isregare in greatpwer plitics espite supercial western pressure r rerm. In that CentralAsia is an bscure an uncertain place it presents angers twars which westernpwers remain inierent, unerstanably but at their peril.

Orientalizing space: Washingtonian security analysis

Oriental:1 belnging t r situate in the eastern part the sky.40

The secn eature geplitical iscurse n Central Asia is that the riental

ther. Orientalism has lng genealgical rts that are inetricably intertwinewith eperiences clnialism, particularly in the Mile East.41 Myer has shwnhw western Svietlgical writing n Central Asia rientalize the subjectspecically in terms a clnize peplealbeit represente as ractius subjectsrather than passive recipients imperial largesse.42 The narrative Svietlgicalwriting is prblematic, as is nw wiely acknwlege, given the ten simplisticassumptins a pre-Sviet, traitinal an Asiatic peple cnuere an subr-inate by Eurpean masters. Hwever, the new-un cncern sme parts the acaemy with pst-clnial cmpleity has nt preclue rientalist repre-sentatins Central Asia in ppular culture, plicy rmulatin an practice, aneven certain plicy-relevant acaemic circles. Tay, the Asianness CentralAsia is unerst internatinally in terms the maims the war n terrr.

In this sectin the article we will argue that, since gaining inepenencerm the Sviet Unin, Central Asian states have been increasingly representeas cmparable with their neighburs t the suth, in particular Aghanistan anPakistan, rather than t their Eurpean rmer Sviet cmpatrits. We make thispint by eplring the writings a Washingtn-base cmmunity securityanalysts wh are part , r act as cnsultants r, US eence establishments. Thesewritings crrelate with braer acaemic ebates abut the reginal raming Central Asia, an the evelpment cartgraphic visins Asia as threatening.We will argue that internatinal security iscurse n the ve pst-Sviet states

rientalizes them as prne t Aghanicizatin an as an etensin the wierregin the Mile East an/r Asia.The regins signicance r internatinal security erives rm a spatial imagi-

natin an territrial reasning that situate Central Asia n the rnt line withAghanistan, an even as part the same regin.43 Such accunts ientiy Central

40 Shorter Oxord English Dictionary.41 Ewar Sai, Orientalism (New Yrk: Vintage, 1979).42 William Myer, Islam and colonialism: western perspectives on Soviet Asia (Lnn: Rutlege/Curzn, 2002).43 S. Neil MacFarlane, The Unite States an reginalism in Central Asia, International Aairs 80: 3, May 2004,

pp. 44761; Fina Hill, The Unite States an Russia in Central Asia: Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Aghanistan,Pakistan, an Iran, paper pruce r the Aspen Institute Cngressinal Prgram, Aug. 2002, p. 17; Elizabeth


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Asia as an especially perilus an prus regin the wrl. In respect its linkt the suth, it is escribe by the hea the Strategic Stuies Institute theUS Army War Cllege as a key theatre in the war n terrr,44 which accring

t Giragsian, has acuire a new strategic relevance.45

This cming tgether Suth Asia an Central Asia is nt merely a matter military lgistics but ne the regins geplitical character.

The cupling Suth Asia an Central Asia in US reign plicy is thusabut mre than the cnseuences the Aghanistan interventin an the use bases in Kyrgyzstan an Uzbekistan. A pre-eisting cnceptin Central Asia asessentially Asiatic an anti-Sviet has cmbine with the tumult events since9/11 t link Central Asia with Aghanistan in the structure American reignan eence plicy-making. Accring t Assistant Secretary r Eurpean anEurasian Aairs Elizabeth Jnes, since 9/11 US strategic interests in the regin havecuse n anti-terrrism, especially the eliminatin terrrist an ther esta-bilising grups.46 This le t a massive increase in the US strategic rle llwing9/11 in the establishment the Ganci (Manas) an KharshiKhanaba militarybases, an veright rights acrss Tajikistan an Turkmenistan. Hill ntes: Theprimary American interest is in security, in preventing the Aghanicisatin Central Asia an the spawning mre terrrist grups with transnatinal reachthat can threaten the stability the interlcking regins an strike the UniteStates.47 Such thinking has even cntribute t an internal rerganizatin theUS State Department. By late 2005, Jness epartment Eurpean an EurasianAairs ha lst respnsibility r the regin, which ha been incrprate int aSuth an Central Asian sectin. This shit was reshawe by the mving

the Central Asian regin rm the Pentagns Atlantic Cmman t its CentralCmman (CENTCOM) in Octber 1999. In itsel this bureaucratic changereects US thinking abut Central Asia as a regin apart rm ther rmer SvietSlavic states, thinking that may be rte in Svietlgical cnceptins theRussian/Sviet empire. Further research wul nee t be cnucte t establishthe rle iscurse alngsie bureaucratic, technical r lgistical actrs that mayhave cmbine in bringing abut this shit. Hwever, there is n uestin that thisgeplitical cnceptin bth preates the shit an has subseuently helpe justiyit. It is easier, r eample, t unerstan why Washingtn-base analysts maybelieve Russias rle in the regin is ecreasing an peripheral i they see CentralAsian states as mre culturally an plitically akin t Pakistan r Aghanistan thant Belarus r Gergia.48

This geplitical cupling Central Asian states with Pakistan an Aghan-istan has an imprtant crllary in acaemic ebates abut the reginness

Wishnick, e., Strategic consequences o the Iraq War: US security interests in Central Asia reassessed(Carlisle, PN: USArmy War Cllege, Strategic Stuies Institute, 2004).

44 Duglas Lvelace, Frewr, in Wishnick, e., Strategic consequences, p. iii.45 Richar Giragsian, The strategic Central Asian arena, China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly 4: 1, 2006, p. 133.46 Paraphrasing Jness testimny in Wishnick, e., Strategic consequences,p. 4.47 Hill, The Unite States, p. 18.48 Henry Plater-Zyberk, Tajikistan: waiting or a storm?, Central Asia series (Lnn: Cnict Stuies Research

Centre, n. 13, May 2004).


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Central Asia, with sme arguing that Central Asia shul be cuple with Eurpeas part Eurasia an thers emphasizing its riental r Asian lcatin. Fr theeitrs the jurnal Eurasian Geography and Economics, the iea Eurasia stresses

the regins cmmnalities with Russia an pst-scialist states in Eurpe. Fravcates the ctrine Eurasianism, the regin is essentially linke t Russiaan Siberia as the heir a uniue civilizatinal estiny that is neither prperlyAsian nr prperly Eurpean.49 Scheberleins Central Eurasia strips the regin mst Eurasias Eurpean space, aing Aghanistan an Iran.50 Starr preersthe label Greater Central Asia.51 Aminehs Greater Mile East ges urther,cleaving Turkestan rm Russia an viewing it as part a regin that encmpassesthe Mile East, Nrth Arica an part Suth Asia.52 These psitins allhave acaemic an/r plitical premises, agenas an implicatins, an they aresignicant r ur purpses here in that they make claims r the etent CentralAsias Asian-ness.

In Washingtnian security analysis, claims base n culturalhistrical ani-ties are buttresse by cnsieratins t with present security envirnments.Fr Thmas Barnett, Pressr Warare Analysis at the US Naval War Cllege,Central Asia is part a nn-integrating gap (incluing mst Arica, theMile East, Suth America an Pakistan/Aghanistan, but nt Russia r Eurpe),that is angerus t the cre glbalizatin because its iscnnectenessrm it.53 Fr Chris Seiple, irectr the Washingtn think-tank the Instituter Glbal Engagement, using an epressin cine by rmer US Secretary State Zbigniew Brzezinski an ppularize in a amus cver Time magazine,Central Asia sits atp the crescent crisis that rises rm Nrth Arica t

Central Asia bere escening int Sutheast Asia.54

In a similar vein, rmerUS Deense Secretary Dnal Rumsel ientie a bra arc instability thatstretches rm the Mile East t Nrtheast Asia an threatens critical US inter-ests.55 The aliatin these writers is signicant, illustrating the circulatin ieas between gvernmental an nn-gvernmental institutins. These ways knwing Central Asia are als imprtant because, whether n culturalhistricalr cntemprary security gruns, they etach Central Asia rm its pst-Svietspatializatin an attach it rmly t Asia. Mrever, in keeping with this riental-izing mve, these authrs represent the Central Asian republics as angerus. Aswe shall cnsier belw, this has imprtant plicy implicatins.

49 Graham Smith, The masks Prteus: Russia, geplitical shit an the new Eurasianism, Transactions othe Institute o British Geographers 24, 1999, pp. 481500; O. A. Dnskikh, Eurasianism as a cncept an asan instrument r the rmatin geplitical ctrines an strategies, in Siberia in ocus: proceedings o theconerence Euraisa: regional perspectives, June 23, 2007, Novosibirsk (Klkata: Twars Freem), pp. 93101.

50 Jhn Scheberlein, Setting the stakes a new sciety, Central Eurasian Studies Review 1: 1, 2002,pp. 48.51 S. Freerick Starr, In deence o Greater Central Asia (Washingtn DC: Jhns Hpkins University, Silk Ra

Stuies Prgramme, Sept. 2008).52 M. Parvizi Amineh, e., The Greater Middle East in global politics: social science perspectives on the changing geography

o the world politics, international studies in sociology and social anthropology (Leien: Brill, 2007).53 Thmas Barnett, The Pentagons new map: war and peace in the twenty-frst century (New Yrk: Berkeley, 2004).54 Chris Seiple, Uzbekistan: civil sciety in the heartlan, Orbis 49: 2, Spring, 2005, pp. 24559 at p. 246.55 Dnal Rumsel, Annual Report to the President and to Congress (Washingtn DC: Department Deense,

2002), http://www.nti.rg/e_research/cial_cs//2002/81502DOD.p, accesse July 2009, p. 11.


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These eamples emnstrate that the prcess cupling Central Asia withits suthern neighburs is nt a natural an epecte utcme the all theSviet Unin. Rather, it is a western scial cnstructin, cnstitute via plitical

iscurses an acts, which aects American strategic psitins an pliciestwars the regin. This geplitical cnceptin is cnteste in many ways inlcal ppular an elite iscurses. Public pinin surveys in Central Asian statescnsistently shw greater trust in Russia than in the Unite States. Twenty-rst-century labur migratin ws have recnnecte Central Asia t Russia t anetent nt seen since mass Central Asian male cnscriptin int the Sviet armerces, an it is t Russia that thusans Kyrgyzstani Uzbeks have e rreuge since the vilence in the suth the cuntry that began in June 2010.Similarly, Central Asian elite cnceptins their anity with Eurpe meantthat the annuncement the rerganizatin the State Department in 2005 wasgreete with perpleity an isain by sme analysts in the regin.56 That pst-Sviet Central Asian regimes are nw mre ten cmpare with Aghanistanthan Belarus is nt natural; an, rm the perspective ur view the mernscial an plitical histry the regin, an the perspectives many within theregin, it is icult t unerstan.

Fractious space: representing ethnic confict in the Ferghana Valley

Fractious1 Accmpanie by breakage r rupture par;2 Reractry, unruly; uarrelsme; 57

We ientiy as a thir imensin enangerment the representatin CentralAsia as ractious, an thus bth angerus t the West an in nee recnstruc-tin. The term ractius evkes mesticity, suggesting lcal r internal ratherthan glbal r eternal cnict. The renering Central Asia as bscure, rientaland ractius makes it pssible r the regin t be regare as angerus butisregare with inierence. In this sectin we will cnsier hw this charac-terizatin wrks in relatin t the uestin natin-state rmatin in pst-Sviet Central Asia. We cncentrate n the perceive threats emanating rm twsuppse sites ractiusness in the Ferghana Valley: interethnic cnict aninterstate bunary isputes.

In the Ferghana Valley 1990s Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan an Uzbekistan, transi-tlgists (see abve) particularly eare that the regin wul be trn apart byethnic cnict. Ientiying what they psite as the ethnic basis the newCentral Asian cuntries,58 they assume that massively vilent ethnic clasheswere likely t increase in reuency an intensity.59 This view was premise56 Interview cnucte by ne the authrs with Rashi Abull, inepenent plitical analyst, in Dushanbe,

Tajikistan, June 2005.57 Shorter Oxord English Dictionary.58 Ralph S. Clem, The new Central Asia: prspects r evelpment, in Michael J. Brashaw, e., Geography

and transition in the post-Soviet republics (Chichester: Wiley, 1997), pp. 1712.59 Rbert Kaiser, The geography o nationalism in Russia and the USSR (Princetn, NJ: Princetn University Press,

1994), pp. 37071.


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upn the assumptin that ethnicity was a tangible rce that verre any therscial element in mapping ut the cnturs pssible utures. These rmu-latins lacke bth any attempt t therize ethnicity an any sli empirical

basis in research. Rather, they almst withut eceptin relie upn a particu-larly prblematic reaing a number vilent incients in late Sviet CentralAsia. Mst signicant these were the June 1990 clashes between Uzbeks anKyrgyz in the Uzgen an Osh regins suthern Kyrgyzstan.60 These incientswere taken as eamples the ethnic iscr which allegely has always been amajr eature the Central Asian lanscape.61 Mre signicantly, it was wielyassume that because these tensins,62 Central Asia is sure t pass thrugh achatic phase sel-assertin its peples ientities.63

This ethnic cnict reaing Central Asia as ractius was buttresse byinterpretatins bunary prblems in the late 1990s an early 2000s as CentralAsian republics either began r accelerate the prcesses elimiting anemarcating their internatinal bunaries. Frm late 1998 nwars Uzbeki-stan pai greater attentin t the cntrl ws peple an gs ver itsbunary, clsing many minr crssing pints, reruting transprt links awayrm crss-bunary sectins, stepping up custms an security checks, an evenerecting a 2-metre high barbe-wire perimeter ence alng large sectins itsFerghana Valley bunary an mining ther stretches. These unilateral mvescreate great incnvenience r many in the brerlans, leaing t rustratinan anger at crssings, scues between resients an sliers, atal shtings smugglers, an the lss cattle an lie an limb in mineels. McGlincheygrupe these varius prcesses an isputes tgether an labelle them a lw

level brer war.64

In sme acaemic uarters it thus became receive wism tascribe anger t the vlatile Ferghana Valley,65 which r Slim was in the mist a hst crises.66

This acaemic prtrayal the Ferghana Valley as angerus-because-ractiuswas replicate in ther sites iscursive pructin. Many jurnalists agree withthe cncern epresse by the Institute r War an Peace Reprting that rntierisputes cul sw the sees inter-ethnic vilence.67 Fr Newsweek, reprtingn tensins at an UzbekistanKyrgyzstan brer crssing, a vlatile ccktail

60 Abilabek Asankanv, Ethnic cnict in the Osh regin in summer 1990: reasns an lessns, in KumarRupesinghe an Valery Tishkv, es, Ethnicity and power in the contemporary world (Paris: Unite Natins

University, 1996).61 M. Haghayeghi, Islam and politics in Central Asia (New Yrk: St Martins, 1995), p. 186.62 Daria Fane, Ethnicity an reginalism in Uzbekistan, in Lekaia Drbizheva, Rse Gttemeller, Catherine

McArle Kelleher an Lee Walker, es, Ethnic conict in the post-Soviet world: case studies and analysis (Lnn: M.E. Sharpe, 1996), p. 275.

63 P. L. Dash, Ethnic tussles in the Sviet Muslim republics, in K. Warik an Dawa Nrbu, es, Ethnicity andpolitics in Central Asia (New Delhi: Suth Asian Publishers, 1992), pp. 11920.

64 Eric McGlinchey, Pwerless in Kyrgyzstan, RFE/RL Newsline, 13 July 2000.65 Anna Matveeva, EU stakes in Central Asia, Chaillt paper 91 (Paris: Institute r Security Stuies, 2006), p. 9.66 Rana Slim, The Ferghana Valley: in the mist a hst crises, in Paul van Tngeren, Hans van e Veen

an Juliette Verheven, es, Searching or peace in Europe and Asia: an overview o conict prevention and peacebuildinginitiatives (Lnn: Lynne Rienner, 2002).

67 Ulugbek Babakulv, KyrgyzUzbek brer tensins, Reporting Central Asia,3 Feb. 2002 (Lnn: Instituter War an Peace Reprting), http://www.iwpr.rg, accesse 31 March 2011.


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Islam, ethnic hatre, rugs an pverty is ratcheting up tensins in the FerghanaValley.68 This list, thugh nt ehaustive, was typical a genre that enumeratethe suppse threats the valley was acing, the lgic apparently being that simply

nting them as cincient in the same place was evience enugh that sme greatcnagratin was inevitable. A number evelpment reprts emplye similarlgic. The US CPAs 1999 reprt, Calming the Ferghana Valley, althugh hurrielyresearche an prly eite, nnetheless bre the imprint bth imprtant USthink-tanks (the Cuncil n Freign Relatins an the Century Funatin) an well-knwn schlars (Barnett Rubin an Nancy Lubin). Animate by a cncernthat US access t the regins putative petrchemical riches was threatene bythe vulnerable an tense Ferghana Valley, the reprt argue that new vilenceis likely, inee, almst certain.69 The main evience r such a strng claimis repeate reerral back t uncnnecte incients such as the 1990 UzgenOshvilence an the 1997 assassinatin cials in the city Namangan. Eectivelybscuring scial prcesses in the Ferghana Valley, it is ultimately mre revealing American preccupatins, ears an interests than it is Central Asia.

The geplitical visin Central Asia as angerusly ractius un its wayint ppular geplitical visins in the UK an US. Imaginary ractius statesthat were nnetheless recgnizably Central Asian eature as the settings rGary Shteyngarts acclaime cmic nvel Absurdistan an the 2008 anti-Ira warHllyw satire War, Inc., set in Turaistan.70 Similar, i mre sber, prtrayals Central Asia as ractius have rame British televisin cumentaries. In20022003 the BBC ran a series cumentaries/travel lms n the Central Asianrepublics entitle Hliays in the anger zne: meet the Stans. The presenter,

Simn Reeve, spent much his time r the Kyrgyzstan epise in the Osh.Likewise, the 2002 Channel 4 series Twenty-rst century unseen warscusen the angerus ptential r ethnic tensin an brer isputes t triggercnusing an vicius cnicts in the Ferghana Valley. The presenter, SriusSamura, auce ur types evience t supprt his claim. First, he assertethat the ppulatin is ethnically mie, assuming that primity inevitably least cnict. Secn, he remine the viewer that vilence ha ccurre alreay(in 1990), implying inevitability an cntinuity. Thir, he visite a bunaryarea where Uzbekistan ha blcke a ra an erecte a checkpint. Jumpingbackwars an rwars ver the blckae, remarking ecitely hw crazy it is,he inrms the viewer that this issue is ne that cul ignite the tinerb theethnic mi in this ensely ppulate, pr, Muslim area. T blster this view, hereerre t the 1999 attack n parts Kyrgyzstan an Uzbekistan by the IslamicMvement Uzbekistan, claiming: Tw an a hal years ag there was an armerebellin acrss the Ferghana Valley. This is a grss istrtin, suggesting smewiesprea, ppular uprising, rather than the actins a small Islamist guerrillagrup unrepresentative ppular eeling.

68 Christian Caryl, Declining emcracy, Newsweek web eclusive, 21 Jan. 2001, http://www.newsweek.cm,accesse 21 Jan. 2011.

69 Rubin an Lubin, Calming the Ferghana Valley, pp. , vvi.70 Gary Shteyngart,Absurdistan (Lnn: Granta, 2006).


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Finally, Samura eplaine cnict in ne place by scripting it in terms ther places. This cul be the net Bsnia, Ksv r Chechnya, he asserte.Rather than eplain hw prly sketche ut scial prcesses an phenmena

(such as ethnicity, pverty an migratin) cul inerably lea t cnict, helite Central Asia an the Ferghana Valley rm their actual gegraphical anhistrical crinates by asserting similarities with ther ractius places knwnt the British public thrugh news reprting. Eacing the cmple histriesan gegraphies the Ferghana Valley, his accunt mae n attempt t eplaineactly hw a particularly bunary r ethnic mi wul lea t a war. Like theacaemic an plicy literature that apts a histrical an structural eterminism,it simply asserte that vilence is prbable because ethnic cnicts ccurre inthe past an the cntemprary Ferghana Valley can be cnsiere similar t therractius places where cnict has ccurre. In shrt, such accunts have n rmr politics, r the rle ethnic entrepreneurs in inciting vilence, r r lcalstate an nn-state authrity mechanisms r eusing tensin.

This crue renering ethnic cnict is sustaine by a isregar r mrerigrus schlarly research that cntests its assumptins an cnclusins. Sche-berlein argue that ethnicity is a ui an malleable scial prcess in CentralAsia, rm which cnict scenaris cul nt be easily rea.71 Smith was nt alnein bserving that I the cases inter-ethnic vilence are mappe ver the peri the pst-Sviet transitin, it is clear that the ccurrence new vilent ethniccnicts has ecline sharply since the early 1990s.72 Megran emnstratehw brer isputes were nt simply eisting plitical realities, but prcessescnstructe within cnteste mestic plitical iscurse with n necessary link

t ethnic cnict.73

In his stuy bunary issues in Central Asia, Plat bservethat Central Asian states have r the mst part reslve the issues virtually nall rnts thrugh sustaine erts since inepenence.74 Inee, as it turne ut,warnings wiesprea ethnic racture prve wie the mark, base as theywere n mis-therize cnceptins ethnicity an weak r absent empiricalresearch.75 Mrever, rganize plitical vilence in the Ferghana Valley since1990 has tene t be irecte against ppressive state structures, r has ccurrein the atermath the all thse structures. This suggests that, while physicalanger an structural vilence are very much a part lie in the regin, theparticular accunt cnict an insecurity ere by the iscurse angerwhere Central Asia is represente as bscure, riental an ractiusis inaccurate.A mre cmple stry mern scial an plitical cnict must be tl.

71 J. Scheberlein-Engel, Ientity in Central Asia: cnstructin an cntentin in the cnceptins Ozbek,Tajik, Muslim, Samarani an ther grups, PhD iss., Harvar University, 1994.

72 Graham Smith, The post-Soviet states: mapping the politics o transition (Lnn: Arnl, 1999), p. 227.73 Megran, The critical geplitics the UzbekistanKyrgyzstan Ferghana Valley bunary ispute.74 Necati Plat, Boundary issues in Central Asia (Arsley: Transnatinal, 2002), p. 167.75 Nick Megran, On researching ethnic cnict: epistemlgy, plitics, an a Central Asian bunary

ispute, EuropeAsia Studies 59: 2, 2007, pp. 25377.


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The policy and practice o the discourse o danger

Ntwithstaning criticism ethnic cnict analysis rm within the acaemy,sme acaemics, plicy-makers an jurnalists have cntinue t apply itscategries. That the western geplitical visin regars Central Asia as bscure,riental an ractius is great imprtance when we cnsier the plicy impli-catins the iscurse anger. These are seen mst clearly in the FerghanaValley regin iscusse abve. This sectin cnsiers the ethnic vilence in Oshin June 2010 bere ging n t lk at hw the iscurse anger has aectewestern evelpment plicy with respect t cnict reslutin an security assis-tance in the regin.

What about Osh?

Desnt the hrrenus KyrgyzUzbek vilence in Osh an Jalalabat in June2010 prve that ur argument is wrng, an that thse wh preicte large-scale vilence in the Kyrgyzstani parts the Ferghana Valley were right? Tbegin respning t this imprtant bjectin it is rst necessary t recgnize thepresent limits ur knwlege. It is reckne that several hunre peple weremurere, an numerus businesses an hmes lte an estrye by arsn.Sme 185,000 Uzbeks sught temprary reuge in neighburing Uzbekistan,an many Kyrgyz amilies e elsewhere in Kyrgyzstan. As a semblance rerreturne the mass killings ene, but subseuently kinap, etrtin, rbbery,arbitrary arrest, ubius trials suspects, an ne-sie an hysterical meiareprting have create a climate ear that is leaing large numbers Uzbekst seek temprary r permanent reuge abra. The trigger the vilence isunknwn, with rumurs an allegatins abut careul planning berehan beingsprea by peple n all sies.

Having nte this, we wul make tw pints. The rst is theretical. We aresuggesting, with critical geplitical thery, that representatins Central Asiaas angerus are imprtant: they are nt just supercial reectins r istrtins eeper realities, but part thse realities. This has been clearly emnstrateby the cntinuing atermath the Osh vilence, which in sme ways is evenmre trubling than the initial vilence itsel. In the weeks llwing the vilence June 2010, internatinal rganizatins an meia utlets generally narrate an

accunt Uzbeks enangere by Kyrgyz state an sciety: sme epictinsemplye wrs like pgrm an gencie.76 In keeping with the eatures the iscurse anger, sme western reprting suggeste that the vilence washistrically an ethn-culturally preispse, i nt etermine, with healinessuch as Stalins ealy legacy an reerence t the ethnic biling-pt CentralAsia.77 Kyrgyz sciety, llwing such reprts thrugh the internet, was stung by

76 Internatinal Crisis Grup (ICG), The pgrms in Kyrgyzstan, Asia Report 193, 23 Aug. 2010, http://www.crisisgrup.rg/en/regins/asia/central-asia/kyrgyzstan.asp, accesse 31 March 2011; Luke Haring,Kyrgyzstan killings are attempte gencie, say ethnic Uzbeks, Guardian, 17 June 2010, p. 1.

77 Craig Murray, Kyrgyzstan: eath, ictatrs an the Sviet legacy, Daily Telegraph,17 June 2010; Ewar


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what it braly rea as misrepresentatins that ignre the suering Kyrgyzan the putative threat t the Kyrgyz state. It braly reacte by enying thevictimh Kyrgyzstani Uzbeks an cuntenancing a backlash against them.78

Eceptins eist, but the wiely reprte initial intercmmunal sympathy largelyevaprate in a subseuent surge angry natinalist sentiment. This is makingthe prspects r uture recnciliatin an ceistence lk bleak. The way werepresent Central Asia as angerus has real impacts upn lcal realities.

This bservatin, secn, pints t the iscurse angers principalmissin: mestic plitics. The iscurse anger simply lumps tgether aseries threatsgreat pwer cmpetitin, rugs, brer isputes, past cnicts,ethnic tensins, etc.an argues that because they ccur in the same placethey will inevitably cntribute t a cnagratin. What the narratives that wehave criticize lack are attentin t the ingreient that accunts t a signi-cant egree r bth the savagery the June vilence an the subseuent anti-Uzbek backlash: the plitics natinalism. Kyrgyzstans rst presient, AskarAkaev, trie t ampen ethnic natinalism an ster a sense civic unity thatscripte the state as the cmmn hme all grups. Pitte against him werea grup natinalistic ppsitin parliamentarians wh regare Uzbeks anther minrities as th clumnists, as threats t the territrial integrity theKyrgyz state an as impeiments t the Kyrgyzicatin a tragically Russi-e Kyrgyz elite. Akaev supprte Uzbek minrities an ha alliances withinthem, an this le t a sense amng many Uzbeks that they ha a viable uturein Kyrgyzstaninee, cmpare t lie in authritarian Uzbekistan, even anenviable ne. Akaev urther blstere his psitin by curtailing the inuence

his natinalistic ppnents.Akaevs suppressin natinalists was an imprtant reasn why vilencei nt recur in the 1990s, cntrary t many preictins. Nnetheless, it wasthe natinalistic ppsitin that swept t pwer in the anti-Akaev cup 2005,putting a new plitics natinalism in place that ere the psitin Uzbeks.As ne Kyrgyzstani Uzbek acaemic, wh uner Akaev ha been uite hpeulr the uture Osh Uzbeks, put it t ne the authrs in Nvember 2009:The everyay racism that we eperience uner Akaev became uner Bakiyevstate plicy all it will take is ne spark, an the whle thing will eple. TheMay 2010 clashes r cntrl in Jalalabat between, n the ne han, Usen Syykvan e-allies Bakiyev, an, n the ther han, supprters the ethnic Kyrgyzplitician Omurbek Tekebaev an the ethnic Uzbek leaer Kayrjan Batyrv,uickly evelpe an ethnic imensin. A lcal jurnalist reprting rm Jalalabatat the time nte that the chances wiesprea ethnic vilence ha increasecnsierably wing t the natinalist plitics that ha becme mre salient since2005 an the instability which ha arisen since the all the Bakiyev regime in

Sturtn, Stalins ealy legacy, Guardian,21 June 2010, p. 29; Stalins harvest, The Economist, 17 June 2010,http://www.ecnmist.cm/ne/16377083?stry_i=16377083&src=rss, accesse 31 March 2011. Smeearlier reprts ientiy, even mre spuriusly, Lenin as the culprit (Haring, Kyrgyzstan killings, p. 1).

78 Maeleine Reeves helpe clariy ur thinking n this pint.


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April 2010.79 This is nt t suggest that the vilence cul have been preicte butrather that the anger ethnic cnict is unerst better thrugh an analysisthat sees it as plitically cnstructe an cntingent.80

These tw pints suggest that the iscurse anger prvie the languagethrugh which many jurnalists an cmmentatrs cmmunicate an essentialistan histricist reaing ethnic ractiusness ver an interpretatin which lkeat the plitical ynamics natinalist plitics an state crisis. What can be learnerm the lack large-scale ethnic vilence in Osh uring the Akaev peri, anits ugly reappearance in the pst-Bakiyev cllapse, is that vilence es nt ccurin a place simply because it is a particular type place characterize by particularprcesses an with a particular past. We must beware simple appeals t generaliscurses anger an, thrugh careul research rather than the appeal t clich,unerstan an analyse the cmple ways in which plitical cntestatin enan-gers Central Asiansan hw eternal iscurses anger can eacerbate suchprcesses.

Confict resolution and security assistance to the Ferghana Valley

The signicance the iscurse anger is nt simply that it leas t acaemican jurnalistic misinterpretatins events in the regin but that it inrms an,therere, erms western plicy an practice. As nte abve, in the mi-1990sthe Cuncil n Freign relatins establishe the CPA t aress latent cnictbere the emergence r re-emergence civil war. The Ferghana Valley regin Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan an Uzbekistan was chsen as a labratry r the new

early warning apprach n the basis its perceive histry ethnic cnict. Bythe time the CPAs reprt was publishe, a prpse majr UN cnict preven-tin initiative, the Ferghana Valley Develpment Prgramme, ha been cancellewing t ppsitin rm the gvernment Uzbekistan. Hwever, espite thisppsitin an particularly ater 9/11 many ther internatinal NGO prjects tbuil peace r prevent ethnic cnict were launche. Prgrammes such as MercyCrps Peaceul Cmmunities Initiative typically targete clusters cmmuni-ties ierent ethnicities at the brers the three states the valley. In anera the merging security an evelpment in western plicy iscurse anpractice, these evelpment prgrammes were accmpanie by security assis-tance, particularly in the area brer management.81

Here we briey iscuss nings rm three acaemic stuies cnict reslu-tin an security assistance practice in the Ferghana Valley in rer t substantiateur claim that the iscurse anger erms plicy an, in s ing, enan-gers Central Asia. First, Megran an clleagues have critically cnsiere ai t79 Abujalil Aburasulv, Lawlessness an change in the interactin between Uzbeks an Kyrgyz in suthern

Kyrgyzstan, paper given t run table n Kyrgyzstan, Schl Oriental an Arican Stuies, University Lnn, 22 May 2010.

80 The ICGs Aug. 2010 reprt acknwleges that the internatinal cmmunity i nt pay signicant attentint the events May 2010 in Jalalabat, suggesting that ha they ne s the Osh events June 2010 mighthave been mitigate r prevente. See ICG, The pgrms in Kyrgyzstan, p. 7.

81 Mark Duel, Global governance and the new wars: the merging o development and security (Lnn: Ze, 2002).


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Central Asian brer guars rm reign nrs such as the US an EU seekingt cunter the threat narctics smuggling.82 Assistance imprves bunarycntrl inrastructures, rm patrl vehicles an scanning machines t training

prgrammes an help in builing integrate cmputer atabases t mnitrthe mvement peple. Hwever, smuggling netwrks cmmnly perate inalliance with crrupt law enrcement bies an plitical elites. Increase brercntrls epse shuttle-traers an petty smugglers t increase isruptin anetrtin withut seriusly aecting the activities the majr players. Accusa-tins vilence an harassment at checkpints iname public pinin an harmrelatins between neighburing cmmunities. Hwever well-intentine, theseprgrammes ail t grasp the plitics brer cntrl in the regin, an therebyeacerbate the harship the rural pr an intercmmunal tensins.

Secn, Bichsel has eplre internatinal attempts t reslve irrigatinisputes in the Ferghana Valley.83 She shws hw a iscurse anger in theseinitiatives inrms essentialist ethnic cnict reaings.84 These appraches missthe cmpleities lcal plitics an even subsiize an enhance the authrity lcal criminal leaers. She takes as the il r her argument the ienticatin angerus ivisins ver resurces an alng ethnic lines, lking at the creatin internatinal, inter-ethnic water usage assciatins an the rehabilitatin canals.85 The cmmunity-base rganizatins (CBOs) she surveye were esignewith little r n thught t lcal plitics. Thus they simply resurce lcal eliteswh were battling r cntrl state pwer an resurces. Fr eample, inthe Kyshtut municipality Batken regin, these authrities inclue the (nwecease) lcal parliamentarian, businessman an allege criminal Baiaman Erkin-

baev.86

As Bichsel masterully shws, aksakals (elers) an ashar(cllective labur)serve as mere ecrative ressing r internatinal ai in the Ferghana Valley.87They are instrumental purpse r the representatin inigeneity inprjects cnucte, but they are nt cnsiere in terms the kin authrityan substantive legitimacy they may r may nt have.88

Thir, Jhn Heathershaws iscussin peacebuiling activities in Tajikistantells a similar stry.89 Nt nly es a iscurse anger misinterpret the nature cnict an prescribe inapprpriate slutins, it wrks t repruce itselthrugh prcesses practical representatin. The CBOs stuie by Heathershawwere typically cmpse pre-eisting grups within the cmmunity that wereinvisible t internatinal prgramme cers (thugh nt their lcal sta ) anmae their ecisins inrmally, ver tea in the msue r cmmunity centre ut

82 Nick Megran, Gal Raballan an Jrme Buyju, Perrmance, representatin, an the ecnmics brer cntrl in Uzbekistan, Geopolitics 10: 4, 2005, pp. 71242.

83 Christine Bichsel, Conict transormation in Central Asia (Lnn: Rutlege, 2009).84 Christine Bichsel, In search harmny: repairing inrastructure an scial relatins in the Ferghana Valley,

Central Asian Survey 24: 1, 2005, pp. 5366.85 Bichsel, Conict transormation in Central Asia, pp. 1212.86 Bichsel, Conict transormation in Central Asia, pp. 9094.87 Bichsel, Conict transormation in Central Asia, p. 82.88 Bichsel, Conict transormation in Central Asia, p. 70.89 Heathershaw, Post-conict Tajikistan.


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the sight the nrs. Hwever, the rmal evaluatin these prgrammesi nt uestin the premises pre-eisting ethnic racture in the cmmuni-ties an prvie an accunt the partial success the prgramme in terms

the establishment the rmal institutin the CBO. Here the inrmaltriumphe ver the rmal but in a way that let the rmal image peace-builing intact.90 This ccurre as a result varius prcesses thrugh whichreceive wisms cul be rearme, incluing uanticatin survey nings,narratin success stries an visualizatin prjects thrugh appealing pht-graphs rmal wrkshps. These prcesses simply aress the etent t whichthe precnceive angers interethnic tensin an lack resurces have beenattenuate rather than whether these are the angers eperience by lcal peplein practice. Braer stuies lcal plitical an ecnmic relatins have revealea ar mre cmple stry Tajiks ispssessing Tajiks as e-cmmaners havebeen allwe t capture rgans the state.91

In sum, these three eamples shw that the iscurse anger is n mereabstract representatin Central Asia but a practical rm knwlege pruc-tin with ptentially angerus implicatins r the regins citizens. This isbecause it helps shape plicy-making, an evelpment ai ws accring ta alse prspectus an bscure, riental an innately ractius Central Asia. Onthe basis such a prspectus it is icult r western gvernments an interna-tinal NGOs t make sense the regin. As the eamples abve shw, this canlea t the empwering e-warlrs an criminal chies an the subsiizing crrupt state agencies. In this way, the iscurse anger creates practices internatinal ai that are part the prblem rather than part the slutin.

Conclusion: a new agenda or Central Asian studies

This article has argue that western geplitical iscurse misrepresents ancnstructs Central Asia as inherently an particularly angerus. In cnsieringa range rmal, practical an ppular sites where such geplitical knwlegeis articulate an the regin mae knwable t a US an UK auience, we haveientie three imensins enangerment in the ienticatin Central Asiaas obscure, orientalan ractious. These articulatins are pervasive because they aremutually reinrcing. They are nt merely bjectinable because their inaccu-racies an cruities. Frm evelpment ai an cmmercial ties t electin bser-vatin, security assistance an the uning acaemic research an echanges,many imensins western plicies twars Central Asia are cnstitute in terms these three imensins a geplitical iscurse enangerment. Thus, wecnten, the western iscurse anger actually enangers Central Asia in thatit inrms misguie plicy interventins. The iscurse anger shapes much

90 Jhn Heathershaw, Tajikistans virtual plitics peace, EuropeAsia Studies 61: 7, Sept. 2009, pp. 131536.91 Christph Zrcher an clleagues, Analysis o peace and conict potential in Rasht Valley, Shuraobad District and

GBAO (Berlin: Analysis Research Cnsulting, March 2004); Michael Barnett an Christph Zrcher, Thepeacebuilers cntract: hw eternal state-builing reinrces weak stateh, in Rlan Paris an TimthySisk, es, The dilemmas o statebuilding (Lnn: Rutlege, 2009).


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the language thrugh which knwlege abut the regin is pruce ancmmunicate.

Because anger, imness an istance are intertwine, Central Asia presents an

unclear an uncertain anger rather than a clear an present ne. This seems tchallenge the mainstream Cpenhagen Schl cnceptualizatin security,92 inthat it suggests that security threats, rather than being regare as eistential anreuiring etrarinary cuntermeasures, can in given spaces an at given times betreate with inierence an even neglect. The measures escribe abve that havebeen taken against the Central Asian security threats ientie in the iscurse anger are uite rinary technlgies internatinal cnict reslutin ansecurity assistance rather than etrarinary acts military interventin. It issurely the spatial imaging istance between Them an Us that generates simul-taneus anger an inierence in western geplitical iscurse an practice.

Our argument es nt seek t prvie a ttal accunt western gepliticalthinking n the regin, much less a critiue the whle Central Asian stuies.Our claim is nt that Central Asia es nt have its angers, but that the way theseangers are represente in western public iscurse are ar remve rm the waythey are unerst in Central Asia an in much serius schlarship n the regin.We nt claim that all acaemic, jurnalistic an plicy-riente representatins the regin are unirmly inecte with these istrtins. Nr we claimthat these representatins translate irectly an cnsistently int reign plicy.Hwever, a iscursive ecnmy security has emerge in these els where itpays t speak in terms essential angers. The iscurse we have cuse n islargely a western r, mre accurately, an Angl-American ne because this is the

iscurse which has salience within ur sciety an gvernment in the UK. WithinCentral Asian stuies in the western wrl the iscurse is nt un euallyan universally but is cncentrate in the stuy cnict reslutin, securityan internatinal plitics. Discurses anger abut Central Asia are un inRussian an ther language iscurses within the regin as well as utsie it. Theyare ten intertetually linke with the English-language literature. Fr eample,the Russian el cnict stuies (koniktologiya)raws n sme the cannicalwrk in the western el cnict reslutin while imbuing it with alteremeanings.93 The iscurse ebbs an ws as the cnceptualizatins angersshit ver time. The prblem with the iscurse anger is nt that ther striesare nt being tl, but that t ten they all n ea ears. They are just nt ascnvenient, nt in keeping with certain presuppsitins that hl ast, an mayreuire a greater egree knwlege an eperience Central Asia in rer tbe unerst. Plitical palatability, Myer argues, remains a strng criterin inetermining which interpretatins Central Asian plitical an scial ynamicsgain an ascenancy.94

92 Barry Buzan, Ole Waever an Jaap e Wile, Security: a new ramework or analysis (Buler, CO: LynneRienner, 1998).

93 Maeleine Reeves, Lcating anger: koniktologiia an the search r ity in the Ferghana Valley brerlans,Central Asian Survey 24: 1, 2005, pp. 6781.

94 Myer, Islam and colonialism,p. 269.


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The iscurse anger als wrks in its silences. We claim that Islamism,brer cnict an great pwer cmpetitin are nt the primary ynamics anger in Central Asia. We argue here in the case Osh an in ur wier wrk that

these things are typically secnary imprtance t the plitics natinalisman pliticalecnmic relatins, particularly the ynamics rganize crimean the vulnerabilities generate by integratin int the glbal market ecnmy.These are the missins the narrative anger. Critical enuiry n CentralAsia that speaks these silences remains in its inancy, but a cunternarrative isemerging amng bth lcal an reign prucers geplitical knwlege. Inppular culture, Kyrgyz lm-maker Marat Alykulv represents The brer (inhis 2006 lm Chekara) as a site state vilence against citizens.95 In plicy analysis,American iplmat Richar Hlbrke has challenge hyperblic western intel-ligence analyses Islamic militancy in Tajikistan.96 A cnsierable number acaemic stuies have nw emerge which reveal the rle the iscurse anger in prucing practical knwlege the regin. They eplre the alterna-tive lcal iscurses an practices living lie at the brer,97 practising Islam,98cping with pverty,99 being emale,100 an eperiencing migratin.101 As mrean mre western jurnalists, acaemics an plicy-makers accrue eperience elwrk in the regin these cunternarratives may becme mre cmmn. Mstimprtantly, as the pst-Sviet generatin yung Central Asians take a greaterplace in prucing knwlege abut the regin it shul becme mre icultt sustain the cruest istrtins. Cllabrative knwlege pructin with thisnew generatin is surely the key t challenging the iscurse anger.

Nevertheless, we shul be neither sel-righteus nr cmplacent abut the

task. We nt suggest that such accunts, incluing ur wn, can pruce knwl-ege entirely uncrrupte by ielgy, epeiency r pwer. All prucers knwlege epart r the el bwing uner the weight ur wn culture.102Mrever, ur critical enuiries are limite value i they nt speak thevery real insecurities ace by Central Asians. The aim any cunternarrativet the iscurse anger must be t reveal sme the iverse eperiences anger as elt by iniviuals, amilies an cmmunities in the ace natinalism,capitalist restructuring an new mes territrial gvernance: in shrt, t help

95 Marat Alykulv (irectr), Chek ara (Bishkek: Kyrgyzlm / Oy Art, 2006).96 Jhnsns Russia List, Oxord analytica and ambassadors response [re: Tajikistan], 17 March 2006, http://www.ci.

rg/russia/jhnsn/20066718.cm, accesse 18 July 2006.

97 Maeleine Reeves, Brer-wrk: an ethngraphy the state at its limits in the Ferghana Valley, PhD iss.,Cambrige University, 2007.

98 Jhan Rasanayagam, Healing with spirits an the rmatin Muslim self in pst-Sviet Uzbekistan,Journal o the Royal Anthropological Society (n.s.) 12: 2, 2006, pp. 37793.

99 Jakb Rigi, The cnitins pst-Sviet ispssesse yuth an wrk in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Critique oAnthropology 23: 1, 2003, pp. 3549.

100 Carline Kenney-Pipe, Whse security? State-builing an the emancipatin wmen in Central Asia,International Relations 18: 1, 2004, pp. 91107.

101 Maeleine Reeves, Travels in the margins the state: everyay gegraphy in the Ferghana Valley brerlans,in Je Sahae an Russell Zanca, es, Everyday lie in Central Asia: past and present (Blmingtn: InianaUniversity Press, 2007).

102 A. C. G. M. Rbben an Carlyn Nrstrm, Intructin: the anthrplgy an ethngraphy vilencean sciplitical cnict, in Rbben an Nrstrm, es, Fieldwork under fre: contemporary studies o violenceand survival(Berkeley: University Calirnia Press, 1995 ), p. 14.


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us t rea an write Central Asias place in glbal plitics ierently. In ing sthey cntest an estabilize the geplitical gaze upn which the iscurse anger is base. Once we have mitigate the angers that we, as schlars Central

Asia, pse t the regin, we may be better place t cntribute t mitigating thenumerus ther angers that its peple ace.

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Heather Shaw Megoran - Contesting Danger

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