From the Gulf to Central Asia

Players in the New Great Game

Contributions by Mohammad Hariri Akbari, Andrew Michael Apostolou, Anoushiravan Ehteshami, Riad Najib El-Rayyes, Paul A. Goble, Rosemary Hollis, Eric Hooglund, Z. I. Munavvarov, Vitaly Naumkin, Martha Brill Olcott, Valeria F. Piacentini, G. Reza Sabri-Tabrizi, Maxim Shashenkov, Mahmood Gazi Tabatabaie, Alexei Vassiliev, Mai Yamani Edited by Anoushiravan Ehteshami

Publication date:

01 February 1995

Length of book:

260 pages

Publisher

University of Exeter Press

ISBN-13: 9780859894302

The demise of the Soviet Union, and the emergence of independent republics in its wake, have had profound implications for the regions on its periphery. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Caucasus and Central Asia. The essays in this book explore the complex ways in which these republics have found both independence and a new regional identity in their relations with the neighbouring Middle East.

Religion, hydro-carbons, transportation needs and ethnic relations with the Gulf States have been rediscovered by the new republics, the study of which provides the basic subject matter for the book. The interests and activities of other regional powers are not excluded, with particular attention being given to the playing out of Russian, Turkish and American interests in countering the perceived rise of political Islam in the Caucasus and Central Asia.

List of Contributors

Foreword; Sir Anthony Parsons

Preface; Anoushiravan Ehteshami

1. The 50 Million Muslim Misunderstanding: The West and Central Asia Today, Paul A. Goble

2. Islamic Consciousness and Nationalist Ideology in Central Asia: What Role for Foreign Actors?, Martha Brill Olcott

3. Islam: Iranian and Saudi Arabian Religious and Geopolitical Competition in Central Asia, Valeria F. Piacentini

4. Saudi Arabia and Central Asia: The Islamic Connection, Mai Yamani

5. The Problems of Creating Economies in Central Asia, Andrew M. Apostolou

6. Central Asia, Persian Gulf and Regional Development Organizations, Mohammad H. Akbari and Mahmood G. Tabatabaie

7. Uzbekistan and the Gulf Co-operation Council: Perspectives of Political and Economic Co-operation, Z. I. Munavvarov

8. New Frontiers: Iran, the GCC and the CCARs, Anoushiravan Ehteshami

9. Iran and Central Asia, Eric Hooglund

10. Turkey and Iran in Transcaucasia and Central Asia, Alexei Vassiliev

11. Azerbaijan and Armenian Conflict and Coexistence, G. Reza Sabri-Tabrizi

12. Russia in Central Asia: Emerging Security Links, Maxim Shashenkov

13. Western Security Strategy in South West Asia, Rosemary Hollis

14. The Political and Security Linkages Between the Gulf and the Muslim States of CATR, Vitaly Naumkin

15. An Arab Perspective on the Central Asian Republics in the Context of the New World Order, Riad N. El-Rayyes

Index