The New Great Game in Muslim Central Asia

The dismantlement of the Soviet Union also brought about the liberation of six Central Asian Muslim republics - Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. These states are either primarily or substantially Muslim. They have no tradition or institutional memory of a democratic government. The level of education of their population is among the lowest in the region. As these states deal with this unique period of independence, they will also try to find their proper places in the world community. During this time, they will be influenced by various regional and extraregional actors who have their own agendas vis-vis these states. The old version of the "great game" might have entered history; the new version began soon after the breakup of the Soviet Union. It is this "great game - post-Cold War style" that is the topic of this study.

The originator of the phrase "great game" was J. W. Kay, who used it in his book, History of the War in Afghanistan, but Rudyard Kipling popularized it in his novel, Kim, to describe the 18th- and 19th-century rivalry between Britain and Russia over the Indian subcontinent. The territory of this struggle - characterized by intrigues and conspiracies - was the land between Russia and India.