Central Asia : present challenges and future prospects

This volume captures the post-Soviet transformation of Central Asia and examines various developments that have brought the region into international prominence. Of the three parts, the first one analyses the internal dimensions of transformation and concentrates on the political apparatus and state structures, economic aspects, problems of ethnicity and nationalism, and the role of religion and its transnational linkages in Central Asia.

The second part explores the strategic context of Central Asia and focusses especially on cooperation and competition between various regional and extra-regional powers, particularly the US, Russia and China, in their attempts to enhance influence over the region and gain control over the hydrocarbon reserves. This section also probes the relations of the Central Asian states with the neighbouring countries, Turkey, Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan.

The third section of the volume deals exclusively with Indo-Central Asian relations. It focusses primarily on new policy challenges confronted by India after the emergence of independent states in the Eurasian region, especially in the context of great power interplay and the continuously. changing Eurasian strategic landscape. Apart from India's security concerns, the chapters in this section also emphasise the economic aspects of Indo-Central Asian relations.