Competitive institutionalized cooperation in Central Asia and externally guided regionalism

This study examines regionalism and regionalization as political phenomena, with a particular focus on Central Asia. The paper addresses a simple question: How and why has regionalism in Central Asia evolved into its current form? Despite the rapid development of regional cooperation and an increase in institutional frameworks in the area, scepticism about the prospects for successful regional cooperation persists in both academic and public policy circles. At the same time, there is a strong desire among stakeholders for a firmly institutionalized regionalism. To explain the characteristics and direction of regionalism, this paper proposes an analytical framework comprising three essential but non-exhaustive elements: positionality, motivation, and functionality. By utilizing multiple empirical sources related to the region and applying them to this framework, the paper demonstrates how and why Central Asian regionalism can be defined as an externally guided regionalism.