Great Games, Local Rules: The New Great Power Contest in Central Asia

Cooley, Alexander

ISBN 10: 019933143X / ISBN 13: 9780199331437

Published by Oxford University Press, 2014

About this Item

This copy is in new condition. It is a softcover edition coming from Oxford University Press. It has not been used.

Seller Inventory # ABE-1780005174031

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Great Games, Local Rules: The New Great Power Contest in Central Asia
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication Date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 019933143X
• ISBN 13: 9780199331437
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New
• Dimensions: 15.75W x 23.11H x 1.78D centimeters 15.75 centimeters width by 23.11 centimeters height by 1.78 centimeters depth
• Weight: 0.875 pounds
• Seller catalogs:
  • Geopolitics
  • Politics

About this title

Synopsis

The struggle between Russia and Great Britain over Central Asia in the nineteenth century was the original "great game." But in the past quarter century, a new "great game" has emerged, pitting America against a newly aggressive Russia and a resource-hungry China, all struggling for influence over the same region, now one of the most volatile areas in the world: the long border region stretching from Iran through Pakistan to Kashmir.

In Great Games, Local Rules, Alexander Cooley, one of America's most respected international relations scholars, explores the dynamics of the new competition for control of the region since 9/11. All three great powers have crafted strategies to increase their power in the area, which includes Afghanistan and the former Soviet republics of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan. Each nation is pursuing important goals: basing rights for the US, access to natural resources for the Chinese, and increased political influence for the Russians.

However, overlooked in all of the talk about this new great game is fact that the Central Asian governments have proven themselves critical agents in their own right, establishing local rules for external power involvement that serve to fend off foreign interest. As a result, despite a decade of intense interest from the United States, Russia, and China, Central Asia remains a collection of segmented states, and the external competition has merely reinforced the sovereign authority of the individual Central Asian governments. A careful and surprising analysis of how small states interact with great powers in a vital region, Great Games, Local Rules greatly advances our understanding of how global politics actually works in the contemporary era.

About the Author

Alexander Cooley is the Tow Professor for Distinguished Scholars and Practitioners in the Department of Political Science at Barnard College, Columbia University. His books include Contracting States, Logics of Hierarchy, and Base Politics.