UZBEKISTAN AND TAJIKISTAN: IS CONSTRUCTIVE POLICY A GAME CHANGER?

Abstract

On December 26th, 1991, only days away from the eve of New Year, the Soviet Union, the largest military, and the second largest economy in the world, collapsed without a single shot. It was the moment of greatest uncertainty in the whole history of human civilization. Never before had great powers ever collapsed so peacefully. While the fall of the Soviet Union set the stage for new multipolar world order, it has soon become quite evident the hardships of interpreting the nature of relations emerging from the dissolution of the Soviet Union. All these new entities were modelled after classical nation-state frameworks, although their historical evolution defied a specific culture or nation (certainly except for Russia). Hardest among the hardest is to decipher the politics of Central Asia, which was divided into five constituent republics without any historical precedence during the Soviet era. The relations between the two such republics - Uzbekistan and Tajikistan are particularly interesting. Historically both – Uzbekistan and Tajikistan were Soviet constituencies, loosely formed mainly for administrative purposes with abundant fault lines along the border. Until the end of Soviet rule, such fault lines hadn’t mattered, as everything was under the firm control of soviet disciplinary muscles. After the fall of Soviet rule, both countries suddenly found themselves independent, which paved the way for the ups and downs in their relations. In this work, I will try to explore the nature and patterns of this relationship through the lens of realist, liberal, and constructivist theories of international relations.