EU - Central Asian Civil Societal Relations: Unrealistic Expectations, Discouraging Results

  • Sureyya Yigit School of Politics and Diplomacy, New Vision University, Georgia
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18543/ced.2558
Keywords: civil society, European Union, Central Asia, democratization, NGOs

Abstract

Central Asia has endured three decades of multiple transitions. The political life of these post-Soviet states has witnessed an active phase of education and reform of the main vectors of development. The most important international actor that has supported and encouraged this process has been the European Union. From the outset, it must be stated that civil societal development has not met the expectations of the immediate post-Cold War period. Any society in transition must correlate its actions with its historical experience based not only on opportunities and flexibility related to the state but also on civil society, representing the quintessential spirit of the people, defining the contours of reform and the potential of society as a whole. One may assert that successful public change largely depends on the institutional matrix and socio-cultural features that can both drive change and create an environment of resistance. Therefore, this research aims to provide insight into the theoretical comprehension concerning Central Asian political reform expectations and to investigate the interaction between Central Asian civil society and the EU.

Received: 30 May 2022
Accepted: 25 July 2022

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Author Biography

Sureyya Yigit, School of Politics and Diplomacy, New Vision University, Georgia

Professor of Politics and International Relations at the School of Politics and Diplomacy, New Vision University, Tbilisi, Georgia. He is a graduate of the London School of Economics, Cambridge University and Donetsk National University. He has been the Senior Consultant to the Zhenskaya Demokratichyskaya Set Kyrgyzstana (ZDS) Women’s Democracy Network in the Kyrgyz Republic since 2013 and a consultant to London-based Aeropodium since 2018. He was Chairman of the Board of Governors of the New York-based Regional Development Studies Institute from 2019-2021. He was a part-time lecturer at Istanbul Aydin University from 2012-2015. He is the author of several books and scientific articles on energy security, United States - China trade relations, Citizenship, European foreign policy, Eurasian Economic Union developments and Mongolian democratisation. His current research interests are chiefly focused on EU migration, African Union - EU relations, digital transformation, the Ukraine crisis, Georgian 20th Century developments and Mongolian foreign policy.

Published
2022-10-28
How to Cite
Yigit, Sureyya. 2022. “EU - Central Asian Civil Societal Relations: Unrealistic Expectations, Discouraging Results”. Deusto Journal of European Studies, no. 05 (October), 149-204. https://doi.org/10.18543/ced.2558.
Issue
No. 05 (2022): SPECIAL ISSUE. European Union-Asia Pacific social and cultural dialogue: involving civil society in interregional relations
Section
Articles

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