Authors

Firdavs Kobilov¹;  ¹ University of Glasgow, UK

Discussion

Following the leadership transition in Uzbekistan resulting from the death of the first president, Karimov, and the election of Mirziyoyev as the new president in 2016, the new government came with a renewed vision of domestic affairs and direction for external relations. Prioritising the Central Asian region in its foreign policy, Mirziyoyev tried to mend strained relations with the neighbouring countries that led to the thaw in relations. The advent of a new leader marked a transformative phase in Uzbekistan's foreign policy, as evidenced by a series of strategic modifications that considerably shaped the trajectory of its external relations, diverging notably from the foreign policy pursued under Karimov's administration, orienting toward more regionalism policy. This policy caused more positive outcome in addressing long-standing regional problems such as water management, border demarcation and delimitation, re-establishing interrupted intraregional transport links, opening borders. Besides, Uzbekistan has initiated political and economic mechanism that can boost regional cooperation.
This research aims to examine from the analytical framework perspective why do new leaders choose regionalism as a priority in their foreign policy following leadership change in the transit regimes. The main methodological tool of this research is semi-structured political elite interviews, who have access to either the decision-making process or implementation of foreign policy. The main research question why President Mirziyoyev promotes regionalism in Central Asia and what factors influenced his choice toward enhanced regional foreign policy. Besides my research focuses on the role of China and Russia in shaping regional affairs in Central Asia and how Central Asian countries, particularly Uzbekistan should establish the relations with these external actors. Especially, it has became one of the vital issues in the current ongoing war period.
Key words: Central Asia, Uzbekistan's foreign policy, regional cooperation, regionalism, water management, border disputes, leadership perception.