scholarly journals Iran’s Soft Power Tools in Kyrgyzstan

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-31
Author(s):  
Elena G. Garbuzarova

The article examines the use of “soft power” tools used by Iran in relation to Kyrgyzstan. The analysis of the evolving fundamental concepts of Iranian foreign policy in Central Asia allowed us to trace a shift in the Islamic Republic’s international priorities in the region. Objective logic prompted the Iranian leadership to move from “exporting the Islamic revolution” to the pragmatic model of pursuing its national interests. Iran has consecutively incorporated soft power tools into its foreign policy activities in Central Asia. Given the pressure from the sanctions imposed by the United States, Iran attaches particular importance to improving the effectiveness of its soft power in order to expand cooperation horizons with the outside world. By the end of the 20th century, Iran’s leadership had already laid the foundations of its cultural diplomacy in the region, which mainly served to promote influence through the export of cultural values. The Iranian approach to soft power in world politics is based on the principles of reciprocity between different civilizations and peaceful coexistence of all countries and peoples. Through the Persian language, philosophy, literature and poetry, Iran influences the population of the Central Asian region, mainly the peoples sharing certain features with the Turkic-speaking world. Iran’s cultural and educational activities in Kyrgyzstan have demonstrated noticeable dynamics: the spread of soft power of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Kyrgyzstan is carried out through cultural institutions and educational projects. Despite the fact that Kyrgyzstan is culturally more inclined towards the Turkic world, the experience shows that Iran’s cultural values also find support among the population of the republic.

2021 ◽  
pp. 177-192
Author(s):  
Nicole BODISHTEANU

The author considers main external and internal factors of the formation of the Eurasian track in foreign policy of the Republic of Moldova from 2009 to 2020. Among main internal factors of the development of the Eurasian (as opposed to European) track of foreign policy, the author singles out: 1) coming to power of the pro-Russian president I. Dodon; 2) current orientation of the economy on the market of the CIS countries; 3) pro-Western parliamentary contingent and representatives of the Party of Action and Solidarity led by M. Sandu, who, on the contrary, helps to blur this track. Among external factors, the author does put an accent on: 1) the influence of the Ukrainian crisis on public opinion of Moldovan citizens towards Western institutions, and as a result, the growing popularity of the «pro-Russian» foreign policy direction; 2) «soft power» of the Russian Federation, mostly concentrated on a common language (Russian) and cultural values (literature, historical past, etc.); 3) willingness of Eurasian partners (mainly the Russian Federation) to provide assistance in crisis situations at no cost, unlike European and Western institutions, which traditionally indicate a number of democratic transformations in the recipient country as one of the conditions for providing assistance. The author comes to the conclusion that the Eurasian track of the foreign policy of the Republic of Moldova is still in its «infancy», but it has great potential and promises interesting prospects for a small state with a favorable geographical position, located at the crossroads of the most important transport routes between the West and the East.


2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Imelda Masni Juniaty Sianipar

On October 20, 2014, Joko Widodo or familiarly known as Jokowi was sworn in as the Seventh President of the Republic of Indonesia. The majority of Indonesian society supports Jokowi because He is simple, honest and populist. The presence of populist leaders in international politics often attracts the attention of Western countries, particularly the United States. Populist leaders are often considered as the authoritarian leaders, anti-democratic, anti-Western, anti-foreign and anti-market. Hugo Chavez from Venezuela and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from Iran are the examples. Chavez and Ahmadinejad are considered as threats by the United States because they challenge the United States led regional and global order. This article will examine the direction of Jokowi’s foreign policy. This article argues that Jokowi is a moderate populist leader. Jokowi is friendly to other countries including the West but still prioritize the national interests. Thus, Indonesia under Jokowi is not a threat to other countries and the West. In fact, they can work together to achieve their common national interests. Keywords: populism, foreign policy, Indonesia, jokowi, moderate populism


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 781-790
Author(s):  
Stanislav Aleksamdrovish Pritchin

With its key geostrategic position in the center of the Eurasian continent, Uzbekistan has a prominent impact on the nature of the development of interregional relations in Central Asia. After the transit of power in the republic that took place in 2016, a gradual transformation of Uzbekistans foreign policy model was carried out - from a closed and isolated to a proactive one. This led to several major changes - there was a significant improvement in both the nature of cooperation and the regional dialogue between the countries of Central Asia. The author analyzes the changes in Uzbekistans foreign policy in the Afghan direction, their reasons and the impact they had on the position of the republic both in the Central Asian region and in the international arena. This is especially relevant given both the importance of Afghanistan and Uzbekistan as partners for each other and the degree of threats posed by the difficult internal political situation in Afghanistan and holding back their bilateral interaction. As a methodological basis for the study, we used a systematic and comparative analysis of Uzbekistans approaches to solving security issues through the implementation of its foreign policy towards Afghanistan until 2016 and after. They also considered both internal factors influencing the formation of Uzbek approaches to the southern neighbor, and external ones. The theory of political realism was used as a theoretical basis for the study. The change of power in Uzbekistan in 2016 marked a radical revision of Tashkents approaches to the Afghan vector of its foreign policy. Uzbekistan has begun to implement a strategy to stabilize the situation in Afghanistan through the pragmatic development of economic cooperation and support for a peaceful inter-Afghan dialogue, abandoning a rigid isolation policy towards its southern neighbor. At the same time, the main emphasis in mediation activities was placed on formats that were supported by the United States. Thus, today, thanks to the revitalization of its Afghan agenda, Uzbekistan is actively increasing its authority in the international arena as an important regional player for Afghan regulation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 015-024
Author(s):  
Ahmet Berdiyev ◽  
Nurettin Can

Throughout history, Central Asia was seen as a vital region by the great powers that struggled for the influence in this region in the past. After the breakdown of the Soviet Union, new independent states have emerged in Central Asia. This article provides an analysis of China’s implementation of foreign policy towards Central Asian states through soft power. China recently implemented the idea of soft power as a crucial foreign policy instrument. The study focuses on the fact that soft diplomacy can be essential in forming an attractive image of China in the international arena. Furthermore, it argues that China’s ambition to become more authoritative in the region is associated with the activation of efforts in its soft power policy. Employment of soft power is entirely determined by China’s national interests. It is in China’s national interests to establish a secure and peaceful climate for its economic advance, to adjust its vast and growing energy needs, and to curtail the domination of other powerful actors. Thus, this article offers an analysis of China’s soft power and its application within the Central Asian region in pursuit of its foreign policy tasks. The paper aims to solve the following problem: What is China’s soft power and how does it use it in the Central Asian states? To address the problem, we compare Chinese soft power to the policy of other regional actors. The goal is to study China’s foreign policy in Central Asia, with the purpose of highlighting Chinese political strategy in the region. The article begins with the discussion of China’s foreign policy chief aims and objectives to understand the meaning of good neighborhood diplomacy, which forms the basis of China’s soft power diplomacy in Central Asia.


1949 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 308-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Yale

Attempts to explain world politics in terms of the clashes of sharply defined national interests have an air of unreality. This is because of the unequal interest of groups of the population in any particular course of official action. The little known and obscure, but historically important episode with which this article deals, describes the impact of one influential private group on foreign policy, even after the President of the United States had made an official determination of policy. It also throws light on the way in which a private group can operate through and with a foreign government, whose interests are parallel to its own, to change the direction of American policy. Similarly it illustrates how a foreign government can mould its relations with the United States (or with most countries) by developing a policy with a special appeal to particularly influential groups in that country.


Author(s):  
O. M. Andreeva ◽  
L. Avetisyan

It is stated that the Armenian community in the USA is one of the largest and most influential in the world. It is proved that the numerous Armenian community of the USA plays a prominent role in the development of Armenian-American relations. It is shown that the urgent issues for the development of the Armenian Diaspora is to overcome contradictions and competition within the Armenian Diaspora, especially among its most active organizations dealing with political issues. It will solve specific foreign policy tasks and promote the unification of the Armenian Diaspora based on group identity and common goals. The Armenian organizations, acting separately, complicate integration and unification within the community itself, lead to competition and disunity in defending its interests not only in the United States, but also in the world. It is determined that numerous Armenian Diaspora, famous and influential personalities of Armenian origin, national organizations and lobby groups are the “soft power” of Armenia. The Diaspora provides significant and comprehensive support to Armenian diplomacy in advancing national interests, especially in matters of international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide, the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and overcoming the many economic problems that Armenia faces today. During the post-bipolar period, the Armenian Diaspora in America was quite active namely because of participation in various international organizations. To a certain extent, the Diaspora of Armenia followed the common tradition of using intergovernmental and intergovernmental associations to solve the problems of their states. On the other hand, the Armenian Diaspora confidently applied the method of "complementarily policy". This policy envisaged the deep involvement of the Republic of Armenia in the process of discussing and promoting projects of international organizations of various levels in the foreign policy of leading, influential states of the world and, first of all, the United States. In this regard, it is relevant to study the active and successful activities of the Armenian Diaspora in the United States. It is proved that Armenian Diaspora, with its rich international experience, seeks to integrate into American politics, which represents valuable experience for Ukraine, which has a significant Diaspora in the USA and Canada.


2018 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-67
Author(s):  
Dusko Dimitrijevic

The current relations of the Republic of Serbia with the People?s Republic of China (hereinafter: Serbia and China) are conditioned by many political, economic, legal and social factors. The mentioned factors point to the existence of asymmetry in many aspects which, however, is not an issue that implies that the two parties can not develop good and friendly relations. In the historical and international legal sense, the relations of the two countries are characterized by the continuity of diplomatic relations established on January 2, 1955, between the then Federal People's Republic Yugoslavia and the People's Republic of China. Serbia as the successor state of SFR Yugoslavia continues to treat China as one of its most important partners in international relations, which is manifested through the foreign policy course, according to which China is one of the main ?pillars? of Serbia's foreign policy alongside the European Union, Russia and the United States. The mere reference to the main ?pillars? in Serbia's foreign policy orientation indicates that China is a key player in world politics and a great power with which Serbia needs to build relations of a ?comprehensive strategic partnership?. It is not surprising, therefore, that the deepening of the Serbian-Chinese relations on a bilateral and multilateral level (especially within the UN, regional international organizations and political forums such as the 16 + 1 mechanism between China and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe) contributed to better strategic positioning of Serbia in modern international relations.


Author(s):  
L. R. Rustamova

In recent years, a number of foreign policy concepts declared the importance of using the instruments of "soft power" to promote the national interests of a country. Soft power is the ability through political values, culture and foreign policy to influence others by forming attractiveness [18]. Germany is generally recognized as the leader in the resources of "soft power." The article discusses what kind of resources are deployed by Germany to increase its "soft power" in the Muslim direction of foreign policy. The Muslim world has its own specifics, which complicate the use of instruments of "soft power." Countries with large Muslim population are difficult to influence, as they differ from Europe in the civilizational respect, have their own customs and traditions which they strictly follow because of the nature of Muslim religion. The author notes that in the Muslim direction of foreign policy the problem for Germany lies in the fact that the formation of its attractiveness resulted in a significant flow of immigration of Muslims in the country. A part of immigrant Muslims tries to live isolated from European society, professes radical currents ofIslam and participates in military conflicts abroad, participation in which in the role of active player is ruled out by Germany. Failure to integrate them into German society and the lack of progress in the formation of its positive image in the Muslim countries resulted, on the one hand, in the split of German society, on the other hand, in the threat of absorption by foreign civilization, as it is observed now in Germany the presence of "soft power" of Muslim countries, which use its former and current citizens to influence German political course. The article was written within the constructivist methodology, which consider the "soft power" as a way of construction of social reality with the use of tangible and intangible resources for the formation of an attractive image of Germany in world politics.


Author(s):  
M.K. Anlamassova ◽  
◽  
R.T. Japparova ◽  
A.Zh. Mukazhanova ◽  
◽  
...  

Soft power is one of the tools used by the USA to achieve its goals in the international arena. With its soft power tools, the USA tries to shape the ideas and beliefs, economic, political, social and cultural values of other societies and to legitimize its foreign policy attitudes and behaviors in their eyes. In other words, it tries to create an international policy environment that can carry out its policies comfortably with soft power tools. In this framework, the study examines the soft power policy and tools of the USA


2020 ◽  
pp. 54-59
Author(s):  
Philipp Zakharov

The foreign policy of Uzbekistan has become more dynamic and the country has moved confidently along the path of its interests since Shavkat M. Mirziyoyev came to power. The new President of Uzbekistan has launched an ambitious course to get the Republic the status of a regional leader. Uzbekistan actively uses soft power as one of the tools of its foreign policy. The author analyzes and compares the activities of the previous and current leadership of Uzbekistan in implementing integration processes and extending its influence to other states of the Central Asian region. In the conclusion, the author notes the pronounced course of modern Uzbekistan in interaction not only with the countries of the region, but also with such powers as Russia, China and the United States.


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