Study title

This data collection consists of 143 semi-structured interviews, conducted in Central Asia, Russia, China and the UK. The interviews are narrative-based or ethnographic in type and relate to experiences of and responses to minor armed conflicts in Central Asia. Many were initially conducted in foreign languages. The dataset includes both originals and English translations.

The project aims to explain the reasons for and the consequences of the failure of Western approaches to conflict management to gain traction in Post-Soviet Central Asia. It contrasts these approaches with those promoted by Russia and China, both bilaterally and through regional organisations, and looks at the effects of these on national conflict management strategies. The project’s case studies are three significant outbreaks of violence in recent years: (1) Khorog, Tajikistan, 2012; (2) Rasht valley, Tajikistan, 2010-11; (3) Osh, Kyrgyzstan, 2010. The project team will conduct interviews in London, Beijing and Moscow with policymakers, academics and NGOs, to assess the ways in which policymakers framed and understood these conflict situations. Fieldwork in Central Asia will assess societal and state practices of conflict management which may diverge from those prescribed in Western approaches. The research seeks to improve our understandings of such divergent approaches to conflict management with the aim of more effective responses to conflict in the region, in the context of emerging relations between Rising Powers and the West. Furthermore it will explore the effects of conflict management on the formation of states in Post-Soviet Central Asia.