Article: Global Disorder, Middle Powers, and the Next POTUS
This article shares findings from a conference held in Astana. The main takeaways from this conference were of future foreign policy goals that both the US and Kazakhstan should work towards and adopt in terms of countering Russian and Chinese influence against the West/United States. Out of the five Central Asian “stans” (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan,) Kazakhstan is emerging as the strongest and is an important middle power in the international system. The article mentions Kazakhstan’s “multi-vector approach” in its foreign policy. In other words, how they align themselves with multiple allies. However, Kazakhstan is looking to form stronger ties to the United States for their own development despite their history with Russia and alliance with China which are the main adversaries to the United States. Overall, I think this article does a good job at highlighting an area/country that the US has not delved into mch in the past, and how continued overlooking of this region would mean missing out on opportunities to counter their main adversaries. Because Kazakhstan has adopted a western model for their government and economy, a strong alliance with the United States would enable their growth as a current middle power. On top of this need, I think Kazakhstan is also aware of the fact that their alliance with Russia and China can only go so far, and because their style of government is not autocratic/communist, China ultimately won’t help them as much with Kazakhstan’s development as a prosperous and stable democratic power. As for Russia, they they are aware that Russia is weakening severely with the Ukraine War, and getting tangled up in that would only go against Kazakhstan’s national interest and goals. Additionally, if they were to align themselves more closely with either China or Russia, that would shut the door to any future of a stronger alliance with the United States which would ultimately serve Kazakhstan much more. As for the United States, a stronger alliance with Kazakhstan which is the strongest middle power in Central Asia currently, they would possibly be able to gain more intel on their adversaries considering that Kazakhstan borders both China and Russia. With Trump coming back for his second presidential term, I hope to see him take up stronger relations with Kazakhstan as it poses great benefits in countering our main adversaries which are strong powers as it is. In terms of Kazakhstan’s multi-vector approach which President Tokayev has coined, I think this is a prime example of fluidity of alliances in the realistic approach to international relations taught in class. Kazakhstan has aligned itself on friendly terms with many global assets, essentially balancing their relations with various global powers and not strongly aligning them with either the current status quo or revisionist powers. Of course, this may change now that they seek to form stronger ties with the United States, which could possibly disrupt their alliance with China or Russia, showing the fluidity of alliances and relations between nations.