Each major geopolitical event or crisis in the Eurasian region has animated discussions on whether the Central Eurasi an region will overcome its condition as a periphery\, cease being the ‘ne ar abroad’ of the metropole\, or become further entrenched within the auth oritarian regional institutional framework under Sino-Russian partnership. The protracted nature of Russia’s war on Ukraine has once again brought t hese questions to the fore.
This lecture considers how Central Eura sian states are signaling their autonomy and agency by developing alternat ive visions of regional cooperation and integration\, infrastructural and trade connectivity\, membership of the regional structures. Using a critic al geopolitical framework\, the lecture will ask how the Central Eurasian region is being reconfigured by the peripheries through strategic cooperat ion with the metropole\, while resisting its incorporation into a ‘Greater Eurasia’ espoused by Russia and cultivating engagement and partnership wi th multiple regional and inter-regional institutional frameworks.