The Non-Institutional Factors of Foreign Policy Decision-Making in Uzbekistan

Abstract

The article focuses on three non-institutional factors - president, role of ideology (policy orientation), and external environment of Uzbekistan (and Central Asia) and how they have been influencing over foreign policy decision-making in Uzbekistan since independence. Firstly, President is a nexus of power in Uzbekistan. The authority of President of Republic of Uzbekistan Islam A. Karimov is often described as something “never-surpassed” in Uzbekistan since the super presidential system with authoritarian features has been developed over two decades. Islam Karimov as the top decision-maker in the foreign policy decision-making process, has promoted the ‘preventive’ and ‘multilateral’ diplomacy not too much leaning on one state or power. Secondly, as of role of ideology (policy orientation), in Uzbekistan, ‘de-Sovietization’ and ‘pragmatism’ are the dominating ideas in the foreign policy decision-making under the Karimov administration. Uzbekistan in the beginning had some distance from Russia and tried to broaden diplomatic relations with the West and other states such as South Korea and Japan. The third non-institutional factor is External Environment. The Central Asian region, where Uzbekistan is belonging to, is located in the center of Eurasia. With its abundant energy resources, the economic value has been remarkably growing in recent years. In this regards, Central Asia has been drawing attentions of key international players as the arena of competition. While this external condition provides a variety of options for Uzbekistan such as the ‘equidistance diplomacy’ among regional powers, such environment often turns out as challenges and unstable factors against the stability of Uzbekistan at the same time.