Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Spring 2026 - IS 322 D100

Central Asia: Conflict and Security (4)

Class Number: 3310

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Jan 5 – Apr 10, 2026: Fri, 2:30–5:20 p.m.
    Vancouver

  • Prerequisites:

    45 units. Recommended: IS 200.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Examines post-Soviet Central Asian states, with particular reference to the relationship among democratization, development, autocracy and conflict, and the role of external actors in transnational security issues in the region. Students with credit for IS 412 may not take this course for further credit.

COURSE DETAILS:

This course examines conflict, security, and political order in post-Soviet Central Asia from independence to the present. It explores how historical legacies, authoritarian governance, nation-building, political violence, and external power relations have shaped the region’s contemporary security landscape. Rather than treating Central Asia as a peripheral or passive space, the course approaches it as a region where state-building, regime consolidation, and geopolitical competition intersect in distinctive ways. Through historical analysis and comparative case studies, students examine how borders, resources, religion, and political crises have influenced patterns of stability, repression, and conflict across the region.

The course also situates Central Asia within broader international and global contexts, including relations with Russia, China, the United States, and regional and international organizations. Special attention is given to the impact of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Central Asian states’ foreign policies, sovereignty concerns, and regional alignment. Designed as a seminar, the course emphasizes critical reading, discussion, research development, and applied analysis. Students engage with scholarly debates, policy-relevant questions, and real-world scenarios through discussion, research workshops, and a final role-playing simulation that brings together the course’s core themes.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

  1. Explain how historical legacies of imperial and Soviet rule have shaped state formation, borders, and security dynamics in contemporary Central Asia.
  2. Analyze variation in authoritarian governance and nation-building strategies across Central Asian states and assess their implications for regime stability and conflict.
  3. Evaluate episodes of political violence, uprising, and civil war as formative moments in post-independence state- and regime-building.
  4. Assess how borders, resources, and localized conflicts interact with identity, governance, and state–society relations.
  5. Critically examine the role of religion in Central Asian politics, including processes of securitization and regime control.
  6. Analyze Central Asia’s relations with major external actors (Russia, China, the United States) and regional and international organizations.
  7. Assess the consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for Central Asian sovereignty, regional balance of power, and foreign policy strategies.
  8. Develop and present a focused research proposal that demonstrates clear research design, analytical framework, and engagement with relevant literature.
  9. Apply theoretical and empirical knowledge to real-world policy dilemmas through participation in a role-playing simulation involving diplomacy, negotiation, and alliance-building.

Grading

  • Seminar Participation and Engagement 30%
  • News Tracking and Current Affairs 10%
  • Research Proposal Presentation 10%
  • Research Paper 30%
  • Simulation Exercise 20%

NOTES:

Student performance in this course will be evaluated through a combination of seminar participation, research-based assignments, applied analysis, and collaborative learning activities. The assessment structure is designed to support the development of critical thinking, research skills, and the ability to apply theoretical and empirical knowledge to real-world security and political challenges in Central Asia.

Graduate students will have extra assignments or page lengths.

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

Isaacs, Rico & Erica Marat. Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Central Asia. London: Routledge.
ISBN: 9780429057977

McGlinchey, Eric. 2011. Chaos, Violence, Dynasty: Politics and Islam in Central Asia. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. pp52-78.

Ivanov, Yevgeny. 2022. “Revolutions in Kyrgyzstan.” In Handbook of Revolutions in the 21st Century, edited by Jack A. Goldstone, Leonid Grinin, and Andrey Korotayev. Cham: Springer.

International Crisis Group. 2005. Uzbekistan: The Andijon Uprising. Asia Briefing No. 38 (25 May), https://www.crisisgroup.org/sites/default/files/b38-uzbekistan-the-andijon-uprising.pdf

Tuncer-Kilavuz, Idil. 2011. “Understanding Civil War: A Comparison between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.” Europe-Asia Studies 63 (2): 263–290.

Haas, Marcel de. 2017. “Relations of Central Asia with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Collective Security Treaty Organization.” The Journal of Slavic Military Studies 30 (1): 1-16.

Aydın, M. Erkan, and Yifei Liu. 2024. “Organization of Turkic States: Diverse Motivations for a Common Aim.” Siyasal: Journal of Political Sciences 33 (1): 35–54.

Primiano, Christopher B., and Daniel C. O’Neill. 2025. “Central Asia and Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: Drifting Away from Moscow’s Orbit?” Asian Security 21 (3): 230–249.

Gfoeller, Tatiana. 2025. “What Russia’s War on Ukraine Means for Central Asia.” Atlantic Council, August 15.

Kuhrt, Natasha. 2025. “Sino-Russian Relations in Central Asia.” Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), August 19.

RECOMMENDED READING:

Khalid, Adeeb. 2021. Central Asia: A New History from Imperial Conquest to the Present. Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 1–16 & pp. 397-432.

Laruelle, Marlene. 2021. Central Peripheries: Nationhood in Central Asia. London: UCL Press. pp. 17-96.

Blackmon, Pamela. 2021. “After Karimov and Nazarbayev: Change in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan?” Central Asian Survey 40 (2): 179–96.

Abishev, Gaziz, Bakhytzhan Kurmanov, and Zhaxylyk Sabitov. 2024. “Authoritarian Succession, Rules, and Conflicts: Tokayev’s Gambit and Kazakhstan’s Bloody January of 2022 (Qandy Qantar).” Post-Soviet Affairs 40 (6): 429–51.

Hartman, Jeffrey W. 2016. The May 2005 Andijan Uprising: What We Know. Produced by Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and the Silk Road Studies Program

Hill, Fiona, and Kevin Jones. 2006. “Fear of Democracy or Revolution: The Reaction to Andijon.” The Washington Quarterly 29 (3): 109–25.

Richard Pomfret.  2019. The Central Asian Economies in the 21st Century: Paving a new Silk Road, Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp39-66.

Heathershaw, John, and David W. Montgomery. 2014. The Myth of Post-Soviet Muslim Radicalization in the Central Asian Republics. London: Chatham House, 14 November.

McGlinchey, Eric. 2009. Three Perspectives on Political Islam in Central Asia. PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo No. 76. September.

Hou, Pengfei. 2023. “Bridge or Base? Chinese Perceptions of Central Asia under Europeanisation.” Central Asian Survey 42 (3): 577–96.

Bitabarova, Assel G. 2018. “Unpacking Sino-Central Asian Engagement along the New Silk Road: A Case Study of Kazakhstan.” Journal of Contemporary East Asia Studies 7 (2): 149–73.

Freeman, Carla P. 2018. “New Strategies for an Old Rivalry? China–Russia Relations in Central Asia after the Energy Boom.” The Pacific Review 31 (5): 635–54.

Muhammadi, Rahat Iqbal, and Hashim Ali. 2023. “Central Asia and the Great Power Politics: An Analysis of China’s National Interest in the Region and U.S. Approach to China.” The Chinese Historical Review 30 (2): 228–40.

Laruelle, Marlene. 2015. “The US Silk Road: Geopolitical Imaginary or the Repackaging of Strategic Interests?” Eurasian Geography and Economics 56 (4): 360–75.

Ahmad, Ishtiaq. 2018. “Shanghai Cooperation Organization: China, Russia, and Regionalism in Central Asia.” In Initiatives of Regional Integration in Asia in Comparative Perspective, edited by Howard Loewen and Anja Zorob. Cham: Springer.

Koçak, Muhammet. 2023. “Potential of the Organization of Turkic States in the International System.” Insight Turkey 25 (4): 115–138.

Proń, Elżbieta. 2023. “China in Central Asia: The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, New Developments and Roles (2013–2021).” In China and Eurasian Powers in a Multipolar World Order 2.0, edited by Mher Sahakyan. New York: Routledge.

Barrios, Ricardo; Blackwood, Maria A.; Nelson, Rebecca M.; and Sutherland, Michael D. 2023. Central Asia: Implications of Russia’s War in Ukraine. Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service.

Adhikari, Bimal, and Daniya Turlina. 2025. “At UNGA, Central Asia’s Discourse on Russia–Ukraine Conflict Shifts.” The Diplomat, October 24.

Central Asia’s Sovereignty in the Shadow of the War in Ukraine. 2025. The Times of Central Asia, May.

REQUIRED READING NOTES:

Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

At SFU, you are expected to act honestly and responsibly in all your academic work. Cheating, plagiarism, or any other form of academic dishonesty harms your own learning, undermines the efforts of your classmates who pursue their studies honestly, and goes against the core values of the university.

To learn more about the academic disciplinary process and relevant academic supports, visit: 


RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION

Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the term are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.