Abstract
As noted in the introduction, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is often characterised as little more than a Russian—Chinese geopolitical device to counter the increased US presence in Central Asia. From this perspective, the intraregional focus and functions of the SCO are considered to be relatively empty and unimportant as compared with its role in keeping the Central Asian Republics within the Russian—Chinese orbit. In the preceding chapters, this study has sought to challenge this concept, by arguing that the main driving dynamics of the SCO come from addressing the common concerns of its member states about domestic and regional security, complemented by an organisational framework that facilitates common norms but does not question the member states’ control over state sovereignty. However, this book does not exclude the SCO from having a role in the wider regional landscape of Central Asia or the international system, but it does argue that this role is of secondary importance to its own internal dynamics.
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© 2011 Stephen Aris
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Aris, S. (2011). External Policy: Common Narrative, Other Eurasian Organisations and Expansion of Membership. In: Eurasian Regionalism. Critical Studies of the Asia Pacific Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230307643_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230307643_6
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-33044-7
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-30764-3
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