EVOLUTION OF THE EUROPEAN UNION’S ENGAGEMENT WITH CENTRAL ASIA

Abstract

The European Union (EU) is one of the most important partners for Central Asia, which includes five post-soviet Republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. For a long time, the EU has actively attempted to promote its standards and values across the area. This article investigates the evolution of the EU engagement with Central Asia, giving a document analysis of 2007 and 2019 EU Strategies for Central Asia. The purpose of the article is to compare the main objectives of the 2007 and 2019 Strategies, tracing an evolution of the EU priorities in the texts of two documents, using a quantitative content analysis, conducted manually. Theoretical framework of the article includes the external government concept in EU foreign policy, giving a literature review on the EU’s Strategies for Central Asia, and highlighting the background on the EU-Central Asia relations. In result, according to the empirical method of the content analysis of two strategies, the article concludes the EU’s priorities in Central Asia have been evolved revising European relationship with Central Asia from the focus on energy towards regional cooperation within Central Asia and security issues.