Lecture Abstract:

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 the “frozen” idea of Eurasia was swiftly re-incarnated on the political level as well as in the public and scholarly discourse. Post-Soviet Eurasia as a concept and as a polity appeared to be different from and more ambiguous than the its classical, pre-Soviet predecessor. This presentation is devoted to the analysis of the overall dynamics of what we call ‘changing geopolitics in Eurasia’ with all its complexities, progressive developments and reversals of post-Soviet transformation process. In includes periodization of geopolitical processes from the collapse of the Soviet Union to the current great power rivalry in the vast space that covers 1/6^th of Earth. It also discusses some empirical data and concludes with theoretical assumptions regarding the classical and modern geopolitics.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Farkhod Tolipov graduated from the Tashkent State University. Since 1994 till 2005 he had taught at the University of World Economy and Diplomacy in Tashkent, from which he received the PhD degree in Political Science. From 1998 till 2002 he was a Chief Consultant for the Presidential Apparatus of Uzbekistan. From 2005 to 2010 Dr. Tolipov was teaching at the National University of Uzbekistan the courses “World Politics”; “International Security”. Currently he is a Director of the non-governmental Research and Education Institution “Bilim Karvoni” (“Knowledge Caravan”) in Tashkent. Dr. Tolipov is specialized in geopolitics, regional security and regional integration in Central Asia, nationalism and democratization in Central Asian countries. In 2003-2004 Dr. Tolipov was a National Professional at the OSCE Center in Tashkent. He was a Fellow at the NATO Defense College (Rome) in 1997 and 2013; a Fellow at Harvard University (USA) in 1999; a Visiting Professor at the University of Georgia (USA) in 2004; a Visiting Professor at the Middle East Technical University in 2015 (Ankara, Turkey); Visiting Researcher at the Atilim University in 2016 (Ankara, Turkey); a Lecturer at the George Marshall European Center for Security Studies (2004, 2005), and Geneva Center for Security Policy (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011); a Lecturer at the OSCE Academy in Bishkek (2004, 2009, 2012). Dr. Tolipov extensively publishes his articles on Central Asian topics in several international scientific journals. He is an author of the monograph “Grand Strategy of Uzbekistan in the Context of Geopolitical and ideological Transformation of Central Asia”. Dr. Tolipov is a member of the international editorial board of the journal “Central Asia and Caucasus”. He is also a member of senior advisors board of the “China-Eurasia Forum” and Central Eurasian Studies Society. Dr. Tolipov is also a member of the expert group of the journal “Security Index” of the PIR-Center (Russia).