US Central Asia policy: Still American Mars versus European Venus?
US Central Asia policy: Still American Mars versus European Venus?

Author(s): Marlène Laruelle
Subject(s): International relations/trade, Geopolitics
Published by: CEPS Centre for European Policy Studies
Keywords: United States; Central Asia; European Union; foreign policy; Central Asia policy;
Summary/Abstract: At a time when transatlantic commitments are widely focused on the Syrian crisis and the need for coordinated policies to counter the economic and debt crises, a reading of the European Strategy for Central Asia and equivalent US texts reveal the limited coordination of Western policies in the region. This often is more a matter of a mutual ignorance than of disagreements on the motives of the US and European involvement. Meetings on Central Asia between senior European and US officials are rare, except for those between the EU Special Representative for Central Asia and the US Under Secretary for the region. Meanwhile, mutual knowledge of the actions of US and European governments and public administration in Central Asia is minimal. US policy toward Central Asia is handled by a diversity of actors – the Defense Department, the State Department, USAID, and Congress – which do not share necessarily the same priorities.

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