Sacrificial Security Lamb: US perception of Central Asia in Lieu of the Global War on Terror

Abstract

This research paper is aimed to understand how the U.S. perceived the Central Asian since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Therefore, the thesis analyzes the United States foreign policy towards Central Asia before 9/11 events and after the terrorist attacks on the United States. The comparison of two periods will help the reader to understand what factors or elements did prevail in construction of certain image of the region and reasons behind it, i.e. the shift of interests due to the issue of terrorism. In addition, the present study will demonstrate how the shift of interests to security issues deteriorated the issues of democratization and human rights in Central Asian republics.