New publication “Uzbekistan in the Global Majority: A protagonist of reglobalisation?”

On a special issue for Studies on Central Asia and the Caucasus, funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

📢 I published a new article titled “Uzbekistan in the Global Majority: A protagonist of reglobalisation?”. 🌏 In the article, I start a reflection about Uzbekistan’s integration into global economic networks, with a particular emphasis on South-South ties, particularly with China, which is at the core of my research agenda moving forward and beyond my PhD.

I argue that Uzbekistan’s liberalisation emerges not as a mere adaptation to the global liberal order, but as a normative reformulation that redefines the country’s position within a globalised economy increasingly shaped by the Global Majority.

The article is part of a special issue, the final report of the “ITACA – Italia-Asia Centrale (ITACA): Prospettive e dinamiche su connettività e logiche infrastrutturali” research project, funded by the Italian Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation).

Article: https://riviste.fupress.net/index.php/asiac/article/view/3579/2221
ITACA research project: https://www.geopolitica.info/itaca/

Abstract: The global polycrisis has raised questions about the resilience of economic globalisation and the dynamics of deglobalisation, with significant implications for the economies of the Global Majority. Uzbekistan, historically protectionist under Islam Karimov, embarked on a path of economic liberalisation in 2016 under President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. However, recent global crises have cast doubt on the sustainability of this trajectory. Adopting a constructivist perspective within the field of International Political Economy, this article analyses how national and international actors construct the meaning of economic and political crisis. Based on official documents and 54 interviews, the study argues that Uzbekistan is not undergoing a process of deglobalisation. It is in fact deepening its integration into global economic networks, with a particular emphasis on South-South ties, particularly with China. Uzbekistan’s liberalisation thus emerges not as a mere adaptation, but as a normative reformulation that redefines the country’s position within a globalisation increasingly shaped by the Global Majority.