Central Asia

The article contains a comparative analysis of processes and results of formation of political systems of four post-Soviet states of Central Asia: Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Based on the distribution of powers in the triangle of institutions of supreme state power: president – parliament – government, the type of political system of all four countries – electoral autocracy – is determined.

The article deals with public diplomacy’s conflict-resolution potential in Central Asia. The author notes that in the existing research discourse public diplomacy is analyzed generally in the context of peace-time practice. The conflict-resolution potential of the given phenomenon often appears out of the sight of scientific works.

The article is concerned with the analysis of the evolution of Iranian public diplomacy in Central Asia. The author examines the circumstances of revitalization, development features and the current state of Iran’s public diplomacy in the region. The author argues that despite the cultural and civilizational resource on which Iranian soft power in the region relies, the political and ideological features of the new independent states limit Iranian public diplomacy to a certain extent.