Facing the Challenges of Separatism: The EU, Central Asia and the Uyghur Issue

Abstract:

During 2008, Kosovo independence, the Russo-Georgian war and the revival of tensions in Xinjiang and Tibet moved the question of separatism once again to the top of the international agenda. In Central Asia, where state-building remains difficult because of multiple domestic problems, the question of separatism is seen as crucial and the revival of the issue of Uyghur separatism in western China has caused widespread concern.

This EUCAM Policy Brief addresses the difficulties of the questions of Kosovo and Georgia for EU strategy and the broad impact of these two cases upon the post-Soviet space in general, and Central Asia in particular.