This article looks at the BNew Great Game^as the most widely used metaphor for the geopolitical dynamics of Central Asia. Its focus is on Kazakhstan and Europe with particular reference to energy policies. The European approach to Kazakhstan is conditioned by its energy security priorities with issues of democracy and human rights relegated to the margins. For Kazakhstan, the article suggests that the game is played with an eye to regime legitimacy, territorial integrity, and international recognition. Relations between Kazakhstan, China and Russia are also examined. Some of the limitations and strengths of the Great Game metaphor are analysed. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the countries of Central Asia again became the focus of attention for competing world powers: BCentral Asia, for good or for ill, is back once more in the thick of the news, and looks like staying there for a long time to come^(Hopkirk 1992, p. xviii). This renewed awareness reflects the role played by Central Asian states in the wider interaction between the major players in world politics such as America, China, Russia and the European Union (EU). For the individual states, such as Kazakhstan, the changed focus is both a constraint and an opportunity. As Cooley (Cooley 2012a) suggests: Some commentators have referred to Washington, Moscow, and Beijing's renewed activity in the region as a modern iteration of the Great Game. But
Even if data analysis in Africa has allegedly allowed analysts to expand the boundaries of inquiry, social science research in the continent has been hindered by several problems. Some of these problems could be viewed as subcategories of the idols that Francis Bacon had identified. We show in the present article that bad data lead to bad analyses, which in turn lead to misleading interpretations and misleading interpretations lead to a type of knowledge that is distinctively different from real and objective knowledge. We conclude by recommending that to avoid most, if not all, of the research problems in Africa, social science researchers should realize that social phenomena are embedded in an infinite web of relations from which only true meaning can emerge. It follows that, to gain a proper appreciation of such network of relations, social phenomena must be approached at various levels from different perspective.
Summary
In the soft-power context, health is increasingly seen as an area that generates particular diplomatic benefits, because it is ostensibly non-political and can bring both immediate and long-term advantages to the donor and the recipient country equally. The endeavours of individual member states of the European Union (EU) and the input of the EU itself in Central Asia are examined to see the extent to which the initiatives in health-related areas form part of a wider diplomatic strategy and whether their effectiveness is related to the means by which the planned improved health outcomes are achieved. This article seeks to draw lessons from the European experience to increase understanding of the role of health in global diplomacy.
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