The New Great Game

In the late 1990s, some journalists used the expression "The New Great Game" to describe what they proposed was a renewed geopolitical interest in Central Asia based on the mineral wealth of the region.

The name is a reference to the original Great Game, the term used by historians to describe the 19th-century political and diplomatic competition between the British and Russian empires for territory and influence among Central Asian states.[1] The term "Great Game" itself had entered into more widespread use following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.[2]

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 See also
* 3 References
* 4 Sources
* 5 Further reading

## History[edit]

In 1996, The New York Times published an opinion piece titled "The New Great Game in Asia" in which was written:

> While few have noticed, Central Asia has again emerged as a murky battleground among big powers engaged in an old and rough geopolitical game. Western experts believe that the largely untapped oil and natural gas riches of the Caspian Sea countries could make that region the Persian Gulf of the next century. The object of the revived game is to befriend leaders of the former Soviet republics controlling the oil, while neutralizing Russian suspicions and devising secure alternative pipeline routes to world markets.[3]

In 2004, journalist Lutz Kleveman wrote a book that linked the expression to the exploration of mineral wealth in the region.[4] While the direct American military involvement in the area was part of fighting the "War on Terror" rather than an indirect Western governmental interest in the mineral wealth, another journalist Eric Walberg suggests in his book that access to the region's minerals and oil pipeline routes is still an important factor.[5][6] The interest in oil and gas includes pipelines that transmit energy to China's east coast. One view of the New Great Game is a shift to geoeconomic compared to geopolitical competition. Xiangming Chen believes that China's role is more like Britain's than Russia's in the New Great Game, where Russia plays the role that the Russian Empire originally did. "China and Russia are the two dominant power players vs. the weaker independent Central Asian states".[7]

Other authors have criticized the reuse of the term "Great Game".[8] According to strategic analyst Ajay Patnaik, the "New Great Game" is a misnomer, because rather than two empires focused on the region as in the past, there are now many global and regional powers active with the rise of China and India as major economic powers. Central Asian states have diversified their political, economic, and security relationships.[9] David Gosset of CEIBS Shanghai states "the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) established in 2001 is showing that Central Asia’s actors have gained some real degree of independence. But fundamentally, the China factor introduces a level of predictability " In the 2015 international relations book Globalizing Central Asia, the authors state that Central Asian states have pursued a multivectored approach in balancing out the political and economic interests of larger powers, but it has had mixed success due to strategic reversals of administrations regarding the West, China, and Russia. They suppose that China could counterbalance Russia. However, Russia and China have a strategic partnership since 2001. According to Ajay Patnaik, "China has advanced carefully in the region, using the SCO as the main regional mechanism, but never challenging Russian interests in Central Asia."[9] In the Carnegie Endowment, Paul Stronski and Nicole Ng wrote in 2018 that China has not fundamentally challenged any Russian interests in Central Asia. They suggested that China, Russia, and the West could have mutual interests in regional stability in Central Asia.[10] According to Paul Stronski and Nicole Ng, China uses its policy in Central Asia to "manage" Russia's concerns, satisfying Russia by showing China's economic aims do not threaten Russian political-military interests in the Russian Far East and elsewhere besides Central Asia, and assuaging Russia's demographic fears about Chinese immigration.[10]

The historian James Reardon-Anderson stated in 2014, during the first withdrawal of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, that, "There may be a new Great Game in Central Asia, but it is going to have a lot less importance to the United States than the new Great Game in the Western Pacific and East Asian waters."[11][12] In August 2021, Reuters reported that following the Taliban takeover, the "new Great Game has Pakistan in control" of Afghanistan and also involves India and China.[13] In Nikkei, writer and retired Admiral James Stavridis stated that the "new Great Game" involves Russia's interest in the regulation of opium production, China's interest in rare earth minerals, a growing role for India, while the West will be reluctant to enter.[14] Following the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, RFE/RL reported that "Russia, China, Pakistan, and Iran could come together in the next chapter of the Great Game," or "Moscow, Beijing, Islamabad, and Tehran are each merely looking to advance their own interests in the new geopolitical order."[12]

In a 2020 study, the New Great Game was described as a form of "Civilizational Colonialism" in border regions and areas of territorial disputes, united by their location in High Asia or "The Roof of the World". Kashmir, Hazara, Nuristan, Laghman, Azad Kashmir, Jammu, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Gilgit Baltistan, Chitral, Western Tibet, Western Xinjiang, Badakhshan, Gorno Badakhshan, Fergana, Osh and Turkistan Region. These rich resource areas are surrounded by the five major mountainous systems of Tien Shan, Pamirs, Karakoram, Hindu Kush and Western Himalayas and the three main river systems of Amu Darya, Syr Darya and Indus.[15]

The "Great Game" as a term has been described as a cliché-metaphor,[16] and there are authors who have now written on the topics of "The Great Game" in Antarctica,[17] the world's far north,[18] and in outer space.[19]

## See also[edit]

* Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran
* Cold War
* Geostrategy in Central Asia
* The Great Game
* The Great Game (Hopkirk book)
* Iran–United Kingdom relations
* Russia–United Kingdom relations
* Strategic geography
* Western imperialism in Asia

## References[edit]

1. ^ Detsch, Robbie Gramer, Jack. "Foreign Powers Jockey for Influence in Afghanistan After Withdrawal". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
2. ^ Seymour Becker, "The ‘great game’: The history of an evocative phrase." Asian Affairs 43.1 (2012): 61-80.
3. ^ The New York Times 1996.
4. ^ Kleveman 2004.
5. ^ Golshanpazhooh 2011.
6. ^ Gratale 2012.
7. ^ Chen, Xiangming; Fazilov, Fakhmiddin (19 June 2018). "Re-centering Central Asia: China's "New Great Game" in the old Eurasian Heartland". Palgrave Communications. 4 (1): 1–12. doi:10.1057/s41599-018-0125-5. ISSN 2055-1045. S2CID 49311952.
8. ^ "Kennan Cable No. 56: No Great Game: Central Asia's Public Opinions on Russia, China, and the U.S. | Wilson Center". www.wilsoncenter.org. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
9. ^ a b Ajay Patnaik (2016). Central Asia: Geopolitics, Security and Stability. Taylor & Francis Group. pp. 28–31. ISBN 9781317266402.
10. ^ a b Stronski, Paul; Ng, Nicole (28 February 2018). "Cooperation and Competition: Russia and China in Central Asia, the Russian Far East, and the Arctic". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
11. ^ "Interview: The SCO, Security, And A New 'Great Game'". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
12. ^ a b "Regional Powers Seek To Fill Vacuum Left By West's Retreat From Afghanistan". RFE/RL. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
13. ^ Miglani, Sanjeev; Shahzad, Asif; Tian, Yew Lun (23 August 2021). "Analysis: China, Pakistan, India jockey for position in Afghanistan's new Great Game". Reuters. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
14. ^ "Rare earth trillions lure China to Afghanistan's new Great Game". Nikkei Asia. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
15. ^ Sharma, Vishal (2020). Civilizational Colonialism and the Ongoing New Great Game in the Sensitive Areas of High Asia: Exploring Pan-High Asianism as the potential way forward for the Western Pahari, Greater Dardic, Trans-Himalayan, Badakhshan and Sogdiana Belts possibly leading to High Asian Approaches to International Law (HAAIL). Academia (Thesis). Cardiff: Cardiff University. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
16. ^ Miller, Sam (2014). A Strange Kind of Paradise: India Through Foreign Eyes. London: Vintage Books. p. 286.
17. ^ Dodds, Klaus (2008). "The Great Game in Antarctica: Britain and the 1959 Antarctic Treaty". Contemporary British History. 22 (1): 43–66. doi:10.1080/03004430601065781. S2CID 144025621.
18. ^ Borgerson, Scott G. (25 March 2009). "The Great Game Moves North". Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
19. ^ Easton, Ian (24 June 2009). "The Great Game in Space: China's Evolving ASAT Weapons Programs and Their Implications for Future U.S. Strategy". Project 2049 Institute. Retrieved 12 November 2020.

## Sources[edit]

* Aberkane, Idriss J. (31 March 2011). "Brzezinski on a U.S. Berezina: anticipating a new, New World Order". e-International Relations. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
* "Wikileaks files: US ambassador criticised Prince Andrew". BBC News. 30 November 2010. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
* Bearden, Milton (November–December 2001). "Afghanistan, Graveyard of Empires". Foreign Affairs. Archived from the original on 3 May 2015.
* Coll, Steve (2004). Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001. Penguin. p. 333. ISBN 978-1-59420-007-6.
* Contessi, Nicola (2013). "Central Eurasia and the New Great Game: Players, Moves, Outcomes, and Scholarship". Asian Security. 9 (3): 231–241. doi:10.1080/14799855.2013.832214. S2CID 144592857.
* Cooley, Alexander (2012). Great Games, Local Rules: The New Great Power Contest in Central Asia. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-992982-5.
* Edwards, Matthew (March 2003). "The New Great Game and the new great gamers: disciples of Kipling and Mackinder". Central Asian Survey. 22 (1): 83–102. doi:10.1080/0263493032000108644. S2CID 53963541.
* Farndale, Nigel (30 May 2012). "Afghanistan: the Great Game, BBC Two, review". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
* Gfoeller, Tatiana (29 October 2008). "Candid discussion with Prince Andrew on the Kyrgyz economy and the "great game"". Public Library of US Diplomacy. WikiLeaks. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
* Golshanpazhooh, Mahmoud Reza (22 October 2011). "Review: Post Modern Imperialism: Geopolitics and the Great Games by Eric Walberg". Iran Review. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
* Gratale, Joseph Michael (26 March 2012). "Walberg, Eric. Postmodern Imperialism: Geopolitics and the Great Games". European Journal of American Studies. Reviews 2012-1, document 9. ISSN 1991-9336. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
* Peake, Hayden B. (2004). "The Great Game: The Myth and Reality of Espionage". Intelligence in Recent Public Literature. Studies in Intelligence. 48 (3): 83–86. Archived from the original on 13 June 2007. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
* Hopkirk, Peter (1992). The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia. Kodansha International. ISBN 978-1-56836-022-5.
* Kaylan, Melik (13 August 2008). "Welcome Back To the Great Game". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
* Kleveman, Lutz (2004). The New Great Game: Blood and Oil in Central Asia. Atlantic Monthly Press. ISBN 978-0-87113-906-1. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
* Latifi, Ali M (22 June 2012). "Executed Afghan president stages 'comeback'". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
* Lloyd, Trevor Owen (2001). Empire: The History of the British Empire. Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-85285-259-7.
* Mahajan, Sneh (2001). British Foreign Policy 1874–1914: The Role of India. Routledge Studies in Modern European History. Vol. 4\. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-26010-7.
* Menon, Rajan (2003). "The New Great Game in Central Asia". Survival. 45 (2): 187–204. doi:10.1080/00396338.2003.9688581. S2CID 154442487.
* Morgan, Gerald (1973). "Myth and Reality in the Great Game". Asian Affairs. 4 (1): 55–65. doi:10.1080/03068377308729652.
* "The New Great Game in Asia". The New York Times. 2 January 1996. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
* Penzev, Konstantin (12 November 2010). "When Will the Great Game End?". New Eastern Outlook. Archived from the original on 10 December 2010. Retrieved 22 August 2012.[better source needed]
* Piper, David (9 June 2012). "The 'Great Game' of influence in Afghanistan continues but with different players". Fox News. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
* Rashid, Ahmed (2000). Taliban: Islam, Oil and the New Great Game in Central Asia. London: I. B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-86064-830-4.
* Tamm, Eric Enno (2011). The Horse That Leaps Through Clouds: A Tale of Espionage, the Silk Road and the Rise of Modern China. Counterpoint. ISBN 978-1-58243-734-7.
* Yapp, Malcolm (2001). "The Legend of the Great Game" (PDF). Proceedings of the British Academy. 2000 Lectures and Memoirs. Vol. 111\. Oxford University Press. pp. 179–198. ISBN 978-0-19-726259-7. Retrieved 12 November 2020.

## Further reading[edit]

* The timeline of the Great Game online Archived 24 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine.
* Walberg, Eric (2011). Postmodern Imperialism: Geopolitics and the Great Games. Clarity Press. ISBN 978-0-9833539-3-5.
* Brobst, Peter John (2005). The Future of the Great Game: Sir Olaf Caroe, India's Independence, and the Defense of Asia. Series on International, Political, and Economic History. University of Akron Press. ISBN 978-1-931968-10-2.
* Johnson, Robert (2006). Spying for Empire: The Great Game in Central and South Asia, 1757–1947. Greenhill Books. ISBN 978-1-85367-670-3.
* Naik, J. A. (1970). Soviet Policy Towards India: From Stalin to Brezhnev. Vikas Publications. ISBN 978-0-8426-0156-6. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
* Nawid, Senzil (November 1997). "The State, the Clergy, and British Imperial Policy in Afghanistan During the 19th and Early 20th Centuries". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 29 (4): 581–605. doi:10.1017/S0020743800065211. JSTOR 164403.
* Paksoy, H. B. (1991). ""Basmachi": Turkistan National Liberation Movement 1916–1930s". The Modern Encyclopedia of Religions in Russia and the Soviet Union. Vol. 4\. Academic International Press. pp. 5–20. ISBN 978-0-87569-106-0. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
* Vogelsang, Willem (2001). The Afghans. Peoples of Asia. Blackwell Publishers. ISBN 978-0-631-19841-3. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
* Tunzelmann, Alex von (2007). Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire. New York: Henry Holt and Co. ISBN 978-0-8050-8073-5.

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