This course covers a predominantly Muslim region, which has recently come to prominence in world politics since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Its focus is on the national politics and regional and international relations of Afghanistan,  Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, with references to other players' role in the region. The course concentrates on selected themes concerning political and social change, economic modernisation and regional security against the backdrop of sectarian, ethnolinguistic and ideological diversity, as well as outside interference.

One 3,000 word essay (50%), and either a two-hour examination, or a 2,000 word essay (40%) and tutorial assessment (based on attendance, reading, performance) (10%).

Two x 1 hr lectures and one x  1 hr tutorial per week

Two first-year courses in Political Science, or with the permission of the lecturer.

Svat Soucek, A History of Inner Asia, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. 

Saikal, A., Modern Afghanistan:  A History of Struggle and Survival, London: I.B. Tauris, 2004.