From Isolation to Engagement: A Comparative Analysis of Uzbekistan’s Central Asian Regionalism Under the Presidencies of Islam Karimov and Shavkat Mirziyoyev

Abstract

The late 2010s marked a pivotal turning point in Uzbekistan's political scene, depicted by revived perspectives on regionalism, distinctly in Central Asia. This paper studies how the foreign policy discourse exhibits greater shifts in governance, identity politics, and national priorities through a comparative lens focused on the presidential tenures of Islam Karimov and Shavkat Mirziyoyev and contrasting leadership styles, particularly in approaches to regional integration. Based on qualitative analysis via open coding technique with auxiliary quantitative measures, this paper brings the thirty most crucial presidential speeches (fifteen per president) to trace the distinguishing narratives in foreign policy discourses of both leaders. Despite significant similitude in the narratives of Mirziyoyev and Karimov, particularly concerning Central Asia's shared identity and Uzbekistan's role as a leader of regional integration, the findings reveal significant differences in their approaches. If Karimov concentrated on sovereignty before multilateral structures, Mirziyoyev underscored multilateral cooperation with domestic issues. This variance in approach is the essence of this study, which reveals how the change in leadership impacts Uzbekistan's perception of its relationship with Central Asia.