Central Asian States

This chapter describes the experiences of five Central Asian states—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan—with international law over the past three decades, identifying some of the distinctive features of Central Asian states’ approaches towards international law. The commonalities in the stance of Central Asian states on matters of international law are determined by the context of their emergence as sovereign states at the end of the Cold War, their common history as former Soviet republics, their belonging to the Eurasian group of continental legal systems, and their common status as landlocked developing states. At the same time, each Central Asian state has its own specifics, with differences in their foreign policy priorities, levels of economic development, and resource endowment. The chapter then reviews the participation of Central Asian states in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), particularly their experiences with the CIS Economic Court.