Вісник Київського національного університету імені Тараса Шевченка

ГЕОГРАФІЯ

Bulletin of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv

GEOGRAPHY

VULNERABILITY OF CENTRAL ASIAN STATES TO RISK OF TERRITORIAL AND POLITICAL CONFLICTS APPEARANCE

Slyvka R.

Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine

Abstract:
The collapse of the socialist bloc and multiethnic federations has become one of the most important events defining the modern World political map. This process accompanied by the emergence of a number of new borders and international and domestic conflicts. After 25 years of gaining independence still preserved a risk that territorial claims and mutual misunderstandings that may escalate to violent conflicts, mainly because of the increasing authoritarian tendencies in post-Soviet states. From this perspective, many of new states characterized as conflict-prone. The article proposes a perspective pattern of estimation of the state’ vulnerability degree to the conflict. The paper reviews a number of scientific approaches to explain the content of “vulnerability” in the modern geographical narrative. The peculiarities of the development of the concept of “vulnerability” in political geography are considered. It is justified the assumption that the state, the region can have different sensitivity to the risks that provoke territorial and political conflicts. Research pattern allows assessing the degree of vulnerability in five main parameters: positional, historical, structural, dynamic and functional. The purpose of the paper is to show the effectiveness of using the multi-parametric vulnerability approach on the example of Central Asia. The region constituting by five post-Soviet countries and is capable of an investigation because of it relatively cultural and political homogeneity. The methodology for the analysis of territorial conflicts at the macro-regional level is proposed. The level of vulnerability of various countries in the region to the manifestation of territorial conflicts assessed on the ground of 23 indicators. 5-score scale method is the way to formalize the correspondence between the nature of the indicator’s and the level of risk that occurs with this precondition value. Results demonstrate the different degrees of vulnerability Central Asian states to international and domestic conflicts.

Keywords: 
territorial conflicts, vulnerability, preconditions to conflict, Central Asia.

Language:
English

DOI: http://doi.org/10.17721/1728-2721.2017.68.29

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Suggested citation:
Slyvka R. (2017) Vulnerability of central Asian states to risk of territorial and political conflicts appearance. Visnyk Kyivskogo natsionalnogo universytetu, Geografiya [Bulletin of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Geography], 3-4 (68-69), 151-156 (in English, abstr. in. Ukrainian).