Parsing mobilities in Central Eurasia: border management and New Silk Roads

Taking form in hydrocarbon conduits, migration streams, drug trafficking routes, trade linkages, and military supply lines, the myriad mobilities emerging in Central Eurasia are commonly characterized as reifications of the fabled Silk Road. This historic reference, however, obscures the contemporary geopolitical complexities of propagating licit mobility in the region. Rather than mirroring the historic networks of city-states surrounded by nomadic frontiers or the shared political space of the Tsarist and Soviet Empires, Central Eurasia is currently composed of sovereign states enacting varied economic and political strategies. Positing the social construction of political space to be an essential factor in the facilitation, orientation, and/or obstruction of mobilities, this paper analyzes the complex negotiation of state ideologies, national territoriality, great power interests, and border discourses in contemporary Central Eurasia. Analysis of various actors’ perspectives on mobility and immobility allows for critical assessment of efforts to make borders more effective filters between Central Asian states and their neighbors.