Major changes in the structure and dynamic of the international system such as political and economic transformations of the nation-states, growing regionalisation, and global interdependence characterise current world history. The European Union (EU) and Central Asia – both, as a region, reflect those changes and problems. In their development, relations between the European Union and Central Asia have gone through different stages and faced several challenges.
In the framework of the international Senior Fellowship Programme, Mirzokhid Rakhimov will collaborate with his tandem partner Michael Kaeding (University of Duisburg-Essen) and colleagues at the University Alliance Ruhr. Jointly, they will conceptually work on the research project ‘The EU and Central Asia Relations and Complex Regionalism in Eurasia’ and aim for an interdisciplinary study of EU-Central-Asia relations from the perspective of open regionalism and common security and stability challenges. Reflecting on these and many other approaches and ideas, the research project employs historical, comparative, functional, and other interdisciplinary methods.
The project intends to comparatively study regionalism, including the EU, USA, Russia, China, Turkey, Iran, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Pakistan's strategy toward Central Asia and organise seminars on ‘The EU-Central Asia relations and smart power issues’. Rakhimov plans to accomplish a research paper, which will critically and comparatively examine the EU-Central-Asian bilateral and multilateral relations, the effect of regional and cross-regional challenges, including the war in Ukraine, and interregional interdependence and connectivity, proposing some recommendations for improving the EU-CA relations. This research paper is intended to contribute to comparative studies of the complex issues of regional and international cooperation in Central Asia, the EU policy in the region, and research that could be meaningful for researchers, decision makers, and the broad public.
Prof. Mirzokhid Rakhimov
Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan | History and International Relations
Mirzokhid Rakhimov currently serves as the head of department at the Contemporary History Center of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan as well as Adjunct Professor of the Webster University branch in Tashkent. In Uzbekistan he held different positions as director of the Contemporary History Center and chair of board directors of the Uzbekistan Academy of Sciences and was assigned as a visiting scholar to a number of universities, including the University of Cambridge and London University (UK), the Universities of Washington and Johns Hopkins (USA), Leiden University (Netherlands), the Universities of Gießen, Bielefeld and Passau (Germany), the Hokkaido and Tsukuba Universities (Japan), Nehru University (India), the Center for Russian, Caucasian and East European Studies (CNRS and EHESS; France), and the Universities of Shanghai and Lanzhou (China).
Mirzokhid Rakhimov’s research interests cover contemporary history as well as international and regional relations in Central Asia. He contributed to a broad range of publishers, amongst them Brill, Routledge, Springer, Elsevier, Peter Lang, Primus Books, Cuvillier publications as well as journals like Journal of Eurasian studies; Cambridge Journal of Eurasian studies; L` Europe en formation: Journal of Studies on European Integration and Federalism; Himalayan and Central Asian Studies and others. His books include Contemporary multilateral relations in Central Asia (Tashkent, 2020, in Russian); he also edited several books published in Germany, India, Russia, Republic of Korea, France and Uzbekistan, including Central Asia and European Union in search of sustainability (M. Rakhimov, G. Ismailova, A. Umarov (eds.), UWED, 2024) and Logistics and diplomacy in Central Asia (Y. Alix, K. Baizakova, J. Nicharapova, M. Rakhimov (eds.), Editions EMS, 2022).
Mirzokhid Rakhimov is a member of the editorial board of international scientific journals: Journal of Eurasian Studies (Paris, Boston, London), Journal of Central Eurasia (Institute of Oriental Studies, Moscow, Russia), and Kazakhstan journal of international studies (Astana, Kazakhstan).
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© BOK Gärtner GmbH Karsten Ziegengeist
Prof. Michael Kaeding
University of Duisburg-Essen | European Integration and European Policy
E-mail: michael.kaeding@uni-due.de
©
© BOK Gärtner GmbH Karsten Ziegengeist
Prof. Michael Kaeding
University of Duisburg-Essen | European Integration and European Policy
E-mail: michael.kaeding@uni-due.de
Michael Kaeding has been Professor of European Integration and European Policy at the Institute of Political Science at the University of Duisburg-Essen since 2012. He is also Vice Dean for Research, Transfer and Junior Researchers at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Duisburg-Essen (since 2016). During the winter term 2024/25, he conducted research with a Simone Veil Fellowship at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS) of the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence.
In addition to Visiting Fellowships at the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) in Maastricht and the Centre of International Relations at the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia), he is the Director of Studies of the European Political and Governance Studies Department at the College of Europe in Bruges as of June 2024. He also taught at the Turkish-German University in Istanbul between 2015 and 2024, and he is an Honorary Board Member (Chairman from 2016 to 2019) of TEPSA (Trans European Policy Studies Association), as well as a member of the Academic Board of the Institute for European Politics (IEP) in Berlin.
Michael Kaeding is currently coordinating two Horizon Europe projects, together with Daniela Braun (ActEU, Saarland University) and Funda Tekin (InvigoratEU, IEP). From 2018 to 2019, he coordinated the H2020 project ‘SEnECA - Strengthening and Energizing EU-Central Asia Relations’.
The NRW-wide, cross-university debating format ‘NRW debattiert Europa’, which he initiated, is entering its 10th round in 2025. As co-editor of the ‘Future of Europe’ book series, he is always open to receiving suggestions.
His aim is to critically and constructively accompany and explain the process of European integration, the shaping of European policy and Europe’s influence on the member states.
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