COOPERATION VS. COMPETITION IN CENTRAL ASIA

The present study highlights the cooperation-competition ratio in the Central Asia region aiming at maintaining a force balance between Russia and China – as main state actors of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and avoiding the dominance of a state over the other member states of the Organization. Our paper attempts to identify the theoretical arguments that might render a better insight in this organization as a framework meant to mutually balance influence between Russia and China, with the purpose of reciprocally monitoring and limiting their power in a region considered the core of SCO – from a geographical point of view and from the point of view of the two powers’ interest. On the other hand, we should take into account that promoting multipolarity in the global politics is a common interest of China and Russia; both countries started to exclude, to various extents, the Western powers’ interests in Central Asia