Semi-porous Regions in the World Politics: The Case of Middle Asia

Abstract

This paper starts off from Peter Katzenstein’s premise that American Imperium affects the porousness of world regions through the processes of globalization
and internationalization, but that regions simultaneously shape US policies. Expanding Katzenstein’s distinction between porous and non-porous regions through the introduction of the concept of semi-porous regions, I argue that the latter are more exposed to the process of globalization than that of internationalization, that they have a hybrid identity and that their institutions are shaped by external actors. Semi-porous regions are specific to the extent that they neither encourage American power nor they oppose it, but aim to balance it through the absorption of external influences. The empirical validity of this concept and argument are demonstrated in the case of Central Asian region, 1992-2010 by analyzing processes that led to the rise and fall of American military presence, investments into the oil and gas sectors and the influence of western NGOs.