On February 8, 2023, Alexander Cooley, Claire Tow Professor of Political Science, published new research in Brookings titled “International ordering and great power competition: Lessons from Central Asia.” The report analyzes how renewed strategic competition among the great powers is challenging and transforming the U.S.-led liberal international order and explores the implications of this for the standing of U.S. bases abroad.
Cooley’s research finds that agreements based in regions of acute interest to the U.S. may be undermined by revisionist powers, particularly China and Russia, as they further develop their regional security architectures, allocate and distribute rival nonmilitary public goods, and promote domestic political norms that are more aligned with the values and governments of often autocratic host country regimes. The report shows that in Central Asia, revisionist efforts are already challenging regional U.S. leadership and undermining its capacity to establish overseas bases and access.