Strategic Silences and Narrative Power in International Relations

Ambiguity and Non-verbal Diplomacy in Reframing Central Asian Agency
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-041-15798-4
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 204 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 465 g

Reihe: Politics in Asia

Developing a conceptual framework of strategic silence and applying it to various domains of Central Asian international relations, this book uncovers how silence allows states to navigate structural constraints, maintain flexibility, and assert subtle forms of resistance or alignment.

Strategic ambiguity and restraint often characterise Central Asia’s response to major geopolitical shifts. This book frames these silences as forms of soft power and subtle resistance that reflect regional logics of survival, dignity, and diplomacy. By exploring the multifaceted ways in which the region’s states employ silence as part of their international behaviour, the book introduces a new conceptual vocabulary in order to understand subaltern agency and regional identity construction in the post-Soviet space. Chapters explore strategic silence not as a uniform doctrine but as a contextual practice—emerging differently in response to Russian imperial nostalgia, Chinese economic expansion, Western engagement, and internal post-Soviet memory struggles. The result is a reconceptualisation of silence as an intentional, strategic, and communicative device within international relations.

This book will be of interest to researchers and postgraduate students working in international relations, Central Asian studies, area studies, and global politics. Policymakers and diplomatic practitioners working on Eurasian, Indo-Pacific, or post-Soviet affairs may also benefit from the book.

Zielgruppe

Academic

Autoren/Hrsg.

Dadabaev, Timur

Sonoda, Shigeto

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen Diplomatie
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde Historische & Regionale Volkskunde

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Chapter 1 – Introduction: The Politics of Silence in Central Asian International Relations

Chapter 2 – Rethinking IR Theory through Central Asia: Tacit Nationhood in Patchworked Neighborhoods

Chapter 3 – “Silence Is Golden”? Strategic Silences in Central Asian States’ Response to the Ukrainian Crisis

Chapter 4 – Political Narratives and Public Recollection in Central Asia: Polyphonic silences and the manipulating of Post-Soviet nostalgia

Chapter 5 – Power of Non-verbal Diplomacy: Nudging Not Nagging in Sino-Uzbek Relations

Chapter 6 – Constructivist Framework for a Central Asian Regional Security Complex: Strategic Ambiguity

Chapter 7 – Strategic Silences and the Water Neighbourhood in Central Asia: Tacit Diplomacy in Hydropolitics

Chapter 8 – Normative Implications of Strategic Silence Beyond Russia and China: Prospects for U.S.–Japan Foreign Policy Coordination in Central Asia

Chapter 9 – Rethinking IR Theory through Silence and Neighborhood in Central Asia: Beyond Rationalism and Reflectivism

Über Autor(innen)

Timur Dadabaev is a Swedish Research Council Guest Professor at Lund University. He concurrently holds Professorships at the University of Tsukuba, Japan and the University of World Economy and Diplomacy.

Shigeto Sonoda is Professor of Sociology and Asian Studies at the University of Tokyo.