The Shanghai Cooperation Organization: Regional Stability or an Alliance vs. the West? (original) (raw)

A nineteenth-century redux has enveloped contemporary international politics and "the old competition between liberalism and autocracy" is back. 1 Robert Kagan was right, and the signs are easily visible. Not only are absolutist rulers shoring up fellow autocracies in areas riddled with revolutions, but democratic and autocratic governments are constantly at odds with one another over ideology. The great powers are also aligning into groups based on "strategic and economic considerations, as well as cultural affinities," despite times when they go against favored ideology. 2 These groups, or multilateral organizations, have emerged to play a number of roles in the global balance of power because they can project strategic, economic, and cultural ideology in regional and global matters. Over the last fifteen years, one such group, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), has provided stability in Central Asia and has shown what a nondemocratic international organization can provide. While the SCO is not perfect by any means, the organization has provided stability to a volatile region, vastly improved economic ties between its members, and even serves as a possible threat or counterweight to the United States and the West. Founded in 2001, the SCO consists of six members: China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, four observers: India, Iran, Afghanistan, Mongolia, and Pakistan, and three dialogue partners: Belarus, Sri Lanka, and Turkey.