Periphery Doctrine and Israel Relations with Central Asian States: A Normalized Perspective from Non-Arab Region

The recent resuscitation of Israel’s foreign policy of normalizing relations is marked by advancement in relations in varied spheres of bilateral cooperation with the Muslim countries. This policy might be studied under the extension of the “periphery doctrine” adopted during the 1950s to mend relations with the Muslim world beyond Arab states. Its relations with Central Asian states might be studied under this paradigm. Israel and Central Asia see each other as potential partners for economic and security cooperation. Central Asian states have historically been supportive of the Palestinian cause, but surprisingly, this sentiment does not play any major role in upsetting their relations with Israel and they have maintained cordial relations with Israel since independence without any noticeable opposition to the creation of Israel at political and societal level. This contributed to the success of the periphery doctrine of Israel. Although hardly any study has delineated Israel’s contemporary relations with Central Asia specifically under this doctrine. The existing studies on Israel’s foreign relations with the Muslim world in general and Central Asia in particular rarely focus on the Periphery Doctrine due to the lack of sufficient academic debates on it. Therefore, this chapter provides an interesting assessment of Israel’s ties with Central Asian states through the prism of periphery doctrine.