Matrioshka hegemony? Multi-levelledhegemonic competition and security inpost-Soviet Central Asia

A multi-levelled hegemonic encounter has developed in Central Asia, in which aglobal hegemon, the USA; a regional hegemon, the Russian Federation; an aspirantsub-regional hegemon, Uzbekistan; and an emergent regional and global hegemon, China,co-exist within the framework of Central Asian security politics. Where these hegemons’interests do not conflict this can be characterised as a matrioshka model of hegemony: thedifferent level hegemons can accommodate one another peacefully and where their interestscoincide they can form alliances. The model of multi-levelled hegemony developed herehighlights the simultaneous presence of competition and cooperation. This article explores theway in which the various bilateral hegemonic relations in the region also indicate that actualand emergent hegemonic states at different levels can cooperate as hegemons in order tochallenge, or to respond to challenge, by hegemonic states at other levels. This helps to clarifythe question of whether the increasingly competitive interaction between these states is likelyto lead to conflict.