This book offers a unique analytical investigation of the international politics of the EU, China, and India in the context of their security strategies in Central Asia. It shows how the interaction between these three actors is likely to change the frameworks and practices of international relations. This is studied through their interactions with central Asia, using the framework of normative powers and the concept of regional security governance. Briefly, a normative power shapes a target state's attitudes and perceptions as it internalizes and adopts the perspectives of the normative power as the norm. The work comparatively studies the dynamics that have allowed Beijing, Brussels, and New Delhi to articulate security mechanisms in Central Asia, and become rising normative powers. This innovative study does not aim to catalog foreign policies, but to uncover the dominant perceptions, cognitive structures and practices that guide these actors' regional agency, as exemplified through the context of Central Asia. It will be an essential resource for anyone studying international relations, international relations theory, and foreign policy analysis.

Introduction: Framing the Normative Foreign Policy Agency of the European Union, China, and India in Central AsiaPart I. Context and Frameworks for the Engagement with the Rise of Normative Powers in Central Asia1. Involving Central Asia in World Politics2. The Shadows of Normative Powers3. The Deliberate Practice of Security Governance Part II: Following the Central Asian Agency of Normative Powers4. The European Union and Central Asia: In Search of a New Strategy?5. Shanghaied into Cooperation? Framing the Central Asian Agency of China 6. India and Central Asia: A Strategic Culture "Looking North" for Its Normative Power Conclusion: The (Struggle for) Recognition of Normative Powers Bibliography