Relationship Between Great Game And Contemporary Conflict

This essay will assess the connection between the Great Game and contemporary conflicts. To find an answer for this question, firstly, it is important to understand key concepts, such as ‘the Great Game’ and ‘contemporary conflicts’. Contemporary conflicts can be described as ongoing struggles or issues that are taking place now. The Great Game is the concept used to describe the time of protracted war between Russia and British empire to take supremacy in Central Asia and Afghanistan. The term was coined by Connolly, then reused by Kipling in his novel “Kim” and approximately lasted from 1813 to 1907. (Hopkirk 1992) It is stated that the Great Game ended by the Anglo-Russian convention in 1907, however, I argue that this game had not finished
Central Asia is a sphere of interest and great power status. It is believed that having a power means having a sphere of influence (Cooley 2012). For instance, during the Cold War, for Soviet Union, not the economic profit, but spreading socialism and political motives were more important (Mullerson 2007). Now, the US is promoting western democracy in Central Asia, trying to erodecate terrorism and mainly aiming to get rid of Russian and Chinese influence over Central Asia. Russia is trying to keep its hegemony by controlling bases in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. As a huge stakeholder, Russia is fighting with extremism and terrorism in Central Asia to his own interest. Moreover, Central Asian countries are buffer states against NATO extension. In the original Great Game, Russia does not want to give its enemy to grow and need to have buffer states between him and enemy. British Empire tried to control Afghanistan, so Russia could not get to India. All these demonstrates that even geopolitical causes stayed
Mainly, in the Great Game there were only two empires competing and combating with each other, but now there are many other countries, like China and USA, added to the game, thus complicating the issue and transferring to multipolar world. Also in the Great Game empires were using physical control and trying to conquer directly. They chose inhumane and cruel way, but, nowadays it is even unacceptable to use such barbaric actions. Human rights and democracy was set by international organizations (UNESCO, UNICEF), which spread the ideology of democracy and protection of human rights in the most part of the world, including Central Asia (Cooley