The Great Game lives on in the waning days of Western supremacy

I was in Astana recently, invited by the Astana Club, a think tank with global perspectives, to a roundtable meeting on “Eurasia at a Crossroads”. There was a very rich discussion – animated, as can be imagined, by the fact that Donald Trump’s electoral victory had occurred only a few days before – with some 60 participants from 22 countries.

Here, I aim to highlight a few key points that illuminate what I have termed “the great game in the new global disorder”.

The Great Game was a term coined in the 19th century, popularised in the 1901 novel Kim by Rudyard Kipling, to describe the rivalry between the British and Russian empires over Afghanistan that extended out to neighbouring states in Central and South Asia. It involved constant tensions with Russia and Britain playing on the Central Asian chessboard; a number of wars erupted.

The Great Game was believed to have ended in 1895; in light of the many tectonically disruptive developments of the 20th century, notably the rise and conquests of the Soviet Union, it seemed to have been relegated to the annals of history. But today, Central Asia has clearly become, and will increasingly be, a key global geopolitical arena; the Great Game is back, albeit with a different set of players.

How China, Russia and India will seek to shape Eurasia in their own distinct ways

In a sense, it made its reappearance with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. In retaliation, the Americans boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics, with the Russians responding in similar fashion four years later in Los Angeles. In 1989, the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan, the war having been a major factor in the collapse of the Soviet empire two years later, as it had been a factor ultimately in the collapse of the British empire in the 19th century.