ABSTRACT

Examining the European Union’s (EU) engagement with Central Asia since the early 1990s, we see an increased commitment to context sensitivity. Arguably, in order to design ‘better’ interventions, the EU needs to know more about this region. This article explores three means of EU learning: in the field – through EU officials’ first-hand experience of working at EU Delegations in Central Asia; about the field – through programmed channels of external expert knowledge, and in particular think tanks; and from the field – during institutionalized consultations with multiple local actors, such as academics, journalists and non-governmental organizations. It is argued that despite this complex learning infrastructure, EU knowledge production on Central Asia has a predominantly performative character. Rather than leading to changes in its relations with Central Asia, new knowledge produced by the EU aims at legitimizing this organization’s pre-existing frameworks of engagement and practices of interactions with the region, and substantiating existing policy priorities.

摘要

审视自 1990 年代初以来欧盟 (EU) 与中亚的合作，我们看到对环境敏感性的承诺有所增加。可以说，为了设计“更好”的干预措施，欧盟需要更多地了解该地区。本文探讨了欧盟学习的三种方式：在实地——通过欧盟官员在欧盟驻中亚代表团工作的第一手经验；关于该领域——通过外部专家知识的程序化渠道，特别是智囊团；从_实地——在与学者、记者和非政府组织等多个当地行为者进行制度化磋商期间。有人认为，尽管有这种复杂的学习基础设施，但欧盟在中亚的知识生产具有主要的表演特征。欧盟产生的新知识并没有导致其与中亚的关系发生变化，而是旨在使该组织现有的参与框架和与该地区的互动实践合法化，并充实现有的政策优先事项。