ABSTRACT
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Turkmenistan began life as an actor in the international arena with no experience of foreign policy and with no precise concept of its national interest. It was unclear whether the 70-odd years of Soviet social engineering had incorporated some sense of national identity.1 Thus, one of the main concerns of the newly independent state was the search for ‘status’,2 a confirmation of its existence as an independent actor. This entailed, amongst other things, the creation of an independent foreign policy through treaties and membership of international organisations. In the complex process of post-Soviet nation building, and not unlike other newly independent states, it has been subject to multiple sources of influence in its foreign policy decision making. Therefore, it has been looking to some international actors for ideological support, to others for financial aid and to yet others for military protection. Moreover, Turkmenistan is so much in need of foreign investment that the government has been trying to shape its foreign relations accordingly, at least in the first few years of independence.
