After the political turbulence in West Asia and North Africa in 2010 that led to regime change, strategists have been wondering whether Central Asian countries will also be the victim of the domino effect.

In some ways, the situation is similar. Muslims are the majority of the population, the leadership is entrenched, and social and economic development are bottlenecked.

Despite these similarities, there are substantial differences that mean an "Arab Spring" is unlikely to take place in Central Asia.

Central Asia took a secular path earlier than West Asian and North African countries. The historical connection between these regions has been halted for more than a century.

Central Asia is also more multi-cultural and multi-ethnic. It has been enormously influenced by Russian culture and even wants to merge into Europe. Besides, since the Central Asian countries won independence from the former Soviet Union, the revival of Islam has been limited to culture, not politics.

Comparatively, colonial rule by the West in West Asian and North African countries, coupled with the influence of confrontation between the West and the East in the Cold War era, makes the region face an endless path to achieve rejuvenation.

A different development mode has been adopted. Although it has been only 22 years since the independence of Central Asian countries, these countries have formed their own development path.

They didn't copy Western political styles blindly but retained a strong government. They insisted on the market economy and opening-up policies and positively tried to integrate into the international market. The economic growth of Kazakhstan is especially prominent on the world stage.

However, political systems within West Asian and North African countries differ greatly, and the governance is generally rigid, which negatively affects the legitimacy of regimes.

The geopolitical environment is not the same. Central Asian countries are seeing deepening cooperation in politics, economy and security with Russia and China.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization founded in 2001 has served as an effective platform for regional cooperation and maintaining stability of the region.

Iran, among West Asian countries, is closest to Central Asia. Only if chaos strikes will it pose a direct threat to Central Asia.

In addition, Central Asia borders Afghanistan and is threatened by terrorism and extremism. The region has kept alert to outside extreme forces and strengthened prevention measures.

Nonetheless, in the turbulences in West Asian and North African countries, religious extreme forces have played an important role, which makes the political situation after revolutions unstable.

Although Central Asian countries will not take the path of the "Arab Spring" in the short run, it does not mean no similar political risks exist.

If people's needs cannot be satisfied, domestic corruption curbed, extremists  eliminated and domestic conflicts and international relations  well managed, some countries may have to face a regime crisis.

In fact, the "Arab Spring" is not the kind of revolution that changes the nature of a regime through democratic means. It is a consistent political uproar caused by extremism.

Leaderships in Central Asian countries have already realized the potential of such danger.

They have adopted more flexible policies and attached importance to economic investment, social governance and Internet security.

Meanwhile, they have pushed forward political and economic reforms so as to strengthen their capabilities to control the overall situation.

The author is a research fellow at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Research Center, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn