Forums & Events
e-CAMCA Week 2020
In lieu of our in-person annual gathering, the CAMCA Regional Forum organizers are hosting a virtual e-CAMCA Week.
From June 15th-19th we will be hosting a daily live speaker session or panel, as well as releasing a variety of original content and helpful resources, for our CAMCA Forum community. We’ve pulled together a terrific collection of experts from across sectors, including members of the CAMCA Network, that will be delivering the latest on what you need to know about the region during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.
Live video events will take place at 10 AM EST daily from June 16th-19th .
TUNE IN HERE to our Facebook page for live video events (full agenda below) and
SUBSCRIBE BELOW to receive the aforementioned release
VIEW THE FULL AGENDA DETAILS HERE
E-CAMCA WEEK PUBLICATIONS
Welcome Letter
Letter from Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
e-CAMCA Week 2020 participants
Meet CAMCA Entrepreneurs
View features of some successful regional entrepreneurs from our CAMCA Network
"Caucasus & Central Asia Post COVID-19" Series- Volume I
Digital Transformation in the CAMCA Region
Post COVID-19: Challeges & Opportunities for the Region
[Video Posted] CACI Online Forum: Stress Test for the Eurasian Economic Union
Stress Test for the Eurasian Economic Union
Only recently many considered large, integrated economic and political zones to be signs of the future. But the collapse of oil prices, the COVID-19 pandemic, and new forms of multipolarity are refocusing many on national needs and global rather than bloc developments. Given this, how does the Eurasian Economic Union look today? What is its future for members, and how should non-members regard it? This Forum will address these and related questions.
Speakers:
Stephen Blank, Foreign Policy Research Institute
Mamuka Tsereteli, Senior Fellow, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at AFPC
Moderator: S. Frederick Starr, Chairman, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at AFPC
When: Thursday, May 28, 2020 at 11am EDT
The event was live-streamed on our Facebook page and is now available on Youtube.
[Video Posted] CACI Online Forum: The 2020 IMF Economic Outlook for the Caucasus and Central Asia: Adjusted for COVID-19
The 2020 IMF Economic Outlook for the Caucasus and Central Asia: Adjusted for COVID 19
Opening Remarks and Conclusion by Frederick Starr, Chairman, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at AFPC
Presentation by Juha Kahkonen, Deputy Director, Middle East and Central Asia, Department, IMF
Moderator: Mamuka Tsereteli, Senior Fellow, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at AFPC
When: Thursday, April 30, 2020 from 10-11 am EST
The event was live-streamed on our YouTube Channel and is available now.
CACI Forum with recording: What Else is Happening in Afghanistan
What Else is Happening in Afghanistan?
Official studies have turned up many serious problems in the expenditure of American aid to Afghanistan. However, these reports should not be equated with the progress, or lack of progress, of the economy and society of Afghanistan as a whole. On the one hand, some 82% of American assistance has been focused on security, as opposed to economic and social development. On the other hand, many other donors, and initiatives by Afghanis themselves, have contributed to the development of Afghanistan's economic and social life. The speaker will discuss the briefing paper, entitled "How is Afghanistan Really Doing". The purpose of the paper is not to argue with the official studies but to suggest that Afghan society has in fact made important progress in many areas over the years since 9/11. If one takes that progress into account, it will affect how one views Afghanistan's emerging place in the world and the next phase of America's relationship with that country .
Speaker: Frederick Starr, Chairman, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at AFPC
Moderator: Svante Cornell, Director, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at AFPC
Where: American Foreign Policy Council: 509 C Street NE, Washington, DC 20002
When: Wednesday, March 11, 2020 from 2:00 - 3:45 pm
Scroll down to watch the event.
News
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Read CACI Chairman S. Frederick Starr's recent interview on the resurgence of Imperial Russia with The American Purpose
Why Russians Support the War: Jeffrey Gedmin interviews S. Frederick Starr on the resurgence of Imperial Russia.
The American Purpose, May 23, 2023
Jeffrey Gedmin: Do we have a Putin problem or a Russia problem today?
S. Frederick Starr: We have a Putin problem because we have a Russia problem. Bluntly, the mass of Russians are passive and easily manipulated—down to the moment they aren’t. Two decades ago they made a deal with Vladimir Putin, as they have done with many of his predecessors: You give us a basic income, prospects for a better future, and a country we can take pride in, and we will give you a free hand. This is the same formula for autocracy that prevailed in Soviet times, and, before that, under the czars. The difference is that this time Russia’s leader—Putin—and his entourage have adopted a bizarre and dangerous ideology, “Eurasianism,” that empowers them to expand Russian power at will over the entire former territory of the USSR and even beyond. It is a grand and awful vision that puffs up ruler and ruled alike.
What do most Russians think of this deal? It leaves them bereft of the normal rights of citizenship but free from its day-to-day responsibilities. So instead of debating, voting, and demonstrating, Russians store up their frustrations and then release them in elemental, often destructive, and usually futile acts of rebellion. This “Russia problem” leaves the prospect of change in Russia today in the hands of alienated members of Putin’s immediate entourage, many of whom share his vision of Russia’s destiny and are anyway subject to Putin’s ample levers for control. Thus, our “Putin problem” arises from our “Russia problem.”
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CACI director Svante Cornell's interviewed on the 'John Batchelor Show' podcast regarding Turkey's 2023 presidential election
Listen to CACI director Svante Cornell's recent interview on the 'John Batchelor Show' podcast regarding Turkey's 2023 presidential election. Click here!
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New Article Series on Changing Geopolitics of Central Asia and the Caucasus
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CACI Initiative on Religion and the Secular State in Central Asia and the Caucasus
In 2016, the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program launched an initiative on documenting the interrelationship of religion and the secular state in the region. This initiative departed from the fact that little systematic reserch had been undertaken on the subject thus far. While there was and remains much commentary and criticism of religious policy in the region, there was no comprehensive analysis available on the interrelationship of religion and the state in any regional state, let alone the region as a whole. The result of this initiative has been the publication of six Silk Road Papers studying the matter in regional states, with more to come. In addition, work is ongoing on a volume putting the regional situation in the context of the Muslim world as a whole.
Case Studies
Each study below can be freely downloaded in PDF format.
Azerbaijan's Formula: Secular Governance and Civil Nationhood
By Svante E. Cornell, Halil Karaveli, and Boris Ajeganov
November 2016
Religion and the Secular State in Kazakhstan
By Svante E. Cornell, S. Frederick Starr and Julian Tucker
April 2018
Religion and the Secular State in Uzbekistan
Svante E. Cornell and Jacob Zenn
June 2018
Religion and the Secular State in Kyrgyzstan
Johan Engvall
June 2020
Religion and the Secular State in Turkmenistan
Victoria Clement
June 2020Articles and Analyses
Svante E. Cornell, "Religion and the State in Central Asia," in Ilan Berman, ed., Wars of Ideas: Theology, Interpretation and Power in the Muslim World, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2021.
Svante E. Cornell, "Central Asia: Where Did Islamic Radicalization Go?" in Religion, Conflict and Stability in the Former Soviet Union, eds. Katya Migacheva and Bryan Frederick, Arlington, VA: RAND Corporation, 2018.