The Road Ahead for Azerbaijan and the Caucasus
CACI FORUM
The Road Ahead for Azerbaijan and the Caucasus
Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016, from 5 to 7 p.m.
(reception at 5 p.m.; main program at 5:30)
This event can now be viewed on the SAIS events YouTube channel.
A Talk by
Elin Suleymanov
Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the United States of America
As Azerbaijan celebrates twenty five years of independence, Ambassador Suleymanov will look at the achievements of his country and focus on future prospects both for Azerbaijan and the region as a whole in an era of mounting tension and geopolitical transformations.
Moderated by S. Frederick Starr, Chairman, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute
SAIS - Johns Hopkins University
1619 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20036
Under the Radar: Georgia’s October 2016 Elections
Azerbaijan Since Independence
Book, Routledge, 2011
Svante E. Cornell, Azerbaijan Since Independence
Azerbaijan Since Independence offers a comprehensive intro- duction to modern Azerbaijan, a post-Soviet republic located on the western shore of the Caspian Sea. This small country has outsized importance due to its strategic location at the cross- roads of Europe and Asia, its energy wealth, and its historical experience as an early modernizer in the Muslim world.
The book begins with six chapters on Azerbaijan’s history from pre-Soviet times to the present, with an emphasis on the past twenty years. The next four chapters are thematic, covering the con ict over Karabakh, the political system, the oil-dominated economy, and societal changes and trends including the role of Islam. The remainder of the book surveys Azerbaijan’s foreign relations, with an analysis of the foreign- policy-making context complemented by chapters on relations with Iran, Russia, Turkey, and the West. The book closes with a brief epilogue discussing the country’s future.
Svante E. Cornell is Director of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program, a Joint Center affiliated with the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies and the Stockholm-based Institute for Security and Development Policy (ISDP).
See details and order the book from Routledge or on Amazon.com
Contents:
The fallacy of ‘compartmentalisation’: the West and Russia from Ukraine to Syria
European View, June 2016, Volume 15, Issue 1, pp 97–109
Svante E. Cornell, The fallacy of ‘compartmentalisation’: the West and Russia from Ukraine to Syria
In the post-Soviet space as well as the Middle East, Western leaders have largely failed to heed ample evidence that the goals of the Russian leadership are fundamentally opposed to those of the EU and the US. Whereas Moscow seeks to counter Western influence and roll back the US’s role in the world, the West has proposed a win–win approach, seeking to convince Moscow that its ‘true’ interests should lead it to cooperate with the West. When this has not worked, Western leaders have ‘compartmentalised’, isolating areas of agreement from areas of disagreement. This approach has come to the end of the road because the assumptions that undergird it are false. So long as Western powers fail to understand the fundamental incompatibility of their interests with the deeply anti-Western interests of the current power brokers in the Kremlin, they are unlikely to develop policies that achieve success.
Svante E. Cornell is Director of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program, a Joint Center affiliated with the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies and the Stockholm-based Institute for Security and Development Policy.
Central Asia and the Caucasus: From Independence to Interdependence Presentations by Spring 2016 Rumsfeld Fellows
CACI FORUM
Central Asia and the Caucasus:
From Independence to Interdependence
Presentations by Spring 2016 Rumsfeld Fellows
Wednesday, 27 April, 2016, from 5 to 7 p.m.
(reception at 5 p.m., followed by the main program at 5:30)
The fall of the USSR enabled peoples of Central Asia and the Caucasus (Greater Central Asia) to claim full independence and sovereignty. While bringing many obvious benefits, the strengthening of new sovereignties has also brought self-isolation and rivalry among peoples who had actively interacted for hundreds of years before the Russian conquest. The resulting isolationism has created needless tensions in the region, deepened poverty, and fostered religious radicalization. Meanwhile, geographic proximity, interdependent infrastructure, and the presence of Russian media have maintained ties with Russia and rendered them appealing to many.
Is it time to shift from the radical independence to intra-regional dialogue and economic integration within the region? And for the region as a whole to capitalize on its strategic location, cultural diversity, and human capital?
Twelve participants of the Spring 2016 Rumsfeld Fellowship Program, representing nine countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus, will share their answers to these questions.
A video recording of the event may now be viewed on the SAIS Events YouTube channel.
Speakers:
Mr. Ozodkhon Davlatshoev (Tajikistan)
Mr. Nemuun Gal (Mongolia)
Mr. Emil Gasimli (Azerbaijan)
Mr. Sulkhan Glonti (Georgia)
Ms. Raykhona Khashimova (Uzbekistan)
Ms. Eliza Nishanbaeva (Kyrgyzstan)
Mr. Mahmood Noorzai (Afghanistan)
Mr. Rakhim Oshakbayev (Kazakhstan)
Ms. Lilit Petrosyan (Armenia)
Mr. Ruslan Ramanov (Uzbekistan)
Mr. Narantuguldur Saijrakh (Mongolia)
Mr. Barry Salaam (Afghanistan)
Moderator: S. Frederick Starr, Chairman, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute
SAIS - Johns Hopkins University
1619 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20036
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.