The changes taking place in the region stretching from Turkey and the Caucasus to China have been so rapid that no country in the West or elsewhere was adequately prepared to deal with the region. American and European elites had little knowledge of the histories and cultures of the region's peoples, let alone of their languages. The newly independent states of Eurasia were not treated as something in the own right, but were subsumed under other headings, usually "post-Soviet", in spite of their highly distinctive and diverse nature. Afghanistan and Xinjiang, intimate parts of Central Asia for millennia, were sliced off and treated exclusively under the rubric of South Asia, or China, respectively. Although the divisions between the former Soviet states on the one hand and Turkey, China, and Afghanistan and South Asia on the other are rapidly giving way to common problems and solutions, western governments and international organizations typically retain the geographical divisions dating back to Soviet times.

In spite of these problems, western interest in the region has gradually been rising. Energy issues have been a major contributor to this, followed by the global war on terror after September 11, 2001, which brought Central Asia and the Caucasus to the international agenda. Meanwhile, the rise of China is having significant implications both for the west and Central Eurasia as a whole.

Recent Publications

Svante E. Cornell & S. Frederick Starr, The Caucasus: A Challenge for Europe, Uppsala & Washington: CACI & SRSP Silk Road Paper, June 2006.



S. Frederick Starr, A 'Greater Central Asia Partnership' for Afghanistan and Its `Neighbors , Silk Road Paper, March 2005.

Charles H. Fairbanks, Jr., "Afghanistan Reborn", The Weekly Standard, Nov. 1-8, 2004.

Svante E. Cornell, "Europas bortglömda granne", Tvärdrag magazine, November 2004.

S. Frederick Starr, U.S. Afghanistan Policy: It's Working, Silk Road Paper, October 2004.

Svante E. Cornell, Roger McDermott, William O'Malley, Vladimir Socor, S. Frederick Starr, Regional Security in the South Caucasus: The Role of NATO, Washington DC: Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, 2004.

Svante E. Cornell, ”The United States and Central Asia: In the Steppes to Stay?”, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, vol. 17 no. 2, Summer 2004.

Svante E. Cornell, “NATO After Enlargement: PfP Shifts Emphasis to Central Asia and the Caucasus”, NIAS Asia Insights, no. 2, June 2004.

Svante E. Cornell, “NATO’s Role in South Caucasus Regional Security”, Turkish Policy Quarterly, No. 3, June 2004.

Svante E. Cornell, “Europe and the South Caucasus: In Search for a Purpose”, Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst, 2 June 2004.

Svante E. Cornell, "Entrenched in the Steppes: America Redraws the Map", Foreign Service Journal, April 2003.

Svante E. Cornell " America in Eurasia: One Year After ", Current History, October 2002.

S. Frederick Starr, "America's Three Afghan Challenges", Christian Science Monitor , 23 November 2001.

S. Frederick Starr, "The War Against Terrorism And U.S. Bilateral Relations With Central Asia", U.S. Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on Central Asia and the Southern Caucasus, 13 December 2001.

S. Frederick Starr, "Afghanistan Land Mine", Washington Post, 19 December 2000.

S. Frederick Starr, "Making Eurasia Stable", Foreign Affairs, vol. 75 no. 1, January/February 1996.