A major characteristic of the entire region stretching from Turkey to China is the complex processes of state-building and political development in the states that compose this region. This is especially true for the states of the former Soviet Union, that were in many ways forced to build their states from scratch at independence. The process is nowhere more dramatic than in war-ravaged Afghanistan, which is experiencing the perhaps most vibrant political, economic and social changes in the region. But it is also true for more established states, be it China, Pakistan or Turkey, that are experiencing very rapid changes in their political and economic systems.

The processes taking place reach the west mainly in the form of news about velvet revolutions; but the processes taking place in the region are far more complex and differentiated than that, involving the evolution of political systems and the long-term building of statehood. As such, a major emphasis is placed in the Joint Center on the processes of state-building and political systems.

Recent Publications

Johanna Popjanevski and Niklas Nilsson, "Conflict Management and Ethnic Relations in the South Caucasus: National Minorities in Georgia", Workshop Report, Uppsala, June 2006.

Fiona Rotberg, "On the Edge of a Failed State.", Asia Media, 20 June 2006.


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





S. Frederick Starr, Clans, Authoritarian Rulers and Parliaments in Central Asia, Uppsala & Washington: CACI & SRSP Silk Road Paper, June 2006.


Fiona Rotberg,"Timor-Leste’s Failings: Why the World Should Care.", World Security Network, 12 June 2006.

Nicklas Norling, First Kabul Conference on Partnership, Trade, and Development in Greater Central Asia, April 2006.


Erica Marat,The Tulip Revolution: Kyrgyzstan One Year After, Washington, DC: Jamestown Foundation, 2006.[Click to download PDF]



Svante E. Cornell, "The Narcotics Threat in Greater Central Asia: From Crime-Terror Nexus to State Infiltration", CEF Quarterly, vol. 4. no. 1, February 2006.

Erica Marat, "Impact of Drug Trade and Organized Crime on State Functioning in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan", CEF Quarterly, vol. 4. no. 1, February 2006.

Erica Marat, "Kyrgyz Government Unable to Produce New National Ideology", Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst, 22 February 2006.

Aftab Kazi, "Uzbekistan's Parliamentary Elections: Glass Half-Full or Half-Empty", Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst, 9 February 2005.

S. Frederick Starr, "Independent Electronic Media Network in Uzbekistan Set to Challenge State TV in Election Coverage", Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst, 17 November 2004.

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

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

Aftab Kazi, "Parliamentary Elections and Reform in Uzbekistan", Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst, 22 September 2004.

S. Frederick Starr and Douglas A. Townsend, "Kazakh Elections: A Real Step Forward", September 2004.

Charles H. Fairbanks, Jr., "Georgia's Rose Revolution", Journal of Democracy, vol. 15 no. 2, April 2004.

Svante E. Cornell and Fariz Ismailzade, "Azerbaijan", in Nations in Transit 2004: Democratization in East-Central Europe and Eurasia , ed. Amanda Schnetzer et. al., New York: Freedom House.

Svante E. Cornell, "Azerbaijan 2002: Between the Storms" Transitions Online yearly review, May 2003.

Svante E. Cornell, "Challenges Ahead for Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan's New Prime Minister" , Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst, August 13, 2003.

Svante E. Cornell and Fariz Ismailzade, "Azerbaijan", Nations in Transit 2003: Democratization in East-Central Europe and Eurasia , ed. Amanda Schnetzer et. al., New York: Freedom House, 2003.

S. Frederick Starr, "The Investment Climate In Central Asia and the Caucasus" Jan H. Kalicki and Eugene K. Lawson, Russian-Eurasian Renaissance - U.S. Trade and Investment in Russia and Eurasia, Stanford University Press, 2003.

Svante E. Cornell and Fariz Ismailzade, "Azerbaijan", Nations in Transit 2002: Democratization in East-Central Europe and Eurasia , ed. Amanda Schnetzer et. al., New York: Freedom House, 2002.

S. Frederick Starr and Marin Strmecki, "Afghan Democracy and Its First Missteps", New York Times, 15 June 2002.

Charles H. Fairbanks, Jr., "Disillusionment in the Caucasus and Central Asia", Journal of Democracy, vol. 12 no. 4, October 2001.

S. Frederick Starr, "Afghanistan's Biggest Problem - Poverty - Can Be Solved", Christian Science Monitor, 16 October 2001.

Svante E. Cornell, "Democratization Falters in Azerbaijan", Journal of Democracy , vol. 12 no. 2, 2001.

S. Frederick Starr, 'Altitude Sickness', The National Interest, no. 65, Fall 2001.

Svante E. Cornell, "The Kurdish Question and the Turkish Political System", Orbis , vol. 45 no. 1, 2001.

Svante E. Cornell, "Turkey: Return to Stability?", Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 35 no. 4, October 1999.