Forums & Events
[VIDEO POSTED] CACI Online Forum: Regional Economic Outlook for Central Asia and the Caucasus
Regional Economic Outlook for Central Asia and the Caucasus
How have countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus responded to COVID-19 and how are they planning to recover and rebuild? The Central Asia-Caucasus Institute invites you to the presentation of the International Monetary Funds' Regional Economic Outlook for Central Asia and the Caucasus, published on October 19, 2020. This important study offers a positive account of mitigation measures but cautionary words for the future. Our speaker was Dr. Subir Lall, Deputy Director, Middle East and Central Asia Department, International Monetary Fund. S. Frederick Starr chaired and moderated.
When: Monday, December 21, 2020, 10 - 11 AM EST
The event was live-streamed on the CACI Facebook page and is now available on Youtube.
[VIDEO POSTED] CACI Online Forum: Kazakhstan in International Mediation
Kazakhstan in International Mediation
The Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, in cooperation with the Embassy of Kazakhstan to the United States, would like to invite you to a CACI online Forum on Kazakhstan’s role in international mediation. The event will be held at 10 AM on December 4, 2020, and will mark the publication of a new Silk Road Paper on the topic. In recent years, Kazakhstan has taken on the role of a mediator in several international disputes, ranging from the Iranian nuclear issue and the Ukraine conflict to Turkish-Russian relations and the Syrian civil war. The study, authored by Svante E. Cornell and S. Frederick Starr, analyzes the reasons for Kazakhstan’s involvement in international mediation and the implications thereof.
Moderator:
- Mamuka Tsereteli, Senior Fellow, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute
Speakers:
- S. Frederick Starr, Chairman, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute
- Amb. Erzhan Kazykhanov, Ambassador of Kazakhstan to the United States
- Svante E. Cornell, Director, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute
- David A. Merkel, Associate Fellow for Geo-Economics and Strategy, International Institute for Strategic Studies
When: Friday, December 4th, 2020, 10-11:00 AM EST
The event is now available on Youtube.
[Video Posted] CACI Online Forum: The Caucasus after the War
The Caucasus after the War
Recent events signify profound changes in the Caucasus. Georgia has held a contested election; meanwhile, on November 10th, a cease-fire agreement ended weeks of fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan that claimed over a thousand lives and saw Azerbaijan restore control over vast swaths of land. A new status quo has been reached, Russian peacekeepers are now deployed in the area and Turkey has emerged as a force in the Caucasus. Where does the region go from here? What are the implications for U.S. and European policy?
Prominent regional and international speakers joined CACI experts in a discussion on the implications of a Nagorno-Karabakh peace treaty and how the conflict has already reshaped the security situation for the countries of the Southern Caucasus and the wider region.
Moderator:
- Svante E. Cornell, Director, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute
Speakers:
- Glen Howard, President, Jamestown Foundation
- Ambassador Tedo Japaridze, Former Ambassador of Georgia to the United States, Canada, and Mexico
- Suat Kiniklioglu, Former Turkish Parliamentarian and Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Security and Developmental Policy
- Sergey Markedonov, Leading Researcher at the Institute of International Studies at MGIMO-University
The event was live-streamed on the CACI Facebook page and is now available on our Youtube Channel.
[VIDEO POSTED] CACI Online Forum: The Blue Dot Network: The US Response to BRI?
The Blue Dot Network: The US Response to BRI?
The "Blue Dot Network," was formally announced on November 4, 2019 at the Indo-Pacific Business Forum in Bangkok, Thailand on the sidelines of the 35th ASEAN Summit. It is led by the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, Japan Bank for International Cooperation, and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia. The BDN is a global initiative to connect different regional and global transportation hubs to facilitate trade and transit. Some have seen it as Washington's response to China's Belt and Road.
Our guest speaker Dr. Kaush Arha, Senior Adviser, Strategic Engagement, USAID, and CACI experts discussed this initiative and its potential impact on Central Asia and the Caucasus.
This discussion was Moderated by: S. Frederick Starr, Chairman, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute.
When: Tuesday, October 27, 2020 at 11:30 am EDT
The event was streamed on the CACI Facebook page and also available on Youtube.
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.