CACI Webinar - IMF Economic Outlook for Central Asia & the Caucasus: Mounting Challenges, Decisive Times
The Central Asia-Caucasus Institute invites you to join for a presentation and discussion regarding the International Monetary Fund's October 2022 Regional Economic Outlook for Central Asia and the Caucasus report.
Opening Remarks:
Svante Cornell, Director,Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at American Foreign Policy Council
Speakers:
Subir Lall, Deputy Director, Middle East and Central Asia Department, International Monetary Fund
Mamuka Tsereteli, Senior Fellow, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at American Foreign Policy Council
When:
Wednesday December 14, 2022, 10:30 AM-11:30 PM EST
[VIDEO POSTED] CACI Forum Event: Central Asia-Caucasus Economic Outlook: Arising from the Pandemic, Building Forward Better
Central Asia-Caucasus Economic Outlook: Arising from the Pandemic, Building Forward Better
The Central Asia-Caucasus Institute invites you to the presentation of the International Monetary Fund's Regional Economic Outlook for Central Asia and the Caucasus, published on April 11, 2021.
Our speakers discussed post-COVID economic prospects across countries in the region, depending on the pandemic’s path, vaccine rollouts, underlying fragilities, as well as exposure to tourism and contact-intensive sectors. Policies will also continue to play a key role: in the short term, to save lives and livelihoods and support the recovery while ensuring macroeconomic resilience; and in the longer term, to accelerate progress toward more inclusive, sustainable, and green economies. The specific case of Kazakhstan and its policy response and recovery strategy was also discussed.
Speakers
Dr. Subir Lall, Deputy Director, Middle East and Central Asia Department, International Monetary Fund
Dr. Nicolas Blancher, Division Chief for Central Asia/Mission Chief for Kazakhstan, Middle East and Central Asia Department, International Monetary Fund
Moderator:
Svante E. Cornell, Director, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at American Foreign Policy Council
When: Wednesday, May 19, 2021
The event was also live-streamed on the CACI YouTube page.
[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: 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: Caucasus and Central Asia (CCA): Economic Outlook and Policy Challenges
The Caucasus and Central Asia: IMF Economic Outlook and Policy Challenges
The Central Asia-Caucasus Institute held a forum on IMF engagemtn in the CCA region. The forum discussed trade tensions, oil price volatility, and geopolitical tensions are weighing on the world economy. The speaker addressed what the region’s policy makers should do to make their economies resilient and promote higher and more inclusive growth.
Speakers:
Juha Kähkönen, Deputy Director, Middle East and Central Asia Department, International Monetary Fund
Moderator: Svante Cornell, Director, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at the American Foreign Policy Council
Where: Middle East Institute: 1763 N Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20036
When: Wednesday, November 21, 2019 from 3:00 - 4:30 pm,
News
-
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.”
-
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!
-
New Article Series on Changing Geopolitics of Central Asia and the Caucasus
-
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.