Spring 2023 CAMCA Fellow Presentation: Ripples from Russia's War in Ukraine in the CAMCA Region
Join the spring 2023 Rumsfeld Foundation's Central Asia, Mongolia, the Caucasus and Afghanistan (CAMCA) fellows for a presentation on the regional economic and political implications of Russia's war in Ukraine. Speakers will examine various strategies to better protect their sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity and improve conditions for further economic development. Register for this in-person event to discuss these issues and learn why the U.S. should support the CAMCA countries in this challenging international environment.
Moderator: S. Frederick Starr, Chairman, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at theAmerican Foreign Policy Council
When: Tuesday April 25, 2023 - 3:00-4:30 PM EST
Where: American Foreign Policy Council, 509 C Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002
In-Person Meeting: CAMCA: A New Era
In-Person Meeting
Co-organized by the CAMCA Forum founders:
The Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at AFPC
The CAMCA Network
The Rumsfeld Foundation
Forum on CAMCA: A New Era
Join the fall 2022 Rumsfled Foundation Central Asia, Mongolia, the Caucasus and Afghanistan (CAMCA) fellows for a presentation on the region's next chapter. From it's geostrategic location to its large and viable workforce, CAMCA countries have the potential to create a shared economic system supporting regional trade investments, labor and peacekeeping, Join the Fellows to learn how the U.S. can better interact with, and invest in, this rapidly developing region.
When: Wednesday November 9, 3:00 - 4:30 PM EST
Where: American Foreign Policy Council, 509 C Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002
Moderator: Svante Cornell, Director, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at American Foreign Policy Council
Rethinking Greater Central Asia: American and Western Stakes in the Region and How to Advance Them
Register for the June 15-16, 2022 CAMCA Forum!
Join us June 15-16 for the 2022 CAMCA Regional Forum!
THEME: "New Geopolitics and Geoeconomics in CAMCA"
SESSION TOPICS
- CAMCA Geopolitics after Ukraine: What’s Desirable? What’s Possible?
- How to Deal with Echo-sanctions in CAMCA
- Building Modern Skills in CAMCA Countries
- Securing CAMCA’s Digital Future in an Era of U.S.-China Geo-Tech Rivalry
- Trade and Transport in CAMCA: Regional and Global Connectivity
- What’s Next in Afghanistan?
- Prospects of Regional Financial Structures in CAMCA
- Women Taking Power in CAMCA: Prospects and Barriers
- Food Security and Building Agritech in CAMCA
- Meet the New Entrepreneurs of CAMCA
- Accelerating Regional Cooperation in Policy Analysis: A Roadmap
- Investing in CAMCA: How to Seize Opportunities
Forum speakers represent a wide variety of sectors and expertise across the CAMCA region and beyond...
Below is a sample of the international and U.S.-based organizations and businesses that confirmed speakers
- Central Asia-Caucasus Institute
- American University of Afghanistan
- National Development Agency of Mongolia
- Chemonics International Inc.
- Cintana Education
- Education Committee of the Georgian Parliament
- Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction
- UNDP Kyrgyzstan
- Hudson Institute
- Batumi Multimodal Terminal
- Free Democrats Party of Georgia
- T-Cell Tajikistan
- White & Case LLP
- CJSC Bank of Asia
- Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE)
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Avesta Investment Group
- Atlantic Council
- Alif Capital
- And many more...
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The CAMCA (Central Asia-Mongolia-Caucasus-
Confronting Global Challenges in the CAMCA Region
CAMCA (Central Asia, Mongolia, the Caucasus and Afghanistan) is a vulnerable region grappling with a range of issues including low connectivity, economic dependency, food security, poor governance, corruption, and terrorism - all exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Not fully recovered from the pandemic's negative impacts, the war in Ukraine poses a new set of political and economic challenges. In addition, the reemergence of the Taliban and terrorist syndicate in Afghanistan has created a new phase of security challenges for the entire region. The presentation by the spring 2022 Rumsfeld Fellows examined the challenges posed to the CAMCA region by the pandemic, Taliban, and Ukrainian conflict, and suggest possible solutions.
When: Tuesday, May 3, 2022, 3:00-4:30 PM EST
Where: Middle East Institute, 1763 N St NW, Washington, DC 20036
Co-organizers: The Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at AFPC, The CAMCA Network and The Rumsfeld Foundation
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.