GEORGIA’S CABINET CAROUSEL: WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND
By Robert L. Larsson (1/12/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: When Mikhail Saakashvili took office in January 2004, he appointed a cabinet of young, western-educated and reform-minded disciples to tackle Georgia’s numerous problems. However, by June 2004, Saakashvili had made his first major reshuffle. Within the security sphere, General Prosecutor Irakli Okruashvili became Interior Minister, Interior Minister Giorgi Baramidze became Defense Minister, the Head of the National Security Council (NSC) Vano Merabishvili became Security Minister, Defense Minister Gela Bezhuashvili became Head of the NSC, and Security Minister Zurab Adeishvili took over as General Prosecutor.RED, ORANGE, GREEN OR GRAY? SHADES OF POLITICAL SUCCESSION IN CENTRAL ASIA
By Gregory Gleason (1/12/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Despite significant headway in macroeconomic reform, none of the countries of Central Asia has solved the problem of establishing an orderly and legitimate procedure for the transfer of power. As the communist-era leadership begins to age and the political dynamics associated with market economies begin to reshape the political landscape of Central Asia, political succession has become the defining issue in Central Asian contemporary political affairs. More than a decade after the passing of communism, the countries of Central Asia continue to be ruled by the leaders of the pre-independence communist period.TROUBLE IN AN UNLIKELY PLACE: STRAINS IN THE RUSSIAN-ARMENIAN RELATIONSHIP
By Arman Grigorian (1/12/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Some political groups in Armenia have openly called for breaking with Russia and creating closer ties to the West. Such calls, for instance, were made during the recent congress of the former ruling party, the Armenian National Movement. Even a new oppositional alliance composed of the Liberal Progressive Party of Hovannes Hovannisian, the Republic Party headed by Aram Sarkissian, as well as former minister of foreign affairs Raffi Hovannisian was recently formed with an explicit agenda to move Armenia closer to the West and away from Russia.BAKU BALANCES THE UKRAINIAN REVOLUTION
By Anar Valiyev (12/15/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: The Georgian “rose revolution” made official Baku uneasy. At the culmination of the Georgian events, Ilham Aliyev’s government sided with president Eduard Shevarnadze, officially supporting him. Shevarnadze’s resignation and his opponent’s triumph was an embarrassment to official Baku, temporarily obscuring Azerbaijani-Georgian relations.Visit also
Staff Publications
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, U.S. Policy in Central Asia through Central Asian Eyes, May 2023.
Analysis Svante E. Cornell, "Promise and Peril in the Caucasus," AFPC Insights, March 30, 2023.
Oped S. Frederick Starr, Putin's War In Ukraine and the Crimean War), 19fourtyfive, January 2, 2023
Oped S. Frederick Starr, Russia Needs Its Own Charles de Gaulle, Foreign Policy, July 21, 2022.
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, Rethinking Greater Central Asia: American and Western Stakes in the Region and How to Advance Them, June 2022
Oped Svante E. Cornell & Albert Barro, With referendum, Kazakh President pushes for reforms, Euractiv, June 3, 2022.
Oped Svante E. Cornell Russia's Southern Neighbors Take a Stand, The Hill, May 6, 2022.
Silk Road Paper Johan Engvall, Between Bandits and Bureaucrats: 30 Years of Parliamentary Development in Kyrgyzstan, January 2022.
Oped Svante E. Cornell, No, The War in Ukraine is not about NATO, The Hill, March 9, 2022.
Analysis Svante E. Cornell, Kazakhstan’s Crisis Calls for a Central Asia Policy Reboot, The National Interest, January 34, 2022.
Book S. Frederick Starr and Svante E. Cornell, Strong and Unique: Three Decades of U.S.-Kazakhstan Partnership, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, December 2021.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell, S. Frederick Starr & Albert Barro, Political and Economic Reforms in Kazakhstan Under President Tokayev, November 2021.