CONSOLIDATION OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN KAZAKHSTAN STRENGTHENS PRESIDENT\'S HAND
By Ryan Kennedy (1/24/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: One year after President Nursultan Nazarbayev established his dominance over the Kazakhstani political system by winning 91 percent of the presidential vote, his Otan (Fatherland) party, re-enforced its position in Kazakhstan’s parliament, the Majilis. On December 22, the pro-presidential Civic Party, with its 160,000 registered members, and the Agrarian Party, with its 102,000 members, voted to join the President\'s Otan party. This past summer, the Asar Party, led by the President\'s daughter, Dariga Nazarbayeva, made a similar decision to incorporate into Otan.BUILDING A BLACK SEA/CASPIAN NATURAL GAS BRIDGE: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
By Mamuka Tsereteli (1/24/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: After gaining full control over Armenia’s pipeline network and the Moldovan distribution network, as well as partial control over the Belarusian transit pipelines, Russia’s State-controlled gas monopoly, Gazprom, is getting closer to its ultimate goal to control all pipelines connecting the former Soviet Union’s states to other markets and potential suppliers. The same strategy is now being applied to Europe. Russia is the primary source for imported natural gas in most European states, and its role is set to increase in next decade, despite a potential shortage of the gas on the domestic market.AZERBAIJAN AND EUROPE: TOWARD CLOSER INTEGRATION?
By Fariz Ismailzade (1/24/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: In December, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev traveled to Brussels to meet with EU and NATO officials, and to sign the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) agreement between the EU and Azerbaijan. This agreement has started a new chapter and is aimed at further deepening relations between Azerbaijan and the EU and the integration of the country into European structures. Similar agreements have been signed with Armenia and Georgia, and Azerbaijan’s Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) with NATO is already under implementation.CAN THE EU RESOLVE THE UZBEKISTAN DILEMMA IN 2007?
By Richard Weitz (1/24/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Several factors have led Central Asia to assume a prominent place on the agenda at recent EU meetings. First, continued friction with Russia over energy issues has increased European interest in importing oil and natural gas from Central Asian countries as well as in promoting these states’ independence from Moscow. Second, some EU members, such as Germany, have substantial commercial interests in Central Asian countries that extend beyond their energy trade.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.