By Rafis Abazov and Dilara Istybayeva (5/11/2011 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The recently announced “People's IPO”, a new round of public offerings by Kazakhstan's largest and most profitable corporations and companies was designed to address one of the country’s most divisive and contentious issues – the rise of extreme inequality between the very small class of nouveau riches who acquired former state companies for a song, and the large class (up to 70–80 percent) of impoverished citizens. The new ‘People's IPO’ immediately became the center of heated public debate in Kazakhstan. The main question is whether this bold and innovative act by Kazakhstan's government can address the fundamental problem of social inequality.

By Huseyn Aliyev (5/11/2011 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The past years have seen increased conflict-related violence in the North Caucasus, which in conjunction with economic instability and social insecurity has endangered the Russian administration of the region. Amid official claims that the insurgents are close to elimination, the Russian government for the first time since the start of the second Chechnya war in 1999 initiated a peace-building project in the region. The project is officially named Peace to Caucasus and aims to bring peace and stability to the volatile region.

By Robert M. Cutler (4/27/2011 issue of the CACI Analyst)

In early April, Uzbekistan hosted the most recent EU-Central Asia ministerial meeting, where a high-level delegation from Brussels met with the foreign ministers of all five Central Asian countries and took the opportunity to hold one-to-one bilateral meetings with each of them. For the first time, energy has appeared in a significant place in the formal definition of the agenda for discussion at this level and in this forum. While the preparation and overall tenor of the meetings reflect a somewhat better sense of purpose on the part of Brussels, the EU’s policy remains plagued by difficulties of goal definition and bureaucratic coordination.