MIGRANTS’ REMITTANCES FARE BETTER THAN EXPECTED IN CENTRAL ASIA
By Erica Marat (11/11/2009 issue of the CACI Analyst)
In the fourth quarter of 2008, Tajikistan reported a sharp decline in remittances sent by labor migrants living in Russia and Kazakhstan. Many experts rushed to predict a massive return of migrants to Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan – all three being major migrant sending countries. But as recently released World Bank data show, while there was indeed a decline in remittances among Tajik migrants, the level of remittances increased in Kyrgyzstan.
THE ARMENIA-TURKEY PROTOCOLS: TACTICAL COOPERATION IN THE SHADOW OF EURASIAN STRATEGIC COMPETITION
By Roman Muzalevsky (11/11/2009 issue of the CACI Analyst)
It would have been difficult to imagine the signing of protocols on the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations on October 10 without coinciding interests on the part of major stakeholders. While a testament to cooperation between the regional parties, the protocols are also a reflection of global and regional strategic competition in Eurasia among small, medium and great powers.
ARMENIA TO CUT ITS BUDGET NEXT YEAR DESPITE EXPECTED ECONOMIC RECOVERY
By Haroutiun Khachatrian (11/11/2009 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The Armenian government’s draft budget for next year is reduced by over five percent compared to that of 2009. It envisages cuts in most important public expenditures (including military ones), but leaves social payments and salaries intact. A twelve percent cut in the military budget is unlikely to disrupt the military balance in the region, although Azerbaijan, Armenia’s only military adversary, will keep its military expenditures high.
MANAGED VERSUS ELECTORAL POLITICAL CHANGE: LESSONS FROM ASIA
By Peter J. Winglee (10/28/2009 issue of the CACI Analyst)
With the recent efforts to make President Nazarbayev president for life, it is useful to compare the Central Asian approach to governance to that in the single party states, China and Vietnam. Despite criticism about their deficiencies in democracy and human rights, these two countries have made great progress in developing their economies, opening up their societies, and finding a political system that both works now and can also evolve. Since democracy is slow to take root in Central Asia, analysis of other political systems that local elites accept may produce better outcomes than are now prevailing.
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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.