THE SCO’S IRAN PROBLEM
By Richard Weitz (8/19/2009 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has yet to resolve the problem presented by Iran’s efforts to become the institution’s seventh full member. For the fourth consecutive year, existing SCO governments have declined to accept new full members or formal observers. Instead, the SCO has resorted to proliferating new categories of external association, producing a confusing hodgepodge of members, observers, “guests,” and now “partners.
IRAN, XINJIANG, AND DEMOCRATIZATION IN EURASIA: THE IMPACT OF RECENT UPHEAVALS
By Stephen Blank (8/19/2009 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Iran’s recent electoral protests and the more recent demonstrations in Xinjiang suggest that Eurasian societies are still fundamentally unsettled or possibly entering a new dynamic phase of political development. Both episodes underscore the inherent fragility of authoritarian societies and their susceptibility to internal violence. In Iran the government brazenly rigged its recent presidential election, then launched high-handed coercive efforts to strangle the ensuing protests.
MEDIATORS PROPOSE INTERIM STATUS FOR NAGORNO-KARABAKH
By Haroutiun Khachatrian (8/19/2009 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The U.S., Russia and France, the three mediators of the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement process, have presented an amended version of the Madrid document, based on Armenian and Azerbaijani proposals.
SCIENCE IN TURKMENISTAN: HOW FAR WILL REFORMS GO?
By Rafis Abazov (7/15/2009 issue of the CACI Analyst)
On June 12 2009, the President of Turkmenistan signed a decree establishing the National Academy of Science (NAS) of Turkmenistan, fully funded by the state budget. This refocusing of priorities toward re-establishing a national Research and Development (R&D) system has made a significant contribution to the systematic reorganization of the country’s research and education. This move has also intensified the debates within Turkmenistan and in the Central Asian region about the future directions in adopting new approaches to research and science: should the government support and fund the establishment of its own innovative research and development potentials or should the state abandon attempts to build its own research base and fully rely on the private sector or an international transfer of know-how?
BACKGROUND: Turkmenistan’s policy-makers follow in the footsteps of their colleagues in developing countries, where debates about the viability of creating an independent R&D base have continued for more than half a century.
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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.