By Robert M. Cutler (10/6/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

BACKGROUND: In 1994 Kazakhstan elected its First (post-Soviet) Parliament, on the basis of the country’s first post-Soviet constitution. It was dissolved very soon thereafter when, on the basis of accusation of electoral fraud by one anti-Nazarbaev candidate in a single electoral district, the Constitutional Court ruled the entire parliament to be illegal. President Nazarbaev then ruled by decree for over a year.

By Peter Laurens (10/6/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

BACKGROUND: At the time of General Pervez Musharraf’s coup in October 1999, Pakistan’s economy was reeling from the combined effects of a USD 39 billion foreign debt burden and the economic sanctions imposed as a reaction to the country’s nuclear tests in 1998. The country’s hard currency reserves were nearly nonexistent, barely enough to cover two weeks’ worth of imports. The government came close to default.

By Emin Alisayidov (9/22/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

BACKGROUND: Azerbaijani authorities found themselves between the pressure from NATO to allow military personnel of Armenia, which still occupies significant parts of Azerbaijan’s territory, and the rapidly growing outrage in the Azerbaijani public. In fact, when last month a judge issued sentences ranging up to five years imprisonment for activists of the “Karabakh Liberation Organization” for breaking into the a hall where a NATO pre-exercise seminar was held with the participation of two Armenian officers, the verdict was roundly condemned by virtually all political groups in Azerbaijan. This was followed by a daily campaign conducted by independent and opposition media, printing first page ads and interrupting broadcasts to call for a ban on visits by Armenian officers.