EFFORTS TO STIMULATE ECONOMIC ACTIVITY IN THE NORTH CAUCASUS STIR PASSIONS IN THE RUSSIAN HEARTLAND
By Kevin Daniel Leahy (11/16/2011 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Boris Yeltsin, president of Russia from 1991 to 1999, famously urged the various ethno-jurisdictions in the Russian Federation to “take all the sovereignty you can swallow.” At the time, the political leadership in Chechnya took this exhortation literally, an interpretation that contributed to the outbreak of war between the secessionist regime in Grozny and the Russian state in 1994. Since 1999, Vladimir Putin has replaced Yeltsin’s controversial sovereignty mantra with one that might be articulated as follows: “take all the subsidies you can swallow.
TAJIK AUTHORITIES VOW TO FIGHT NEPOTISM
By Alexander Sodiqov (11/16/2011 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The introduction of additional legal restrictions on “family hire” in public service and the recent warnings by senior officials against nepotistic practices in government indicate that the Tajik authorities recognize the political risks stemming from nepotism. This recognition appears to be linked with the political upheavals in Kyrgyzstan and, more recently, the Arab world. However, a genuine anti-nepotism agenda of the Tajik government is unlikely because President Rahmon himself has virtually monopolized political and economic power in the hands of his family.
THE PERILS OF NON-RESOLUTION IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH
By Stephen Blank (11/2/2011 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The unresolved conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh has once again raised its head. This is not surprising because the failure of Moscow’s attempt to broker a solution earlier this year appears to have conformed to a dynamic common to such conflict. Failed efforts at mediation lead to renewed tensions as each side blames the other and the spiral of recriminations continues until wiser heads or some other crisis prevails.
KYRGYZSTAN’S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS: AS GOOD AS IT GETS IN CENTRAL ASIA
By Erica Marat (11/2/2011 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The presidential elections in Kyrgyzstan on October 30 marked the first peaceful and voluntary handover of power from one leader to another in the history of post-Soviet Central Asia. Despite some shortcomings reported by external observers, the elections took place in an environment of freedom and impartiality. Kyrgyzstan’s task now is to sustain its development towards consolidated democratic practices.
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Staff Publications
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, Greater Central Asia as A Component of U.S. Global Strategy, October 2024.
Analysis Laura Linderman, "Rising Stakes in Tbilisi as Elections Approach," Civil Georgia, September 7, 2024.
Analysis Mamuka Tsereteli, "U.S. Black Sea Strategy: The Georgian Connection", CEPA, February 9, 2024.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell, ed., Türkiye's Return to Central Asia and the Caucasus, July 2024.
Book Svante E. Cornell, ed., "The Changing Geopolitics of Central Asia and the Caucasus" AFPC Press/Armin LEar, 2023.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell and S. Frederick Starr, Stepping up to the “Agency Challenge”: Central Asian Diplomacy in a Time of Troubles, July 2023.
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, U.S. Policy in Central Asia through Central Asian Eyes, May 2023.