Forums & Events
CACI FORUM: E-Government and Anti-Corruption in Azerbaijan: the ASAN Centers
Thursday, 01 May 2014
CACI Forum
"E-Government and Anti-Corruption in Azerbaijan: the ASAN Centers"
In 2012, the Azerbaijan State Agency for Public Service and Social Innovations (known as ASAN-"Easy Service") began delivering a wide range of public services to citizens and businesses. At present, ASAN facilitates the delivery of more than 150 services from 10 differententities and over 30 services by private companies in the form of PPP at its facilities. The Agency’s aim is to guarantee uniform, efficient and transparent service and to be an example of integrity for the public sector. Dr. Karimov will discuss the experience of this Agency and its future prospects.
Dr. Inam Karimov is Chairman of the State Agency for Public Service and Social Innovations under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Previously, he worked as advisor (2002–2004) and senior advisor (2004–2012) at the Presidential Administration. 2005 to 2012, he was Secretary of the country’s anti-corruption commission and Head of the Azerbaijani Delegation in the Council of Europe’s GRECO (Group of States Against Corruption), where he was rapporteur on the situation of corruption in several Council of Europe member-states. Inam Karimov holds a Bachelor’s degree in law from the University of Strasbourg and a LL.M. and Ph.D. from Sorbonne University.
CACI FORUM: Resolved: that Centripetal Forces in Central Asia and the Caucasus Today are Stronger than Centrifugal Forces, or soon will be
Tuesday, 29 April 2014
CACI Forum
"Resolved: that Centripetal Forces in Central Asia and the Caucasus Today are Stronger than Centrifugal Forces, or soon will be"
Since 1992 the price of sovereignty in Greater Central Asia and the Caucasus has been a decline in regional contacts and cooperation. Is this changing today? Rising leaders from the region will evaluate this crucial question and offer their prognoses for the future.
CACI FORUM: The Chechnya Counterinsurgency and Beyond
Wednesday, 23 April 2014
CACI Forum
"The Chechnya Counterinsurgency and Beyond"
Two key aspects of insurgency and counterinsurgency in Chechnya will be the focus of this Forum: tactics and financing. Dr. Souleimanov will examine Russia's counterinsurgency in the North Caucasus, concentrating on Chechnya and singling out various tactics used by Federal forces and pro-Moscow Chechen paramilitary units, kadyrovtsy. Dr. Šmíd will deal specifically with the financing of insurgency and counterinsurgency of both Ramzan Kadyrov's pro-Moscow Chechen government and its adversary, the Chechnya-based Islamist insurgency. These presentations will include a comprehensive look at the socio-cultural aspects of the Chechen and Dagestani counterinsurgencies, to include an analysis of their causes, evolution, and future prospects in these largest of the autonomous republics of the North Caucasus.
CACI FORUM: Is Turkmenistan Open for Business?
Tuesday, 1 April 2014
CACI Forum
“Is Turkmenistan Open for Business?”
No country faced tougher challenges after independence than Turkmenistan. But two leaders after independence have strengthened sovereignty, opened a new gas export pipeline and begun the preparation of a new, more cosmopolitan generation of young Turkmen citizens. Does this mean Turkmenistan is open for business? Three experts weigh this important and timely question.
News
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Read CACI Chairman S. Frederick Starr's recent interview on the resurgence of Imperial Russia with The American Purpose
Why Russians Support the War: Jeffrey Gedmin interviews S. Frederick Starr on the resurgence of Imperial Russia.
The American Purpose, May 23, 2023
Jeffrey Gedmin: Do we have a Putin problem or a Russia problem today?
S. Frederick Starr: We have a Putin problem because we have a Russia problem. Bluntly, the mass of Russians are passive and easily manipulated—down to the moment they aren’t. Two decades ago they made a deal with Vladimir Putin, as they have done with many of his predecessors: You give us a basic income, prospects for a better future, and a country we can take pride in, and we will give you a free hand. This is the same formula for autocracy that prevailed in Soviet times, and, before that, under the czars. The difference is that this time Russia’s leader—Putin—and his entourage have adopted a bizarre and dangerous ideology, “Eurasianism,” that empowers them to expand Russian power at will over the entire former territory of the USSR and even beyond. It is a grand and awful vision that puffs up ruler and ruled alike.
What do most Russians think of this deal? It leaves them bereft of the normal rights of citizenship but free from its day-to-day responsibilities. So instead of debating, voting, and demonstrating, Russians store up their frustrations and then release them in elemental, often destructive, and usually futile acts of rebellion. This “Russia problem” leaves the prospect of change in Russia today in the hands of alienated members of Putin’s immediate entourage, many of whom share his vision of Russia’s destiny and are anyway subject to Putin’s ample levers for control. Thus, our “Putin problem” arises from our “Russia problem.”
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CACI director Svante Cornell's interviewed on the 'John Batchelor Show' podcast regarding Turkey's 2023 presidential election
Listen to CACI director Svante Cornell's recent interview on the 'John Batchelor Show' podcast regarding Turkey's 2023 presidential election. Click here!
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New Article Series on Changing Geopolitics of Central Asia and the Caucasus
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CACI Initiative on Religion and the Secular State in Central Asia and the Caucasus
In 2016, the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program launched an initiative on documenting the interrelationship of religion and the secular state in the region. This initiative departed from the fact that little systematic reserch had been undertaken on the subject thus far. While there was and remains much commentary and criticism of religious policy in the region, there was no comprehensive analysis available on the interrelationship of religion and the state in any regional state, let alone the region as a whole. The result of this initiative has been the publication of six Silk Road Papers studying the matter in regional states, with more to come. In addition, work is ongoing on a volume putting the regional situation in the context of the Muslim world as a whole.
Case Studies
Each study below can be freely downloaded in PDF format.
Azerbaijan's Formula: Secular Governance and Civil Nationhood
By Svante E. Cornell, Halil Karaveli, and Boris Ajeganov
November 2016
Religion and the Secular State in Kazakhstan
By Svante E. Cornell, S. Frederick Starr and Julian Tucker
April 2018
Religion and the Secular State in Uzbekistan
Svante E. Cornell and Jacob Zenn
June 2018
Religion and the Secular State in Kyrgyzstan
Johan Engvall
June 2020
Religion and the Secular State in Turkmenistan
Victoria Clement
June 2020Articles and Analyses
Svante E. Cornell, "Religion and the State in Central Asia," in Ilan Berman, ed., Wars of Ideas: Theology, Interpretation and Power in the Muslim World, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2021.
Svante E. Cornell, "Central Asia: Where Did Islamic Radicalization Go?" in Religion, Conflict and Stability in the Former Soviet Union, eds. Katya Migacheva and Bryan Frederick, Arlington, VA: RAND Corporation, 2018.