Svante Cornell speaks at U.S.-Kazakhstan Convention, Washington D.C.
Dr. Svante Cornell spoke alongside Ambassadors Elizabeth Jones, Richard Hoagland, George Krol, and Kairat Umarov during Panel Session One – "Shaping a Future while Remembering the Past" – as part of the 4th Kazakhstan-United States convention in Washington D.C. on December 6, 2016. Video segment begins at 28:00.
"Kazakhstan-2041" study released at international conference in Astana
The Silk Road Paper “Kazakhstan-2041”, authored by S. Frederick Starr, Johan Engvall and Svante Cornell was the centerpiece of an international conference entitled “25 Years of Independence of Republic of Kazakhstan: Outcomes. Accomplishments. Vision for Future”, organized in Astana, Kazakhstan, on November 28, 2016 by the Parliament of Kazakhstan and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan.
For more detail, see:
http://www.inform.kz/en/intl-conference-25-years-of-independence-of-republic-of-kazakhstan-outcomes-accomplishments-vision-for-future-held-in-astana_a2974655
Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov’s address to the conference is available here: http://mfa.gov.kz/index.php/en/last-news/7838
See media reports from the conference below:
https://www.nur.kz/1330651-nigmatulin-kazakhstancy-doverili-svo.html
http://www.kazpravda.kz/articles/view/itogi-dostizheniya-i-vzglyad-v-budushchee1/
http://www.inform.kz/ru/ekspert-ocenil-istoricheskoe-znachenie-nezavisimosti-kazahstana_a2974870
http://abctv.kz/kz/news/kazakstan-kajtse-oz-tagdyryn-ozi-ajkyndajdy
Kazakhstan and Europe: Charting a Path to Progress
ISDP Conference
Kazakhstan and Europe: Charting a Path to Progress
Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2015, from 1 to 5:30 p.m.
On December 21 in Astana, the EU and Kazakhstan are slated to sign an enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. This development of closer EU-Kazakhstan relations, in a year when Kazakhstan also joined the WTO, takes place as Kazakhstan's economic and security situation is at a crossroads. Kazakhstan's region harbors considerable uncertainty, while falling commodity prices have forced the government to adjust its priorities, and spurred fundamental economic reform. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan is planning to host the Expo 2017 in Astana, and is promoting a bid for the 2017 UN Security Council.
Conference program:
13.00 - 13.30 Welcome and Introductory Remarks
Dr. Svante Cornell, Director, Institute for Security and Development Policy (click for video)
H.E. Dr. Dastan Yeleukenov, Ambassador of Kazakhstan (click for video)
H.E. Mr. Stefan Gullgren, Head of the Department for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs (click for video)
13.30-15.15 Panel one: Kazakhstan and International Politics
Kazakhstan 2050: Vision for a New Century
Dr. Dauren Aben, Nazarbayev University (click for video)
Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Tariq Rauf, SIPRI
Kazakhstan's Bid for the UNSC
Dr. Johan Engvall, Research Fellow at ISDP and the Swedish Institute of International Affairs (click for video)
Beyond Oil: Astana Expo 2017 and Green Energy
Dr. Nygmet Ibadildin, Associate Professor, KIMEP University (click for video)
15:15 – 15:45 Coffee Break
15:45 – 17:30 Panel Two: Europe and Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan and Europe: Toward a New Partnership
Dr. Michael Emerson, Centre for European Policy Studies (click for video)
Relations with Europe in Kazakhstan's Foreign Policy
Dr. Askar Nursha, Project Coordinator, Institute of World Economy and Politics (click for video)
Kazakhstan: An Island of Stability in a Turbulent Region?
Mr. Vladimir Socor, Senior Fellow, Jamestown Foundation (click for video)
Advancing Continental Transport: the EU and Kazakhstan
Dr. Svante Cornell, Director, Institute for Security and Development Policy (click for video)
Location:
Sheraton Stockholm Hotel
Tegelbacken 6
10123 Stockholm, Sweden
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.