Central Asia’s Struggle with Religion
with Catherine Cosman, Senior Policy Analyst- U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Central Asian governments use state-controlled Islam to build national identity, but also fear Islam's influence and understand that Islam has greater mobilization potential than any other institution in their societies. In the early 1990's, there was fairly free access to various religious influences and the popularity… Continue reading Central Asia’s Struggle with Religion
Understanding Conflict and Ethnic Violence in Kyrgyzstan
with Neil Melvin, Director of Program Armed Conflict and Conflict Management, SIPRIOver the last two decades, Kyrgyzstan has experienced two major outbreaks of violence involving the main ethnic communities in the country: the Kyrgyz and the Uzbeks. These violent incidentshave generally been viewed as ethnic conflicts and much of the response to the violence from thegovernment, local communities,… Continue reading Understanding Conflict and Ethnic Violence in Kyrgyzstan
The Central Asia Security Workshop
NATO members are exiting from Afghanistan at different speeds, dictated by pressures from their domestic public opinions. This withdrawal has re-launched debates on the security of the Central Asian region. In the years to come, the post-2014 changes in the regional landscape will intersect with domestic evolutions including changes in political leadership, in demographics, and the end of… Continue reading The Central Asia Security Workshop
American and European Policies in Central Asia: Similarities and Divergence
Panel 1: Debating Similarities and Divergences in European and American Policies Toward Central Asia (3:15-4:45)Jos Boonstra, Senior Researcher, Head of EUCAM programme, FRIDE, Brussels Alexander Cooley, Tow Professor, Barnard College, New York Jeff Goldstein, Senior policy analyst for Eurasia, Open Society Foundations Sebastien Peyrouse, Research Professor, Central Asia Program, GWU Panel 2: European and American Policy Priorities in Central Asia(5:00-6:30) Patricia Flor, EU… Continue reading American and European Policies in Central Asia: Similarities and Divergence
Afghanistan after 2014
In partnership with the Kennan Institute and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars’ South Asia Center. Spotlight on Central Eurasia Speaker Series This event explores local and regional perspectives on the future of Afghanistan against the backdrop of the planned United States withdrawal of military forces from the region. The first session focuses on… Continue reading Afghanistan after 2014
The Inaugural Central Asia Fellowship Seminar
4:00 pm. Registration 4.15pm. Welcome Chantal de Jonge Oudraat, Executive Director, SIPRI-North America 4:30-6:00 pm. Fellows Presentations and Discussion: Aitolkyn Kourmanova, Central Asia Fellow (Kazakhstan) Regional Cooperation in Central Asia: Nurturing from the Ground Safovudin Jaborov, Central Asia Fellow (Tajikistan) Radicalization of Youth in Tajikistan: Causes, Consequences, and Addressing the Challenges Discussants: Ross Wilson, Director, Dinu Patriciu… Continue reading The Inaugural Central Asia Fellowship Seminar
Looking Ahead: US-Central Eurasia Security Relations
Join the Central Asia Program, the Center for International Policy, and leading Eurasia analysts for a discussion on the current status of US-Central Eurasia security relations to mark the launch of theSecurity Assistance Monitor, an online resource of the United States' defense and security relationships around the world. The Security Assistance Monitor is a new, comprehensive online resource… Continue reading Looking Ahead: US-Central Eurasia Security Relations
Beyond Pakistan: New Delhi’s Policy Toward Afghanistan and Central Asia
Co-sponsored by the Rising Powers Initiative with Jean-Luc Racine, Emeritus CNRS Senior Fellow,School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences, Paris Dr. Jean-Luc Racine is Emeritus CNRS Senior Fellow, working at the Centre for South AsianStudies, at the School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS), Paris. He is also theDirector of the Science Policy at the Fondation Maison… Continue reading Beyond Pakistan: New Delhi’s Policy Toward Afghanistan and Central Asia
Lunch Roundtable: Tajik Presidential Elections
ModeratorMarlene Laruelle, George Washington University Panelists Eric McGlinchey, George Mason University Azita Ranjbar, The Pennsylvania State University Vladimir Fedorenko, Rethink Institute Presidential elections will be held in Tajikistan on November 6, 2013. Despite large control by the authorities over the political landscape, secular andIslamic opposition were able to unify behind a common figure from the human rights sector.… Continue reading Lunch Roundtable: Tajik Presidential Elections
Central Asia, Iran, and the Nuclear Landscape in Asia
Co-sponsored by the Sigur Center for Asian Studies’ Rising Powers Initiative 9:00 – 9:30 AM Registration and Breakfast 9:30 – 9:45 AM Welcoming Remarks by Douglas Shaw, Associate Dean for Planning, Research and External Relations, GWU 9:45 – 11:15 AM Panel I. Asia’s Changing Nuclear Landscape Chair: Douglas Shaw, Associate Dean for Planning, Research andExternal Relations, GWU Japan's Nuclear Tremors: Domestic Debates about Energy & Security after… Continue reading Central Asia, Iran, and the Nuclear Landscape in Asia
Foreign Policy Doctrine and the Actions of Uzbekistan
with Dr. Farkhod Tolipov, Director of the Non-Governmental Education and Research Institution“Bilim Karvoni” The Republic of Uzbekistan’s foreign policy has undergone dramatic fluctuations since gaining independence, from a pro-American extreme to a pro-Russian one and back again. Such a “pendulum” swing of the newly independent Central Asian state reflects its two ambivalent and interrelated stances: Tashkent’s perception of the international system as an old… Continue reading Foreign Policy Doctrine and the Actions of Uzbekistan
The Second Central Asia Fellowship Seminar
The Central Asia Program and SIPRI North America have the pleasure to invite you to the Second Central Asia Fellowship Seminar. The seminar will be followed by a reception. With Sardar Bagishbekov, Central Asia Fellow (Kyrgyzstan) Ensuring Freedom from State Violence in the Kyrgyz Republic Yevgeniya Pak, Central Asia Fellow (Uzbekistan) Exit Visa Regime in Uzbekistan: Regime… Continue reading The Second Central Asia Fellowship Seminar
Addressing Soft Security Challenges in Kazakhstan and Central Asia
Kazakhstan has already taken the regional leadership on soft security issues in the whole Central Asian region. This conference will discuss the region’s main soft security issues: water management, regulating migrations and refugees flows, developing disaster preparedness and reaction to climate change. It will bring together scholars and experts to offer a full panorama of… Continue reading Addressing Soft Security Challenges in Kazakhstan and Central Asia
The Second Central Asia Security Workshop
Join us for the Second Security Workshop to celebrate the two year anniversary of the CentralAsia Program. We will discuss the current state of affairs in Central Asia and offer a fresh look at the main policy issues, including the future of the US Silk Road Strategy in the wake of the withdrawal from Afghanistan and the stakes of forthcoming presidential successions… Continue reading The Second Central Asia Security Workshop
Bottom-up Secularism in the Top-down States of Eurasia
with John Schoeberlein, Nazarbayev University The resurgence of religion in the post-Soviet space has been accompanied by heightened appeals to secularism as a social and political order. Most research on secularism in Eurasian contexts --and indeed, in general -- has focused on the top-down institutional construction of the secular order. Furthermore, scholarship on post-Soviet societies tends often to present social construction… Continue reading Bottom-up Secularism in the Top-down States of Eurasia
International Water Day
With Marlene Laruelle, Central Asia Program, George Washington University Julia Collins, Women and Water Project Marcus King, George Washington University Barbara Miller, Global Gender Program, George Washington University Amanda Klasing, Human Rights Watch Rebecca Fishman, WASH Advocates Kara Gerson, Voss Foundation In 1993, the United Nations declared March 22nd as the official “World Day for… Continue reading International Water Day
Are US strategic interests in Azerbaijan at risk?
with Dr. Farhad Aliyev, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute The current US policy of disengagement from Southern Eurasia may have a negative impact upon the US strategic interests in the region in the long-run, with Azerbaijan becoming more vulnerable to falling under Russia’s influence and having to manage a difficult relationship to Iran. Moreover, domestic evolutions are on their way: roll back in democratization… Continue reading Are US strategic interests in Azerbaijan at risk?
Security Challenges and Scenarios for Central Asia
with Erlan Karin, Visiting Professor, American University Erlan Karin will discuss the diverse security challenges, both external and internal, that the Central Asian countries currently face. He will explore the presidential successions, possible scenarios, and present four different prospects for Central Asia, its stability and its interaction within the wider region.Dr. Erlan Karin leads the Council of Direction for the… Continue reading Security Challenges and Scenarios for Central Asia
Turkmenistan: Evolutions and Permanence
with Luca Anceschi, University of Glasgow Myles Smyth, IREX Sebastien Peyrouse, The George Washington University This roundtable explores the evolution of Berdymukhamedov's Turkmenistan. The second president reoriented few aspects of the country's previous policy, and the long-awaited shifts in domestic and foreign policy have remained limited.Today, Turkmenistan faces steep challenges, among them rebuilding the education and health systems, and managing public expectations of… Continue reading Turkmenistan: Evolutions and Permanence
Post-2014 Afghanistan: The US Military Exit and Political Stability
With Dr. Timor Sharan This talk will provide an Afghan perspective of what U.S. military withdrawal will mean for political stability and state survival post-2014. The 2001 international intervention, created a ‘network state’ whereby state and political networks became partners in state building. This has produced a state that is underpinned by informal power structures. A successful international military exit from… Continue reading Post-2014 Afghanistan: The US Military Exit and Political Stability
Myth and Rhetoric of the Turkish Model: Changing notions of marginality in Turkey
with Anita Sengupta, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Kolkata, India The Turkish Model or the Turkish Developmental Alternative was promoted in the Central Asian Republics immediately following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The Model emphasised the ideal of a ''secular, democratic, liberal society''as a model for the post- Soviet Turkic world and in the process encouraged a''Turkic"… Continue reading Myth and Rhetoric of the Turkish Model: Changing notions of marginality in Turkey
The Third Central Asia Fellowship Seminar
Reassessing the Water/Energy Nexus in Central AsiaThe Third Central Asia Fellowship Seminar June 24, 2014, 4:30-7pm Lindner Commons, 6th Floor George Washington University 1957 E Street, NW, Washington DC The Central Asia Program and SIPRI North America have the pleasure to invite you to the Third Central Asia Fellowship Seminar. 4:30 pm. Welcome - Chantal de… Continue reading The Third Central Asia Fellowship Seminar
Between Co-operation and Insulation: Afghanistan’s Relations with the Central Asian Republics
with Dr. Christian Bleuer, Afghanistan Analysts NetworkChristian Bleuer will give a presentation based on recent field research and his Afghanistan Analysts Network report "Between Co-operation and Insulation: Afghanistan’s Relations with the Central Asian Republics." The main focus will be on the real and imagined trans-national security threats in this region that cross the Afghan border in… Continue reading Between Co-operation and Insulation: Afghanistan’s Relations with the Central Asian Republics
Police in Afghanistan: Continuing the Mission and Defining the Future
with Major General Masood Ahmad Azizi, MoI Deputy Minister for Strategy and Policy Police are the long-term security solution to targeting the enablers of insurgency and criminals Securing the public's trust by the police is essential to defeating insurgents Securing and retaining the public's trust requires continued police professionalization
