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…
First Turkmen Culture Club
Turkmenistan's rich culture is less well-known than those great empires who contributed to it, but Turkmenistan has produced its own fascinating - though under-appreciated - art, music, literature, and cinema.…
Re-imagining “post-Soviet” Central Asia: The role of the GCC and articulating geopolitical identities through capital cities.
With Natalie Koch,Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse UniversityIn the newly independent states of Central Asia, geopolitical practices and affinities cannot be understood in isolation from their Soviet heritage.…
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…
Enclaves in the post-Communist Central Asia: Do good fences make good neighbors?
with Rashid Gabdulhakov, Visiting Fellow, Central Asia Program, GWU The collapse of a state as large and diverse as the USSR inevitably led to disputes over natural and industrial resources, but also…
Kazakh security policy and its position as a vanguard for East-West cooperation
with Dr. Marcel de Haas, Professor, Nazarbayev University This presentation first describes the foundations of Kazakh security policy, i.e. the key security-related documents, especially the Law on National Security, the Military…
Cinema Club Film Screening: Days Gone By (O’tgan kunlar/Minuvshie dni)
Directed by Yuldash Azgamov (Uzbekistan, 1969) In partnership with the Uzbekistan Embassy in Washington, DC Central Asia Program and the Uzbekistan Embassy are happy to invite you to attend the…
The Curious Rise and Development of Central Asian Nationalisms
with Dr. Russell Zanca, Northeastern Illinois University This presentation examines scholarly notions about post-Soviet Central Asia’s future close to the the time of the Soviet dissolution. Given the rather different…
From Empires of Faith to Nationalizations of Islam & the Globalization of Jihad in Central Asia
with Nazif Shahrani, Indiana University This seminar will discuss the versatility, uses and abuses of Islam as religion by the faithful and its various deployments by the political elites for…
VISIONS OF UZBEKISTAN
"Visions of Uzbekistan" is an exhibition sponsored in partnership with the Embassy of Uzbekistan which will run from January 8, 2015 - February 7, 2015.Uzbekistan is located at the heart of Central Asia, neighboring world civilizations such as China, Persia, and India, and connecting to…
Assessing the Capabilities of Central Asian Armies
11:00-12:30pm Panel I. Roundtable. Assessing Security Threats to Central Asia Chair: Sebastien Peyrouse (IERES, GWU) Clark Adams (Department of Defense) Alexander Cooley (Barnard College, Columbia University) Roger Kangas (Near East…
Cinema Club Film Screening: Hasan Arbakesh
Directed by Boris Kimiagarov (Tajikistan, 1965)Hasan is young and handsome, he is strong and knows what he needs in life and love, in addition to that, inspires him. But then…
Eurasia’s Future and the role of the United States
Join us to honor the memory of author and scholar Alexandros Petersen (1984-2014), killed in Kabul on January 17. With Margarita Assenova (Jamestown Foundation), Stephen J.Blank (American Foreign Policy Council), Samuel Charap (International Institute…
Regulation of Blogger’s Activity in Uzbekistan: Implications for Freedom of Religion and Belief
with Mirakmal Niyazmatov, Lawyer and Co-Founder of TashabbusIn September 2014, Uzbek government introduced amendments to the Law "On Informatization." The amendments imposed vague restrictions on blogging. Uzbek bloggers are now…
The Fourth Central Asia Fellowship Seminar
11:00am Opening Remarks Marlene Laruelle (Central Asia Program, IERES, GWU) and Chantal De Jonge Oudraat (Women in International Security, WIIS) 11:15am Natalia Zakharchenko (Kyrgyzstan) Quotes on Quotas: Political Representation of Women in…
The First Bolashak Seminar
9:00am Opening Remarks.Marlene Laruelle (Central Asia Program, IERES, GWU) 9:15-10:00 Panel 1. Societal transformations in Kazakhstan Serik Beissembayev (Social Found “Centre for Social and Political Studies Strategy”) Symbolic Boundaries of Ethnic…
Shrine, State and Sacred Lineage in Modern Kazakhstan
with Ulan Bigozhin, Indiana UniversityMany scholars have argued that shrine veneration and respect for sacred lineages are essential parts of Islam in post-Soviet Central Asia because of their long history in…
Cinema Club Film Screening: Land of the Fathers
Directed by Shaken Aimanov (Kazakhstan, 1966) An old man decides to look for his dead son and bring his corpse back to bury him in the land of his ancestors;…
Religion, State and Secularism in Eurasia… and Beyond
This seminar will explore state-sponsored secularism in the Eurasian continent, and how the authorities use the concept of the separation of state and religion to consolidate authoritarian policies. It looks…
Syria Calling: Migration, Mobilization and the Transformation of the Central Asian Jihad
with Eileen O’Connor, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs and Noah Tucker, Registan.net Key points: • Perhaps surprisingly, ISIS appears to be weak in its…
Deciphering Eurasianism in Hungary: Narratives, Networks, and Lifestyles
with Umut Korkut, Glasgow Caledonia University Since the outbreak of the global financial crisis, the Hungarian right engaged in a collective soul searching on what formulates Hungarian identity. Dr. Korkut’s paper…
Central Asia and the Eurasian Economic Union: The Global Picture and Country Perspectives
In cooperation with the Harriman Institute and the US-Kazakhstan Business Association Opening Remarks: Marlene Laruelle (IERES, George Washington University) 9:30-11:00am Session I. Roundtable Martha Brill Olcott (Michigan State University) Sarah Freese (US-Kazakhstan…
Tracking Factors of Change in Tajikistan
12:30 Light Lunch 12:45-1:30pm Keynote Speaker Eric McGlinchey (George Mason University) Using a Wide Lens to Assess the Narrow Risk of Radical Islam in Tajikistan 1:30-3:30pm Panel I. Tajikistan Today:…
Cinema Club Film Screening: Aksuat
Written and directed by Serik Aprymov (Kazakhstan 1997) Aksuat is the name of a village in Kazakhstan, where Kanat takes his pregnant wife Zhanna to visit his brother, Aman. Just…
