41. Uncertain Kyrgyzstan: Rebalancing U.S. Policy
- Author:
- Ross Wilson and Damon Wilson
- Publication Date:
- 06-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Atlantic Council
- Abstract:
- Kyrgyzstan is lurching forward, its future uncertain. Eleven weeks after street protests forced the collapse of the regime of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and three weeks after the worst ethnic violence in the country's history, a measure of security-enforced calm has returned. The apparently successful June 27 referendum on a new constitution and mandate for Interim President Roza Otunbayeva will provide legitimacy and confidence to the government. But Otunbayeva and the group around her appear to underestimate the difficulties they face and to overestimate their ability to control events. They will have to work hard to overcome divisions among their ranks, staggering political and economic challenges, the risks of renewed violence in the south and antipathy toward Kyrgyzstan elsewhere in Central Asia.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy and International Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Russia, United States, and Central Asia