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12. The Quest for Political Reform in Azerbaijan: What Role for the Transatlantic Community?
- Author:
- Anar Valiyev
- Publication Date:
- 02-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Istituto Affari Internazionali
- Abstract:
- As Azerbaijan celebrates its 20th anniversary of independence, democratic development remains a key challenge facing the country. Despite the fact that Azerbaijan successfully coped with immediate problems such as poverty reduction and economic and political stability, the need to reform the public administration and decentralize governance has become particularly urgent. The main problems, however, remain the same: low public trust in institutions, the absence of a democratic political culture and the lack of bridging social capital. In this regard, the assistance of the Transatlantic Community is necessary. The European Union and the United States should pursue a developmental approach to democracy promotion in Azerbaijan, which has higher chances to succeed than a more explicitly political approach, considering the weak institutional capacity in the country.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Development, Economics, Poverty, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- United States, Europe, and Azerbaijan
13. Armenia: An Opportunity for Statesmanship
- Publication Date:
- 06-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- After May's parliamentary elections, Armenia is preparing for a pivotal presidential vote in 2013 that will determine whether it has shed a nearly two-decade history of fraud-tainted elections and put in place a government with the legitimacy needed to implement comprehensive reform and resolve its problems with Azerbaijan. President Serzh Sargsyan has a brief opportunity to demonstrate statesmanship before he again faces the voters in what is likely to be a competitive contest. Sargsyan has demonstrated some courage to promote change, but like his predecessors, he has thus far failed to deal effectively with serious economic and governance problems, including the debilitating, albeit low-intensity, Nagorno-Karabakh war. Another election perceived as seriously flawed would serve as a further distraction from peace talks and severe economic problems. The likely consequences would then be ever more citizens opting out of democratic politics, including by emigration.
- Topic:
- Civil War, Democratization, Development, Economics, Financial Crisis, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- Armenia and Azerbaijan
14. Azerbaijan in Transition
- Author:
- Jens Hölscher
- Publication Date:
- 07-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Istituto Affari Internazionali
- Abstract:
- Azerbaijan has been the fastest growing economy of the world and it increasingly attracts the interest of foreign investors. This paper analyses the Azerbaijani economy in transition from communism to capitalism over the past decade with a focus on investment climate. Facts and figures of the apparent economic miracle are presented and a number of political obstacles considered. Azerbaijan's transition towards a market economy has not gone very far and it is mainly slowed down by low levels of trust and high levels of corruption. There are also human rights issues and freedom or press is limited. Unless and until Azerbaijan deals with these problems, shadows will continue to loom over its economic miracle.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Foreign Direct Investment
- Political Geography:
- Caucasus and Azerbaijan
15. Resource Management and Transition in Central Asia, Azerbaijan, and Mongolia
- Author:
- Richard Pomfret
- Publication Date:
- 03-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- The paper presents a comparative analysis of the resource-rich transition economies of Mongolia and the southern republics of the former Soviet Union. For Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, the ability to earn revenue from cotton exports allowed them to avoid reform. Oil in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan was associated with large-scale corruption, but with soaring revenues in the 2000s their institutions evolved and to some extent improved. Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia illustrate the challenges facing small economies with large potential mineral resources, with the former suffering from competition for rents among the elite and the latter from lost opportunities. Overall the countries illustrate that a resource curse is not inevitable among transition economies, but a series of hurdles need to be surmounted to benefit from resource abundance. Neither the similar initial institutions nor those created in the 1990s are immutable.
- Topic:
- Corruption, Economics, Oil, and Natural Resources
- Political Geography:
- Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Soviet Union, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan
16. The Unique Evolution of the State in the Turkic Republics of the Caspian Sea
- Author:
- Mert Bilgin
- Publication Date:
- 12-2004
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Uluslararasi Iliskiler
- Institution:
- Uluslararasi Iliskiler
- Abstract:
- Post-Soviet countries are either passing through a transition period, or have already completed it, as an outcome of the neoliberal pressures of international actors. The attempts have focused on reconstruction of the state because of its being conceived as an impediment in front of political and economic liberalization. The states of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan resemble other transition economies in the sense that they share a similar Soviet legacy. Nevertheless, they deviate from the rest by the virtue of natural resources which endow the state the ability to re-produce itself. The state of Azerbaijan has liberated itself from the society by using the natural resource rents, which in turn outmode taxation as an instrument of revenue. Despite Kazakhstan's discernible progress in launching economic reforms, the state has politically kept its solid structure. The Kazakh state has preferred to allocate the natural gas revenues for economic transformation with no political liberalization. Under an autocratic regime, the Turkmen state has strengthened its positioning vis-à-vis the society with no economic and political transformation.
- Topic:
- Communism, Development, and Economics
- Political Geography:
- Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Soviet Union, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan
17. EARLY RESPONSES TO EARLY CONFLICT WARNINGS IN THE CAUCASUS
- Publication Date:
- 03-1999
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- EastWest Institute
- Abstract:
- Over the past decade the South Caucasus region has faced bloody internal conflicts in Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia and to a lesser extent South Ossetia. It continues to display potential for instability as Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia exhibit the combined characteristics of war-torn societies and countries in transition. Given the geostrategic importance of the Caucasus and the strong interests of regional and international powers—particularly in the potential energy output—renewed armed confrontations would have serious economic, political and security implications across national borders. Moreover, spill-over into other volatile zones could bring about the open intervention of powerful neighbors, such as Iran, Iraq, Russia and Turkey, and could threaten larger peace and security arrangements.
- Topic:
- Security, Economics, and Peace Studies
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Asia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Abkhazia
18. Russia's Shrinking Role in the South
- Publication Date:
- 03-1999
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- EastWest Institute
- Abstract:
- The perception that the disintegration of the Soviet Union constituted a major challenge to Russia's security is of a political and psychological, rather than an economic nature. The countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia—Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan—are neither an irreplaceable resource base for the Russian economy nor the only available market for its non-competitive products. Any efforts to see it otherwise will induce the region to strengthen its economic and military security with the help of outside powers as a buffer against Russia's ambitions for greater control.
- Topic:
- Security and Economics
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, Kazakhstan, Asia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Soviet Union, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Angola