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181. America's Growing Stake in Central Asia

Author:
Robert O. Blake, Jr.
Publication Date:
10-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Council of American Ambassadors
Abstract:
This year marks the 20th anniversary of independence for the five republics of Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. This anniversary is a good opportunity to reflect on America's growing stake in Central Asia. Since 1991, our desire for a stable, independent, and prosperous Central Asia has guided US policy priorities in the region, with each of the five nations working towards building strong, market-oriented democracies. In recent years, the United States has sought to increase engagement with this region on a broad range of issues, particularly as we work to bring stability, security, and prosperity to Afghanistan, which borders three of the Central Asian republics. Located at the critical geostrategic crossroads of Eurasia, the region is rich not only in natural resources, economic opportunity, and human capacity, but also in its diversity of people, culture, and ideas. Just as the region was at the center of the Silk Road of centuries past, Central Asia has the potential once again to serve as a hub of trade, transport, and ideas in Eurasia, linking the people and markets of East and West, and North and South. We look forward to working with the Central Asian republics, their neighbors, and international partners to create a new Silk Road that integrates this strategically vital region and offers new opportunities for its people.
Topic:
Culture
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, America, Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan

182. A Place at the Table: Safeguarding women's rights in Afghanistan

Author:
Nemat, Orzala Ashraf and Louise Hancock
Publication Date:
10-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Ten years on from the start of the western intervention in Afghanistan, Afghan women are facing an uncertain future. Women have strived for, and made important gains, since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, including in political participation and access to education, but these gains are fragile and reversible.
Topic:
Gender Issues and Human Rights
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Taliban

183. New social media and conflict in Kyrgyzstan

Author:
Neil Melvin and Tolkun Umaraliev
Publication Date:
08-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
Abstract:
During 2010 Kyrgyzstan experienced two periods of conflict that took the country to the brink of civil war: the overthrow of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev in April and the ethnic violence in the south of the country in June. The use of blogs and social network sites as well as mobile and multimedia platforms during the upheaval has led some observers to link developments in Kyrgyzstan to other recent cases of social protest where new media has been prominent. However, these events offer no simple answer to the current social media debate.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Civil War, Science and Technology, Mass Media, and Insurgency
Political Geography:
Central Asia and Kyrgyzstan

184. The Field of the Blackbirds and the Battle for Europe

Author:
Anna Di Lellio
Publication Date:
08-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The New School Graduate Program in International Affairs
Abstract:
Serbia, Kosovo, and Turkey, all European Union applicants, recognize that the possibility of European belonging as historical reality is a crucial attribute for acceptance. These countries have all built national stories rooted in the Medieval Ottoman conquest of the Western Balkans and distanced themselves from the “Orient” and from Islam. By doing so, they have engaged in a debate with a “thick,” rather than a “thin” conception of Europe; they have tried to measure up to Europe as a traditional community of values defined by its Christian character, rather than the dynamic cosmopolitan Europe of law and standards which is officially embodied by the Union. Paradoxically, the revival of these national memories not only anchors a particular configuration of national time and space for Serbs, Albanians, and Turks. It mirrors a concern with identity, very present at the core of Europe, which is often resolved through the affirmation of an allegedly authentic and coherent European Christian tradition.
Topic:
International Relations, Nationalism, Religion, and History
Political Geography:
Europe, Central Asia, Turkey, Kosovo, Serbia, and Balkans

185. Human Security in Complex Operations

Author:
Mary Kaldor
Publication Date:
03-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
PRISM
Institution:
Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University
Abstract:
Complex operations take place in zones of insecurity. In these zones, ordinary people face a range of everyday risks and dangers. They risk being killed, tortured, kidnapped, robbed, raped, or displaced from their homes. They risk dying from hunger, lack of shelter, disease, or lack of access to health care. They are vulnerable to man-made and natural disasters-hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, or fires. These risks and dangers feed on each other. They are very difficult to eliminate; hence, the current preoccupation with "persistent conflict" or "forever wars." These have a tendency to spread both to neighboring regions-growing zones of insecurity in places such as East Africa, Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Middle East, or the Balkans-and, indeed, to the inner cities of the industrialized West.
Political Geography:
Central Asia and Middle East

186. Central Asia in Geopolitics: The American Vector (1991-2008)

Author:
S. Nikolaev
Publication Date:
04-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Affairs: A Russian Journal of World Politics, Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
East View Information Services
Abstract:
Central Asia has a rich history. At one time, it boasted the Great Silk Road, a major trade route between Europe and China. It was also an arena where Chinese, Mongolian, Persian, Turkish, and Arabian military commanders led their armies in brutal battles, prosperous towns were built and destroyed, and huge empires appeared and disappeared. So researchers have examined this region in the most diverse geographical configurations.
Political Geography:
China, America, Europe, Central Asia, Turkey, Mongolia, and Soviet Union

187. Content

Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Affairs: A Russian Journal of World Politics, Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
East View Information Services
Abstract:
No abstract is available.
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Russia, Europe, Central Asia, and Middle East

188. Central Asia and Afghanistan in Russia's Strategy

Author:
Alexander Lukin
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Affairs: A Russian Journal of World Politics, Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
East View Information Services
Abstract:
RUSSIA REMAINS A LARGE COUNTRY to be reckoned with, even though the Soviet Union's disintegration diminished its international weight. With the larger part of the soviet Union's western regions becoming independent states, Russia's eastern regions and the eastern vector of its foreign policies acquired much more importance.
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Russia, Central Asia, and Soviet Union

189. Caucasus and Central Asia in Turkish Foreign Policy: The Time Has Come for a New Regional Policy

Author:
M. Efe Çaman and M. Ali Akyurt
Publication Date:
06-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Alternatives: Turkish Journal of International Relations
Institution:
Center for International Conflict Resolution at Yalova University
Abstract:
After the end of the Cold War, the disintegration of the Soviet Union (USSR) and the emergence of new independent states in the Caucasus and Central Asia, Turkey was forced to restructure its regional policy concept and started a new pursuit in its foreign policy. Turkey has been in interaction with this transition geography and has a complex array of economic, political and cultural relations with its neighboring re- gions. Since the Justice and Development Party (AKP) assumed power in 2002, Turkey has been trying to follow a pro-active regional policy approach and solve existing problems with its “zero problems with neighbors” policy concept. This article focuses on the Turkish regional policy in Caucasus and Central Asia and provides an assessment of this policy. It argues that Turkey needs a new applicable, feasible and realistic action plan regarding the Caucasus and Central Asia in order to combine its normative outlook with the realities of the region. The article asserts that in order to enhance cultural, economic and politi- cal ties with the region, first, the necessary structural and institutional conditions have to be created.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and Cold War
Political Geography:
Central Asia, Caucasus, and South Sudan

190. Russia, China and the Geopolitics of Energy in Central Asia

Author:
Alexandros Petersen and Katinka Barysch
Publication Date:
11-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
Energy has come to symbolise the geopolitics of the 21st century, reflecting countries' diminishing reliance on military and political power. Today, energy is an instrument of geopolitical competition, like nuclear weapons or large armies were during the Cold War. The means of international influence have become more diverse and sophisticated, but the goals remain much the same: national security, power projection, and control over resources and territory.
Topic:
Economics, Energy Policy, International Trade and Finance, Bilateral Relations, and Natural Resources
Political Geography:
Russia, China, and Central Asia