Author: Martha Brill Olcott / Political Geography: Central Asia

Author:: Martha Brill Olcott
Publication Date:: 02-2009
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: With Washington's influence on the Caspian region at its lowest ebb in many years, the Obama administration could reverse this trend with a new approach that accepts Russia's presence and China's interest as historical and geographical givens and emphasizes short- and medium-term problem solving in multilateral and bilateral settings instead of long-term political and economic transformations. The United States can accomplish more in the Caspian region by focusing on military reform and building security capacity than on forming military alliances. The United States should switch from a multiple pipeline strategy to a policy that advances competition by promoting market pricing for energy producers, consumers, and transit states. The United States could facilitate the introduction of renewable sources of energy as a stimulus to economic recovery and a source of enhanced social security. The United States should develop a nuanced strategy that encourages political development through social and educational programs and local capacity building. The Obama administration should name a high-level official as a presidential envoy to this region.
Topic:: Security, Foreign Policy, Development, Economics, and Nuclear Weapons
Political Geography:: Russia, United States, China, Washington, and Central Asia

Author:: Martha Brill Olcott
Publication Date:: 11-2009
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Norwegian Centre for Conflict Resolution
Abstract:: The absence of a functional government in Afghanistan has been creating economic and security challenges for the Central Asian states since their founding in 1991. Long frustrated by the international community's failure to end the Afghan civil war through negotiation, the 2001 September 11 attack created the expectation among these countries that the US would intervene successfully in Afghanistan, leading to an economic recovery that would advance the development of all the states in the region.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, Security, and Economics
Political Geography:: Afghanistan and Central Asia

Author:: Martha Brill Olcott and Diora Ziyaeva
Publication Date:: 07-2008
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: Islam in Uzbekistan: Religious Education and State Ideology is the fourth paper of the ongoing series on Islam in Central Asia. It provides a historical overview of religious education in Central Asia, focusing on the hujra system and its founders, and assesses the efforts of the Uzbek government to define the content of Islam that has been presented in public life since independence was obtained in 1991. It examines the presentation of Islam in the schools—especially in Tashkent Islamic University, seen as the premier training institution for secular teachers of Islam—and the presentation of Islam in the mass media.
Topic:: Civil Society and Education
Political Geography:: Central Asia, Asia, and Uzbekistan

Author:: Martha Brill Olcott
Publication Date:: 06-2007
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: Sufism is a mystical form of Islam that has flourished in the Muslim world for centuries. Sufism has placed a distinctive stamp on the way the religion has been practiced in many Arab countries, in parts of Africa, in Turkey, and especially in Central Asia.
Topic:: International Relations, Politics, and Religion
Political Geography:: Africa, Central Asia, Turkey, Kuwait, and Arabia

Author:: Martha Brill Olcott
Publication Date:: 04-2007
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: Muhammad-Sodiq Muhammad-Yusuf (also known as Mamamsodiq Mamayusupov), the former mufti of the Muslim Spiritual Administration of Central Asia, Uzbekistan's first mufti after independence, and the most prominent theologian in the country, is a figure worthy of attention by anyone interested in the political role that Islam might play in Uzbekistan.
Topic:: Conflict Prevention, International Relations, and Religion
Political Geography:: Central Asia, Middle East, and Uzbekistan

Author:: Martha Brill Olcott
Publication Date:: 01-2007
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: The history of the development of Islamic radicalism in Uzbekistan, and in Central Asia more generally, is a potentially contentious one. There is very little agreement either within the policy community in the United States or in Central Asia itself as to what Islamic radicalism is and who among devout Muslims should be considered as posing a threat to the secular regimes.
Topic:: Development, Government, and Religion
Political Geography:: United States, Central Asia, and Uzbekistan

Author:: Martha Brill Olcott
Publication Date:: 09-2001
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: NEARLY TEN YEARS HAVE PASSED since the countries of Central Asia received their independence. This impending anniversary is a good opportunity to look at how these states are managing the state-building process, and in particular what symbolic or ideological defenses they are offering for their actions. States need little protection from their successes but are always seeking ways to explain away their various failures. This paper looks at the “myths” that the leaders of the five Central Asian states are using to explain away the very disappointing results in both economic and especially political reforms and shows how U.S. policy makers have bought into some of these myths as well.
Topic:: Security, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:: United States, Central Asia, and Asia

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