The Guns of August 2008 (Studies of Central Asia and the Caucasus)

In the summer of 2008, a conflict that appeared to have begun in the breakaway Georgian territory of South Ossetia rapidly escalated to become the most significant crisis in European security in a decade. The implications of the Russian-Georgian war will be understood differently depending on one's narrative of what transpired and perspective on the broader context. This book is designed to present the facts about the events of August 2008 along with comprehensive coverage of the background to those events. It brings together a wealth of expertise on the South Caucasus and Russian foreign policy, with contributions by Russian, Georgian, European, and American experts on the region.

The Guns of August 2008: Russia's War in Georgia (Studies of Central Asia and the Caucasus)

Business & Money

Starr, S. Frederick

Cornell, Svante E.

Economics

Routledge

Azerbaijan Since Independence (Studies of Central Asia and the Caucasus)

Azerbaijan, a small post-Soviet republic located on the western shore of the Caspian Sea, has outsized importance becaus of its strategic location at the corssroads of Europe and Asia, its oil resources, and

Reference

Azerbaijan, a small post-Soviet republic located on the western shore of the Caspian Sea, has outsized

History

Historical Study & Educational Resources

The Long Game on the Silk Road: US and EU Strategy for Central Asia and the Caucasus

This book argues that American and European policies toward Central Asia and the Caucasus suffer from both conceptual and structural impediments. It traces the framework of Western policies to the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, which resulted in the stovepiping of relations into political, economic, and democracy categories – and in often uncoordinated or contradictory policies. While the authors embrace the goal of promoting human rights and democracy, they argue that the antagonistic methods adopted to advance this goal have proven counter-productive. They propose that Western governments work with the regional states rather than on or against them; and that instead of focusing directly on political systems, policies should focus on developing the quality of governance and help build institutions that will be building blocks of rule of law and democracy in the long term. The authors also argue that Western leaders have largely failed to grasp the significance of this region, relegated it to a subordinate status and thus damaging western interests. The development of sovereign, economically strong, and effectively self-governing states in the Caucasus and Central Asia is an important goal in its own right; the book stresses the importance of a region where the development and preservation of secular statehood could become a model for the entire Muslim world.

Politics & Social Sciences

Politics & Government

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Uzbekistan's New Face (American Foreign Policy Council)

Uzbekistan, long considered the center of Central Asia, has the region’s largest population and borders every other regional state including Afghanistan. For the first 25 years of its independence, it adopted a cautious, defensive policy that emphasized sovereignty and treated regional efforts at cooperation with skepticism. But after taking over as President in autumn 2016, Shavkat Mirziyoyev launched a breathtaking series of reform initiatives. His slogan – “it is high time the government serves the people, not vice versa” – led to large-scale reforms in virtually every sector. Time will tell whether the reform effort will succeed, but its first positive fruits are already visible, particularly in a new dynamism within Uzbek society, as well as a fresh approach to foreign relations, where a new spirit of regionalism is taking root. This book is the first systematic effort to analyze Uzbekistan’s reforms.

Across the Muslim world, religion and politics have come increasingly to be mixed in the past century, with devastating consequences. But there are signs that the ascendancy of political Islam may be coming to an end. In this context, the experience of Central Asia and Azerbaijan as Muslim-majority states that insist on secular laws, courts and education is a much-overlooked model that is bound to attract greater interest.This is the first study of the Central Asian model in the realm of the interaction of religion and the state, which examines its particular characteristics as well as how it relates to other frequently-touted models in the Muslim World.

The New Secularism in the Muslim World: Religion and the State in Central Asia and Azerbaijan

Asia

Afpc

Arabs, Turks, and Persians: Geopolitics and Ideology in the Greater Middle East

Middle East

Afpc Press

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Books by Cornell, Svante E.