Ariel Cohen   economic nationalism, a trend that is rapidly gaining strength in Central Asia, appears to be spreading to Mongolia. The Mongolian parliament is set to consider legislation on March 25 that would expand the state’s role in the mining sector, the country’s most important economic sphere.   Under the legislative package, which is virtually…

Joanna Lillis   kazakhstan is trying to develop a diplomatic initiative that could both cement Astana’s role as an important geopolitical player and defuse one of the world’s most vexing dilemmas — the matter of Iran’s nuclear program. If successful, Kazakhstan would emerge as a global repository for nuclear fuel. President Nursultan Nazarbayev unveiled his initiative…

Scott Lucas midst all the flurry of Presidential announcements and Congressional hearings on Pakistan-Afghanistan, this is the most important document to sneak onto the Internet this week. Wikileaks has posted a report of the US Army Training and Doctrine Command, circulated on 1 March 2009. TRADOC is based in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where General David Petraeus developed…

Bill Bradley   barack Obama has an opportunity to establish a new relationship with Russia that will make the world a safer place. With ties between the two countries being the most strained they’ve been in decades, the U.S. president seems to recognize there must be changes in his country’s approach to Russia.   The…

Duygu Uckun   Azerbaijan is an oil rich country and a transition economy. It is witnessing an increasing foreign direct investment and fast economic growth. Mismanagement of this process might turn resources from being a blessing into a curse, one that destabilizes the economy, society and the region. Dutch disease is analyzed as one way…

Dr. Gamze Güngörmüş KONA   The emergence of Turkish interest in the Central Asian region began with the geopolitical changes appeared in the former Soviet South geopolitical area following the disintegration of the Soviet Union. After the disintegration five states in Central Asia declared their independence and began to develop foreign relations with the states…

Dr. Gamze Güngörmüş KONA   Sovyetler Birliği’nin dağılmasını takiben Güney Kafkasya bölgesinde yer alan Azerbaycan’ın bağımsızlığına kavuşması bu devleti olumlu yönde olduğu kadar olumsuz yönde de etkilemiştir. Bağımsız devlet, bağımsız toprak ve bağımsız parlamentosuna kavuşan Azerbaycan; bölgesel ve bazı Batılı aktörlerin güç mücadelesine maruz kalma, serbest piyasa ekonomisinin kurum ve kurallarını geliştirememe, Rusya Federasyonu’nun etkinlik…

Dr. Gamze Güngörmüş KONA   Along with the emergence of the newly independent Soviet Muslim periphery, the region, has started to be included in Turkish foreign policy agenda, too. Turkey was one of the first countries who recognised the independence of the Central Asian republics. Besides recognition Turkey has declared her willingness and readiness to…

Prof. Mark BASSIN   One of the great fascinations of studying nationalist ideologies is to follow the complex process by which foreign notions and perspective are absorbed, rescripted and resignified, and then redeployed in a manner quite different from, if not indeed opposed to their original function. This borrowing process can be an elusive one,…

Prof. Mark Bassin     Eurasianism, as Stephen Shenfield reminds us, means many things. Indeed, this is if anything an understatement, for the term has emerged as one of the most popular keywords available in the volatile ideological arsenal of post-Soviet politics. Popularity does not, however, necessarily enhance consistency, and this is certainly the case…