Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Marina Ottaway discusses findings from her new book on semi-authoritarian regimes. Audio transcripts are available.
The soon-to-be members of the EU are to be congratulated but a new divide has emerged to their east. Until now, the EU has been so preoccupied with its enlargement that it has had little time to look further east. It must now face up to its responsibility and focus on what it can do. The EU's goal should be to integrate the post-Soviet economies for mutual economic benefit and political stability.
Major impediments to a unified energy strategy do not come from Russia. The dynamics of interstate relations between Russia, Caspian, and other transit states, and domestic politics in any of these states, decrease the likelihood of any singular, meaningful international energy development strategy.
During the 1990s, international democracy promotion efforts led to the establishment of numerous regimes that cannot be easily classified as either authoritarian or democratic - semi-authoritarian regimes. These regimes pose a considerable challenge to U.S. policy makers because the superficial stability of semi-authoritarian regimes usually masks severe problems that could lead to future crises.
The challenges of consolidating statehood which lie before the states of Central Asia and the Caucasus in the immediate future,are likely to be shaped by the peculiarities of the relationships of these states to Russia, and what strategic consequence this might have from the US.
Senior Associates Anatol Lieven and Martha Brill Olcott and Visiting Scholar Shlomo Avineri discuss Russia and the security challenges from the south.
Improving security measures alone will not solve the problems in the Caspian region and the role of the US in this process is a limited one. The countries of the region must add to the number of stakeholders in their countries to begin this reform.
Breakfast Briefing on refugee protection, burden sharing and resettlement.