Carnegie Moscow Center
The Obama administration must realize that no “foreign policy” issue will matter as much to global economic, political, and ultimately security conditions in the coming year as whether the United States can demonstrate that it is able to deal with its economic crisis.
The Tajik leadership faces an urgent choice between fully embracing reform and continuing on its current failed track. Tajikistan’s decision will have very real implications for this troubled region.
As the Eurasian customs union’s influence on the world stage and in Europe’s neighborhood is likely to increase, the EU should attempt to understand the project and find ways to protect its own interests.
While the regime in Turkmenistan remains the most authoritarian of all Central Asian states, its stability depends on the availability of financial resources coming from the gas sales.
Without a clear plan for the 2014 withdrawal from Afghanistan, Washington may find the country worse off, in some respects, than it was in 2001.
Solutions to the challenges facing the global community require sharing fresh ideas about politics, economics, social issues, migration and ethnic conflict, religion, and education.
India continues to develop a missile defense system, despite a lack of expert consensus within the country on the value of such a system and despite the fact that uncertainty regarding Indian missile defense adversely affects regional security.
In Uzbekistan, Central Asia’s most populous country, Islam has been an ever-present factor in the lives of its people and a contentious force for political officials trying to build a secular government.
The idea of authoritarian modernization, or state capitalism, has become fashionable in the wake of the global financial crisis, but the examples of China and Russia demonstrate that it is ultimately a self-serving illusion.
Tajikistan is among the most problematic countries in Central Asia. The country faces a number of challenges, including an economic crisis, regionalism, domestic political confrontation, and radical Islam.