THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE AJARIAN CRISIS
By Mamuka Tsereteli (4/21/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: The uncertainty created by the deteriorating relationships between the Georgian central government in Tbilsi and the Ajarian leadership in Batumi has caused producers and shippers from the Caspian to seek alternative transportation routes. This process has accelerated since the “economic blockade” of Ajaria in March. Although it was in theory a blockade of Ajaria only, its impact was felt from Caspian producers to European refineries.POSTPONING AFGHANISTAN’S ELECTION: A MIXED BLESSING
By Asma Shakir Khwaja (4/21/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: On March 28, Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai stated that national elections were to be postponed until September. This decision came after the United Nations said that elections could not be held in June, as outlined in the 2002 Bonn Agreement. The UN claimed that “Lack of security, slow progress in the disarmament of militias, slow voter registration and a weakly-developed legal and institutional framework for democratic politics are jeopardizing the success of any future elections.SAAKASHVILI CONSOLIDATES POWER IN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
By Jaba Devdariani (4/7/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Georgia’s Central Election Commission has announced the results with all votes cast on March 28 counted. These results are not officially final, as re-vote was scheduled in two districts of the Ajarian Autonomous Republic, Khulo and Kobuleti, on April 18. The count shows the Mikheil Saakashvili’s National Movement-Democrats (NMD) in the lead with 67.KARZAI’S HERAT CHALLENGE: WEIGHING THE RESPONSE
By Sebastian Sosman (4/7/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Afghanistan\'s greatest historical challenge in the modern era has been establishing effective centralized administrative systems. The rugged Hindu Kush rises up in the center of the country, creating a \"ring\" of major economic hubs and arable regions. This ring system, by its very shape, acts to discourage centralization around one administrative hub.Visit also
Staff Publications
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, Greater Central Asia as A Component of U.S. Global Strategy, October 2024.
Analysis Laura Linderman, "Rising Stakes in Tbilisi as Elections Approach," Civil Georgia, September 7, 2024.
Analysis Mamuka Tsereteli, "U.S. Black Sea Strategy: The Georgian Connection", CEPA, February 9, 2024.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell, ed., Türkiye's Return to Central Asia and the Caucasus, July 2024.
Book Svante E. Cornell, ed., "The Changing Geopolitics of Central Asia and the Caucasus" AFPC Press/Armin LEar, 2023.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell and S. Frederick Starr, Stepping up to the “Agency Challenge”: Central Asian Diplomacy in a Time of Troubles, July 2023.
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, U.S. Policy in Central Asia through Central Asian Eyes, May 2023.