Twenty years after the end of the Soviet Union, the South Caucasus countries can no longer be considered “in transition.” Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia have built functioning sovereign states. But many questions remain about how well they are faring compared to the democratic countries of the European Union or the rising economies of Asia.
Carnegie hosted a two-day conference to examine the lessons learned from twenty years of independence and state-building in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia and discuss the best paths of future development in the region. The conference brought together more than twenty non-governmental experts, academics, journalists, and civil society activists from the South Caucasus to discuss the evolution of human rights, economic reform, and the media, as well as the role of Western institutions in promoting democratization in the region.
New research demonstrates changing public attitudes in the South Caucasus toward human rights, economic reform, and the media, as well as the role of Western institutions in promoting democratization in the region.
Twenty years after the end of the Soviet Union, Armenia has built a functioning sovereign state, but questions remain about how well that state is faring compared to the democratic countries of the European Union or the rising economies of Asia.
The U.S. level of engagement in the South Caucasus is very high and the region as a major priority for Washington.
After twenty years of independence and state-building, Azerbaijan must determine the best path of future development.
Twenty years after the end of the Soviet Union, Georgia can no longer be considered a country “in transition.”
The governments in the South Caucasus too often fail to recognize that state-building projects cannot be completed without a strong foundation in the rule of law and human rights.
Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia weathered the political and economic turbulence of the early 1990s but have yet to develop fully functional market economies.
At the start of their independence the three republics of the South Caucasus faced two choices: they could build a government whose legitimacy was based on the concept of civic statehood or one based on ethnicity and nationalism.
Since independence, ethno-territorial conflicts have inhibited social, economic, and political development in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia.
Western foreign assistance to the South Caucasus has followed an ambitious agenda, with aid aimed at humanitarian aid, political and economic transformation, conflict resolution, and peace building.
While Georgian politics have been relatively predictable recently, the entrance of oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili onto the political stage has quickly shaken up the entire Georgian political scene.
No one is fully knowledgeable about the state of the Syrian economy, how exactly it has been affected by the events taking place in the country, or how to interpret the choice economic indicators issued by Syrian officials.
The U.S. pivot to the Asia-Pacific has created both tension and opportunity in its relations with China.
The gap between the efforts to deepen integration in order to save the euro and what most people really think should happen is wider than it has ever been before.
The Russian political system is likely to undergo some changes this year, perhaps even serious ones — not because Putin wants them, but because elements of Putin's inner circle are convinced that the government must take some of the protesters' demands seriously.
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