CASPIAN STUDIES
June 6, 2003
Graham Allison Awarded Medal From Kazakhstan
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Harvard Kennedy School
On Harvard’s Commencement Day, following the Kennedy School’s diploma ceremony, Ambassador Kanat Saudabayev of Kazakhstan presented Dr. Graham Allison, Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Chair of the Caspian Studies Program, with a special award from the President of Kazakhstan. The medal, called the Order of Dostik, or friendship, was bestowed on Dr. Allison by President Nursultan Nazarbayev for his work in the early 1990s to remove nuclear weapons from Kazakhstan and for his current support for students from Kazakhstan at the Kennedy School.
June 30, 2002
"U.S. Policy on Russian and Caspian Oil Exports: Addressing America's Oil Addiction"
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Harvard Kennedy School
On April 8, 2002 - the same day that Iraq instituted an oil export embargo and only weeks after the U.S. Senate rejected new fuel efficiency standards for automobiles - students in my "Central Issues of American Foreign Policy" course at the Kennedy School of Government were in the middle of presenting policy recommendations to address America's "addiction to oil.
January 6, 2002
Kazakhstan's Antinuclear Role
Boston Globe
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Harvard Kennedy School
WHEN KAZAKHSTAN is mentioned, most people think of one thing: oil. As the principal source of Caspian energy, Kazakhstan supplies world markets directly through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium.Opened in September, this pipeline has a capacity of 1 million barrels a day. Furthermore, Kashagan field has been acclaimed as the most significant new discovery of reserves in the past quarter-century.
When President Bush met with Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev at the White House in December, they discussed Kazakhstan's new role in world energy and the campaign against terrorism. The meeting resulted in a joint statement that affirmed their strategic partnership and a US intention to help Kazakhstan integrate more fully into the global economy.
While this meeting addressed important goals, it should also have underlined the significant role Kazakhstan has played in preventing the spread of nuclear weapons. Nazarbayev now has an opportunity to extend that legacy by leading the negotiations for the Central Asian Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty.
April 30, 2001
"U.S. Policy on Caspian Energy Development and Exports: Mini-Case and Paradigm"
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Harvard Kennedy School
Drawing on the Caspian Studies Program's ongoing research, my colleague Emily Van Buskirk and I prepared a case on U.S. policy on Caspian energy development and exports for a Kennedy School course I teach with Ambassador Robert Blackwill. Using the case, our sixty students examined central questions including: What is the most effective way to promote the development of Caspian energy resources? What is the proper role of government in large-scale capital projects? Where does the Caspian Basin rank in the hierarchy of U.S. national interests?
October 2003
"Federalization of Foreign Relations: Discussing Alternatives for the Georgian-Abkhaz Conflict"
By Bruno Coppieters, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, Caspian Studies Program and Intrastate Conflict Program, 2003-2004, Tamara Kovziridze and Uwe Leonardy
"...Leaders of the Georgian, Abkhaz, and Ossetian national movements even consider Soviet federalism to be one of the main causes of the exacerbation of ethnic conflicts in Georgia and are not eager to reinstitute a federal structure. From the Georgian perspective, the Moscow leadership used federalism as an instrument to divide and rule and weaken the Georgian movement for national independence. From the Abkhaz and South Ossetian perspectives, Soviet federalism has put the various national communities in a hierarchical relation toward each other. This kind of ethnic stratification runs contrary to the principle of national self-determination, which pre-supposes the equality of all national communities. The exacerbation of ethnic conflicts in Georgia during the first half of the 1990s and the failure of existing federal arrangements to address these problems led to war in South Ossetia and then in Abkhazia. These wars resulted in the creation of two de facto states in these regions...."
October 2003
"Federalization of Foreign Relations: Discussing Alternatives for the Georgian-Abkhaz Conflict"
By Bruno Coppieters, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, Caspian Studies Program and Intrastate Conflict Program, 2003-2004, Tamara Kovziridze and Uwe Leonardy
"...Leaders of the Georgian, Abkhaz, and Ossetian national movements even consider Soviet federalism to be one of the main causes of the exacerbation of ethnic conflicts in Georgia and are not eager to reinstitute a federal structure. From the Georgian perspective, the Moscow leadership used federalism as an instrument to divide and rule and weaken the Georgian movement for national independence. From the Abkhaz and South Ossetian perspectives, Soviet federalism has put the various national communities in a hierarchical relation toward each other. This kind of ethnic stratification runs contrary to the principle of national self-determination, which pre-supposes the equality of all national communities. The exacerbation of ethnic conflicts in Georgia during the first half of the 1990s and the failure of existing federal arrangements to address these problems led to war in South Ossetia and then in Abkhazia. These wars resulted in the creation of two de facto states in these regions...."
November 26, 2002
"Russia's Struggle with Chechnya: Implications for the War on International Terrorism"
By Jessica Stern, Former Lecturer in Public Policy; Former Faculty Affiliate, International Security Program, Monica Duffy Toft, Former Associate Professor of Public Policy; Former Board Member, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Former Director, Initiative on Religion and International Affairs and Miriam Lanskoy
A discussion about recent events in the Russian-Chechen conflict and possible connections between Chechen fighters and international Islamist organizations.
October 2003
"Federalization of Foreign Relations: Discussing Alternatives for the Georgian-Abkhaz Conflict"
By Bruno Coppieters, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, Caspian Studies Program and Intrastate Conflict Program, 2003-2004, Tamara Kovziridze and Uwe Leonardy
"...Leaders of the Georgian, Abkhaz, and Ossetian national movements even consider Soviet federalism to be one of the main causes of the exacerbation of ethnic conflicts in Georgia and are not eager to reinstitute a federal structure. From the Georgian perspective, the Moscow leadership used federalism as an instrument to divide and rule and weaken the Georgian movement for national independence. From the Abkhaz and South Ossetian perspectives, Soviet federalism has put the various national communities in a hierarchical relation toward each other. This kind of ethnic stratification runs contrary to the principle of national self-determination, which pre-supposes the equality of all national communities. The exacerbation of ethnic conflicts in Georgia during the first half of the 1990s and the failure of existing federal arrangements to address these problems led to war in South Ossetia and then in Abkhazia. These wars resulted in the creation of two de facto states in these regions...."
July 2006
"The Islamic Republic of Iran: Is It Really?"
By Brenda Shaffer, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 1999–2007; Former Research Director, Caspian Studies Program, 2000–2005; Former Research Director, Caspian Studies Project, 2005–2007
"The Islamic Republic of Iran could conceivably be the poster child for the proponents of cultural explanations of foreign policy and of those who claim that Islam is the guiding force of foreign policy formation for Muslim-populated states...."
July 2006
"Introduction: The Limits of Culture"
By Brenda Shaffer, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 1999–2007; Former Research Director, Caspian Studies Program, 2000–2005; Former Research Director, Caspian Studies Project, 2005–2007
"In recent decades, area studies and international relations specialists have conducted and published research with little dialogue between their respective fields, especially concerning the impact of culture on states...."
