On March 14-17, 2002, IREX-in collaboration with the Kennan Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (WWC) [14]- hosted the Caspian Sea Regional Policy Symposium at Bavarian Inn & Lodge in Shepherdstown, WV. The symposium-sponsored by the US Department of State, Title VIII Program and by The Starr Foundation-provided senior and junior scholars, as well as members from the policy community, with the opportunity to come together to study and discuss timely topics related to the Caspian Sea region, a region of critical geopolitical importance in the post-Cold War landscape.
Symposium participants included 10 junior scholars, five senior scholars, as well as members of IREX and WWC staff. Junior scholars were invited to apply for grants to present research papers at this three-day symposium, receive feedback from participating senior scholars, and engage in US policy development discussions.
The junior scholars chosen to participate in the Symposium represented a diversity of fields and perspectives, including history, environmental studies, economics, security issues, and energy issues. Topics included Regional Stakeholder Analysis in the Caspian Environment Programme; The Influence of the Nongovernmental Provision of Services on State-Building; and The Politics of Education in Kazakhstan.
Read the symposium agenda here [15], which includes links to each research brief.
The five senior scholar participants in the symposium were:
- Dr. Doug Blum - Professor of Political Science, Providence College
- Dr. Roger Kangas - Professor of Central Asian Studies, College of International and Security Issues, George C. Marshall European Center for Strategic Studies
- Dr. Mark Katz - Professor of Government and Politics, George Mason University
- Dr. Bruce Kuniholm - Professor of History and Public Policy, Director of the Center for International Studies and Vice Provost for Academic and International Affairs, Duke University
- Dr. Gerard Libaridian - Visiting Professor of History, University of Michigan
- Read senior scholar, junior scholar, and participant bios [16] here.
The three-day event commenced with a dinner at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for scholars in Washington, DC on March 14. IREX president Mark Pomar and director of the Kennan Institute of the Woodrow Wilson Center Blair Ruble gave welcoming remarks. Among those in attendance were Elin Suleymanov and Elmar Mamedyarov, the press secretary and counselor at the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Sessions took place on March 15 and 16. During this time, junior scholars presented their research in a sequence based on the nature of their topics. Each scholar was also paired up with one of the senior scholars who served as a moderator for discussions following each of the 20-minute presentations. Sessions included:
- Regional Stakeholder Analysis in the Caspian Environment Programme: Identification of Potential Conflicts of Interests in Caspian Waters;
- Understanding Multiple Scales of Environmental Security and State Sovereignty: The State of Azerbaijan;
- Regional vs. National Security: Environmental Degeneration and the Uzbek Security Agenda;
- Influence of the Nongovernmental Provision of Services on State-Building;
- The Politics of Education in Kazakhstan;
- Cold War Legacies and Post-Cold War Politics: International Aid and the Victims of Nuclear Testing in Kazakhstan;
- Leveraging Preponderance: Agenda Control and Russia's Energy Statecraft in the Caspian Basin;
- Explaining the Ottoman Advance on the Caucasus, 1917-1918: Ideological or Geopolitical Imperatives?;
- Shanghai Cooperation Organization and Caspian Development;
- Why is Dagestan Moving Closer to Moscow?
In addition, IREX and WWC used private funding to invite Dr. Bahman Aghai Diba, an Iranian consultant and expert in the fields of international law and economics, to give a short presentation on Iran's role in the region with regard to legal and political issues. Blair Ruble, director of the Kennan Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, wrapped up the three-day symposium by leading a discussion on the Caspian region post-September 11, 2001. Overall, the interdisciplinary format of the Symposium was a very valuable means through which the scholars could network with others doing similar research, receive constructive feedback, and learn new approaches and perspectives with regard to their individual research projects.