2004 Caucasus Regional Policy Symposium Agenda and Presentation Summaries
Bavarian Inn & Lodge, Shepherdstown, WV
Sponsored by the US Department of State, Title VIII Program, and The Starr Foundation
Hosted by the International Research & Exchanges Board and the Kennan Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Thursday, March 25, 2004
5:00 – 7:30 pm
Opening Dinner, Cosmos Club, Powell Room
Keynote Address:
B. Lynn Pascoe, Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs
Introduction:
Kenneth Roberts, Director, Bureau of Intelligence & Research, US Department of State
Friday March 26, 2004
8:00 am
Breakfast, Potomac Room, Greystone Mansion
9:00 – 9:15 am
Introduction
9:15 – 10:15 am
Presenter: Daniel Moses, Lecturer, Department of Social Studies, Harvard University
Research Topic: “Making History: How Shaping the Past will Determine the Future in the Caucasus and Beyond” [PDF Download, 16 KB] [14]
Discussion Leader: Jamsheed Choksy, Professor, Department of Central Eurasian Studies, Indiana University – Bloomington
10:15 – 11:15 am
Presenter: Kyle Evered, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography and Geology, Illinois State University
Research Topic: "Turkey and the Geopolitics of Baku-Ceyhan-Perspectives and Challenges Encountered in Anatolia, the Caucasus and Beyond" [PDF Download, 16KB] [15]
Discussion Leader: Gerard Libaridian, Visiting Professor, Department of History, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
11:15 – 11:30 am
Break
11:30 – 12:30 pm
Iran: Influence and Impact in the Caucasus
Discussion leader: Gerard Libaridian, Visiting Professor, Department of History, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
12:45 – 1:45 pm
Lunch
2:00 – 3:00 pm
Presenter: Elizabeth Frombgen, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Hastings College
Research Topic: “Ethnic Conflict, Secession, and Political Violence in Tartarstan and Chechnya: The Role of the Russian State” [PDF Download, 20 KB] [16]
Discussion Leader: Douglas Blum, Professor, Department of Political Science, Providence College
3:00 – 4:00 pm
Presenter: Asbed Kotchikian, Predoctoral Candidate, Department of Political Science, Boston University
Research Topic: “Small States in the Post-Soviet Caucasus: The Making of Foreign Policy in Armenia and Georgia” [PDF Download, 20 KB] [17]
Discussion Leader: Jamsheed Choksy, Professor, Department of Central Eurasian Studies, Indiana University - Bloomington
4:00 – 4:15 pm
Break
4:15 – 5:15 pm
Presenter: Walter Comins-Richmond, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of German and Russian, Occidental College
Research Topic: “Long-Term Stability in the Northwest Caucasus: Prospects and Implications for Regional Development” [PDF Download, 16 KB] [18]
Discussion Leader: Nayereh Tohidi, Research Associate, Center for Near Eastern Studies, University of California, Los Angeles and Associate Professor, Department of Women's Studies, California State University - Northridge
5:15 – 6:15 pm
Presenter: Julie George, Predoctoral Candidate, Department of Government, University of Texas at Austin
Research Topic: “Levels of Ethnic Separatism in Georgia” [PDF Download, 12 KB] [19]
Discussion Leader: Gerard Libaridian, Visiting Professor, Department of History, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
7:00 pm
Dinner
Saturday, March 27, 2004
8:00 am
Breakfast, Potomac Room, Greystone Mansion
9:00 – 10:00 am
Presenter: Erik Scott, Program Manager, Center for the Study of Transnational Crime & Corruption, American University
Research Topic: [20]“The Criminalization of Conflict in Abkhazia and South Ossetia” [PDF Download, KB] [21]
Discussion Leader: Paula Garb, Associate Director of International Studies and Associate Adjunct Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of California - Irvine
10:00 – 11:00 am
Presenter: Christoph Stefes, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Colorado at Denver
Research Topic: “Systemic Corruption as an Intervening Variable in Post-Soviet Political and Economic Transitions: Armenia and Georgia in Comparison” [PDF Download, KB] [22]
Discussion Leader: Paula Garb, Associate Director of International Studies and Associate Adjunct Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of California - Irvine
11:00 – 11:15 am
Break
11:15 – 12:15 pm
Presenter: Armine Ishkanian, Lecturer, Centre for Civil Society, London School of Economics
Research Topic: “Civil Society in the Caucasus: The Role of NGOs in the Caucasus” [PDF Download, 20 KB] [23]
Discussion Leader: Nayereh Tohidi, Research Associate, Center for Near Eastern Studies, University of California, Los Angeles and Associate Professor, Department of Women's Studies, California State University - Northridge
12:30 – 1:30 pm
Lunch
1:45 – 2:45 pm
Adaptation Problems of Islam in the Contemporary Political Realities of the Caucasus Region
Discussion Leader: Nariman Gasimoglu, Fulbright Visiting Scholar from the Republic of Azerbaijan, Georgetown University2:45 – 3:45 pm V. Presenter: Eric Lepisto, Predoctoral Candidate, Teacher's College, Columbia University
Research Topic: “Azerbaijani Youth at the End of an Era: Life without a Net?”
Discussion Leader: Douglas Blum, Professor, Department of Political Science, Providence College
3:45 – 4:45 pm
Presenter: Matthew Schmidt, Predoctoral Candidate, Department of Government, Georgetown University
Research Topic: “The Caucasus and the Myth of the Market Economy” [PDF Download, 12 KB] [24]
Discussion Leader: Gerard Libaridian, Visiting Professor, Department of History, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
4:45 – 5:15pm
Wrap Up Session
6:00 pm
Dinner at the Yellow Brick Bank in downtown Shepherdstown
Sunday, March 28, 2004
8:00 - 9:00am
Breakfast
Scholar departures
Monday, March 29, 2004
9:00 – 10:15 am
Preparation for Senior Scholar Debriefing for INR Staff, IREX office
Preparation of Symposium conclusions and policy recommendations.
10:30 am - 12:00pm
Informal Policy Debriefing by Senior Scholars for INR Staff, US Department of State