Christian Von Soest and Julia Grauvogel (GIGA): How Do Non-Democratic Regimes Claim Legitimacy? Comparative Insights from Post-Soviet Countries. Stanislav Shkel (USPTU): Political Regimes of the Post-Soviet States of the Central Asia and Caucasus. Mariya Y Omelicheva (Kansas): Competing Perspectives on Democracy and Democratization: Assessing Alternative Models of Democracy Promoted in Central Asian States. Gavin Slade (FU Berlin) and Matthew Light (Toronto): Crime and Criminal Justice after Communism: Why Study the Post-Soviet Region? Sergey Abashin (EU-SPB): Migration from Central Asia to Russia in the New Model of World Order. Putin has lost plenty of friends, and is making some strange new ones. Putin to Central Asia: Let Daddy save you from the Islamic State. Samuel Buelow on how last year proved to be a turbulent year for LGBT politics in Central Asia. The Silk Road Affair: Stephanie Baker on power, pop and a bunch of billionaires.
Is Kazakhstan’s “dialogue of civilizations” all about image, or doing some real good? Marlene Laruelle on the power of soft power in Kazakhstan. Radiation, government conspiracy, mass hysteria: There are plenty of theories as to why the residents of a tiny Kazakh mining region keep falling asleep for days at a time, but no answers.
