Evan Feigenbaum, Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili, Temur Umarov, Nicole Grajewski, and Asel Doolotkeldieva focus on strategic dynamics in continental Asia and how regional players—not the United States or the transatlantic West—are driving both diplomacy and regional integration.

Concerns and public resentment over the influx of Russians cannot be seen any other way than through the prism of the long colonial history between the Central Asian states and the Russian (and later Soviet) empire.

After tumultuous elections and the ousting of former President Jeenbekov in October 2020, Kyrgyzstan is holding early presidential elections and a referendum on constitutional reform on January 10, 2021.

After a month of political upheaval in Kyrgyzstan and the collapse of now-former President Sooronbay Jeenbekov’s government, followed by the rise of Sadyr Japarov, a former convict, to the position of acting president, the country’s political landscape is changing fast.

Please join us for a discussion on Kyrgyzstan as it holds parliamentary elections on October 4. Kyrgyzstan is Central Asia’s only democracy, but contested elections and pluralistic politics there have not necessarily led to better governance and accountability in the nation.