Academic Journals, Articles

By Zeyno Baran, S. Frederick Starr, and Svante E. Cornell, 55pp.

By Malcolm Dowling and Ganeshan Wignaraja, 104pp.

by Joldosh Osmonov

The service launches with an initial pilot phase, featuring a daily
output of around four stories, in Russian and English. The agency -
based in Bishkek, with a regional office in Dushanbe and international
assistance from IWPR - is staffed by an experienced network of
journalists and editors drawing on a broad range of regional specialists.

by Anar Musabaeva

by Muratbek Imanaliev

"Understanding Post-Soviet Transitions: Corruption, Collusion and
Clientelism" (Basingstoke, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006). The
book is already on the shelves in Europe but will also come to the US
in December 2006.

Book Description
Corruption, collusion and clientelism are pervasive legacies of Soviet
rule in most successor states of the Soviet Union. This legacy has
been a major obstacle to the development of viable democratic and
market institutions. Analyzing the political and economic developments
of Armenia and Georgia, this book demonstrates how systemic corruption
undermines the rule of law which is crucial for democracy and a market
economy. It argues that the tumultuous political transition of Georgia
has created an anarchic system of corruption that is disastrous for
economic development and people's welfare. In contrast, the Armenian
government has maintained some control over the corrupt system,
ameliorating the consequences of systemic corruption.

ADB's planned projects for Mongolia over the next three
years have been adjusted to take into account recent developments in the
country.

The following are the latest articles of the Institute for Public Policy,
Kyrgyzstan (September 11 - September 20), appearing on the Institute's website:

Muratbek Imanaliev: "The Central Asian Republics Should Not Stand
Aside Awaiting Their Role in the SCO"

"Fifteen Years On: An Identity Failure"
Valentin Bogatyrev

"Current political situation in Kyrgyzstan"
Roundtable summary

"On the Path to Ideal Bureaucracy: the Future of Public Service in
Kyrgyzstan"
Kumar Bekbolotov

Coming soon:

Results of a nation-wide survey on "Popular attitude towards
political and public institutions in Kyrgyzstan", held in
July-August 2006.

Call for Papers and Cooperation - the IPP looks for contributors.

Daik-Press Publishers and Institute of Oriental Studies of Kazakhstan
have published:

Mahmud al-Kashgari, Diwan Lugat at-Turk ("Turkic Lexicon"), translated
with Introduction by Zifa-Alua Auezova and Index by Robert Ermers,
Almaty "Daik-Press" 2005. ISBN 9965-699-74-7.

Diwan Lughat at-Turk composed by a Turkic scholar Mahmud al-Kashghari
in the XI c. is one of the most remarkable sources of knowledge
related to history of Central Asian civilizations. In extensive
academic discussions of 1960-80s it was referred to primarily as an
oldest lexicographical source. However, recent developments in
societies identifying themselves with Turkic culture put forward a
quest for tracing up the "roots" of Turks in a wider context. Diwan
contains much interesting information and concepts that might be
helpful in understanding some aspects of self-identification and
culture of Turkic tribes in a broader sense.

Diwan was conceived as a book demonstrating richness and versatility
of language and culture of Turkic tribes, whose military triumph in
the X-XI cc. led to concentration of considerable political power by
Turks within the borders of Islamic world. For Turks this was the
early period of their identification with Islam. Judging by the
contents of Diwan and its dedication to Abbasid khalif al-Muqtadi
particularly, through his book Mahmud al-Kashghari intended to
introduce Turks and their culture to the "Islamic World".

Following the example of Arabs, who considered their language, the
language of Qur'an, to be most valuable element of their culture,
al-Kashghari chose the language of Turks as means for introduction
their culture and values to those who had not been familiar with them.

Being the earliest known Turkic book written in Arabic, Diwan Lughat
at-Turk was composed as a Turkic-Arabic lexicon, where Turkic words
were presented in Arabic transliteration and provided with translation
and comments on etymology, contexts and various possibilities of their use.

In the eyes of the author "Turkic dialects keep pace with Arabic like
two horses in a race": in order to prove that the language and poetry
of Turks was not inferior to those of Arabs, Mahmud al-Kashghari
generously quotes proverbs and fragments of ancient Turkic verses in
various genres, which had been familiar to Islamic readers from Arab
literature.

Present edition contains the first complete translation of Diwan
Lughat at-Turk into the Russian, made by Zifa-Alua Auezova from its
original in Arabic, introductory chapter dedicated to various aspects
of al-Kashghari's perception of Turkic culture on the early stage of
its islamization, and index of Turkic words compiled by Robert Ermers.

The translation was based on the facsimile edition of the manuscript
of Diwan Lugat at-Turk, published by the Ministry of Culture of Turkey in 1990.

For orders and more information, please write to Bolat Kazgulov,
Daik-Press Publishers, 050010 Almaty, 29 Kurmangazy str., or e-mail:
DaikSof@mail.ru, or call at:7)3272613275 and 7)3272612835.

On September 15, 2006 Educational Center Bilim-Central Asia, National
Library of Kazakhstan and Mukhtar Auezov Museum are holding the
presentation of this book. Presentation will take place at 11am in the
Museum of Mukhtar Auezov in Almaty, 185 Tulebayev str. (corner of
Kurmangazy str.).

The Institute of Strategic Studies of the Caucasus (ISSC) has been
founded in 1999 in Azerbaijan (Baku). Main objective of the ISSC is to
analyze and forecast geopolitical and geoeconomic processes in the
Caucasus. Basic directions of research are as follows: regional
geopolitical and geo-economic processes ; national and state building
in the countries of the Caucasus ; armed conflicts and regional
security; problems of economic development of the Caucasian states;
integration processes in the region; social and cultural problems of
the region's development; geo-history of the Caucasus .

In association with the Institute of Central Asian and Caucasian
studies (Sweden), the ISSC issues periodicals: journal of social and
political studies Central Asia and the Caucasus (Sweden) and
analytical annual Central Eurasia (Sweden). These publications are
issued in English and Russian and distributed in more than 50
countries worldwide .

Since 2006, the ISSC has started publishing a new quarterly journal of
social, political and economic studies The Caucasus & Globalization.
The journal has an international status and is issued in Russian and
English. The editorial board of the journal includes well-known
researchers: F. Starr, S. Cornell, D. Blum, D. Wersch (USA), A.
Matsunaga (Japan), M. Esenov (Sweden), A. Rondeli, Рђ. Gegeshidze, V.
Papava (Georgia), S. Zhukov, I. Babich (Russia), Рњ . Sanai (Iran),
Рњ. Aydin (Turkey), E. Ismailov, N. Imanov, G. Kuliyev (Azerbaijan) et al.

The presentation ceremony of The Caucasus & Globalization took place
in September 2006. Demo-version of the first issue is placed on site:
www.ca-c.org

Basic objectives of The Caucasus & Globalization are as follows :

- Elucidation of the results of the latest studies on geopolitical
and geo-economic processes in the Caucasus;
- Publication of expert-analytical assessments and recommendations on
political, economic, legal and social problems of the Caucasian region
of applied significance for the governments, scientific-intellectual
and business-elites of the Caucasian countries;
- Formation of wide network of Caucasian researchers through enabling
them to discuss new analytical views on the history , policy, economy,
culture and religion of the region.

The journal has four permanent headings: geopolitics, geo-economics,
geo-culture and geo-history.

We invite you to cooperation and would be pleased to see your
researchers among authors of The Caucasus & Globalization.

Guidelines for Submission of Articles:

Articles are accepted and published in English and Russian
CGJ accepts usually original articles. Authors should clearly indicate
in their application whether an article (or its another version) has
been published elsewhere, or is under consideration by another publisher.

If copyrighted stuff is used in the article, it is the author's
responsibility to obtain permission from the copyright holder.

The typescript should be carefully checked for errors before it is
submitted for publication. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of
quotations, for supplying complete and correct references.

Authors should attach a brief biographical data (Names: First, Middle,
Last; Affiliation, a Scientific Degree, Position and Contacts).

Manuscripts should be emailed as an attachment in Word to: kavglob@tdb.az

Requirements for articles

Articles should normally be within 4,000 to 5,000 words including all
notes and references. An indented and italicised abstract of up to 150
words, which should describe the main arguments and conclusions must
precede the main text, and all pages should be numbered. An
introduction should follow the abstract and the article should consist
of sections and end with conclusion. The author is requested to give a
brief personal biography in a footnote at the beginning of the article.

The contributors are requested to use footnotes (not endnotes) and
avoid bibliography. Quotations should be placed within double
quotation marks ("....."). Titles and section headings should be
brief and clear. Names of the authors, places and publishing houses
are required to be written in their original forms.

Tables should be kept to a minimum and contain only essential data.
Tables and figures should have short, descriptive titles, and their
position in the text be clearly indicated. All footnotes to tables and
their source(s) should be placed under the tables. Column headings
should clearly define the data presented.

The styles of the references in footnotes should conform the following
examples:
- Articles in journals: Schuman, H. & Scott J. Generations &
collective memory. In American Sociological Review vol.54, 1998,
pp. 359-381.
- Books: Polkinghorne, D.E. Narrative Knowing and the Human
Sciences. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1988.
- Edited volumes: Schudson M. Dynamics of distortion in collective
memory. In D.L.Schacter, ed., Memory distortion: How minds, brains,
and societies reconstruct the past. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press, 1995.

For more details, please, contact: (994 12) 596 11 73; (994 12) 596 11 74

E-mail allkeng@gmail.com

Address : AZ1009, Baku, Azerbaijan, 98 Рђ. Guliyev str.

Government representatives from Central Asia and
international organizations today began discussions on the barriers to border
trade and trade tax regimes in the region.

The Journal of Power Institutions in Post-Soviet Societies #6, June 2007

An electronic journal of social sciences, www.pipss.org

Call for Contributors:

Pipss.org is a new electronic journal of social sciences devoted to
the armed forces and power institutions of post-Soviet societies.
Pipss.org is a multi-disciplinary journal, which addresses issues
across a broad field of disciplines including sociology, anthropology,
political science, psychology, economics, history, legal science. Its
main objective is to study changes and their underlying mechanisms in
post-Soviet republics, through the analysis of the institutions that
remain most hidden from the public eye: armies and power institutions.
As an electronic journal, pipss.org also aims to promote scholarly
debate across as broad an audience as possible, and make CIS research
available to Western scholars. Thanks to its international scientific
board drawn from a large pool of leading academics and experts in
their respective fields, it is in a position to become a leading
source of analysis on post-Soviet societies. Pipss.org is a principal
partner of the International Security Network and a member of the
CNRS/EHESS scientific journal network Revues.org.

Sixth Issue:

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Central Asian Republics
found themselves bound to build their own national armies and more
recently, because of the changing security environment, they were
compelled to new military reforms.

A lot has been written on Central Asian military reform and the
influence of the West, but very little is known about those men who
leads the Central Asian armies, about the bodies in charge of the
defence implementation.... Who are the Central Asian officers today.
What do they read, what do they have in mind? How do they position
themselves in the struggle between Soviet heritage, western influence
and Central Asian heritage? These questions (among others) remain
unanswered.

That is why the issue editors of volume 6 would like to invite
sociologists, anthropologists, psychologists, political scientists,
military analysts etc.... to submit their papers for publication in a
special issue on Defence Reform in Central Asia.

This volume aims to cover (but does not to limit itself to) the
following issues:

1 - The Soviet heritage: the endurance of military networks belonging
to the Soviet period; dedovshchina in Central Asian Armies; The image
of Soviet armed forces in Central Asian societies

2 - Building the new national soldier:
A. The role of national epic heroes in building the national soldier;
Is Central Asian military ethos fundamentally different from Soviet
and (post-Soviet) Russian military culture?; What role do national
epic heroes play in the building of the national soldier in Central
Asian armies?

B - The Central Asian officer: a sociological portrait; The renewal of
military elites, their sociological composition, the changes in
recruitment; Changes in the ethnic composition of the armed forces of
the Central Asia Republics due to the massive departure of Russian
officers (who returned mainly to Russia and the Ukraine); Professional
military staff preparation and training: the training of a specialist
corps whose members are recruited among a population with a low level
of instruction, and which was not allowed to occupy positions of
responsibility during the Soviet regime; The difficult interaction of
Russian officers with local officers due to language problems
affecting the chain of command; Military personnel's wives / Women in
the military in Central Asian societies.

3 - Military/society relations'; The role of solidarities and
loyalties in Central Asian armies: minorities in the military; kinship
networks in the military; The action of military elites as lobby
groups and the perceptions they generate. Are these elites no more
than interest group(s) competing with others for the ownership and use
of resources, power, etc.... or does their state function (defense,
public order) confer upon them a specific role and modus operandi?;
How the contradictions affecting Central Asian societies (tribal and
clan divisions, ethnic tension, regional disparities, urban-rural
differences, social inequalities etc) affects the national armies?;
The Central Asian armies in Central Asian public opinion.

4 - Central Asian defence reform and defence strategy A - Military
reform; Implementation of state measures, military reform: the bodies
in charge; Military reform and structural changes: how military
reforms have affected Soviet-style regimental structures; Central
Asian military legislation and military justice

B - Defense strategy and territorial division; What are the actors in
charge of building and maintaining national security structures and
infrastructure in the different Republics of Central Asia?; What are
their current role and mission?; Are they wholly independent of their
national centres or symbiotically related to a variety of regional,
local or national actors?; Territorial division and security policy
in Central Asian Republics: assessing the impact of the regions'
(districts) contribution to national security policies; Non state
security actors operating in the regions (the role of local militias);
Non governmental actors and assistance to the military?; Corruption
and regional security

C - Other security forces; Very often literature on Post-Soviet armed
forces fails to cover police forces and security services. Therefore
the issue editors would like to assess the role and the importance
given to other security forces (Interior troops, border troops,
security services...) in Central Asian Republics. Are Central Asian
Republics following the Russian model? Have military reforms been
severely limited by the role given to these forces as they have in
post-Soviet Russia? Or have Central Asian Republics escaped this
phenomenon? Are their any linkage between defence reform and security
sector reform?

5 - What Russia and the West can learn from Central Asian armies.

The issue editors welcome studies of original experiences conducted in
Central Asian countries such as the creation of army unit councils in
Uzbekistan (these councils of five - seven people are formed at
general meetings of privates and sergeants by open ballot for a
one-year term and aim to help forming a healthy spiritual and moral
atmosphere in military communities, or of a similar body in
Kyrgyzstan: the garrison public council. Could Russia learn from these
experiences and specificities (Uzbekistan broke new ground when a
civilian was appointed defence minister)?

What about the West? One cannot help but look or even hope for a
specificity in Central Asian countries as an alternative to modernity.

Papers dealing with other issues related to armies and power
institutions in the CIS, as well as book review proposals are also
welcome.

REVIEWS

Publishers interested in publicizing their editions, please send
review copies to:

Elisabeth Sieca-Kozlowski
15 rue Charlot
75003 Paris, France

The Journal is published twice a year by the Centre for Ancient Philsophy and the Classical Tradition at Novosibirsk University
ISSN 1995-4328 (Print) ISSN 1995-4336 (Online)
http://www.nsu.ru/classics/schole/index.htm