Vol. 1, No. 6 (April 15, 2008)

Great power rivalry in the Caucasus after Bucharest

Tension in the Caucasus has steadily grown since 2005.  Russia’s undeclared war against Georgia includes a creeping annexation of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, economic, trade, and energy sanctions, over flights, bombings, and intelligence operations.  In 2006, Georgia, not to be undone, contemplated military action to recover South Ossetia.  Meanwhile, its leadership is clearly unduly susceptible to using intemperate language and taking provocative risks.  Neither has it been fully successful in democratizing Georgia as intended.  Nor is this the only conflict i...
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Public diplomacy: An Azerbaijani priority since 1918

In the contemporary world, few governments fail to devote significant attention to public diplomacy, to all those means of influencing other governments by influencing their populations.  But most of these states began to use this strategy only in the course of the last several decades.  Azerbaijan represents an important exception: Its current efforts in this direction have their roots in decisions made by the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan in 1918-1919. At that time, the Azerbaijani ministry of foreign affairs drafted a memorandum for the government on “The O...
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The United States and Azerbaijan: Cultural diplomacy at work

For more than 35 years, Jeffrey Werbock has used his knowledge of and ability to perform traditional Azerbaijani music on native instruments to present the country and people of Azerbaijan to the United States and other Western countries.  What follows are his reflections about a career that has won him recognition as Baku’s musical ambassador to the world...
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Sara Khatun: Azerbaijan’s first female diplomat

Azerbaijanis have always taken great pride in the fact that their country was the first nation in the East to extend the franchise to women, a step it took even before the United States did.  But they have another reason to be proud about the role of women in public life: More than 500 years ago, an Azerbaijani woman played a key role in the politics and foreign relations of her country, centuries before women did so elsewhere.    Throughout the 15th century and later, women like the mother of Shah Ismail I, his wife, and the sisters and wives of others at cour...
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A guide to contemporary Azerbaijan

The Azerbaijan National Encyclopedia Scientific Center has just published what almost certainly will be for many years the most comprehensive guide to the geography, history, culture, economy, politics and foreign relations of the Republic of Azerbaijan: the 884-page Azerbaijan (2007) volume of what will ultimately be a 25-volume national encyclopedia in the Azerbaijani language.  Its 155 articles were prepared by leading scholars.  Its 591 pictures and illustrations and 89 tables are the most current available.  And its 55 maps were prepared by the State La...
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