The Strauss Center for International Security and Law is pleased to promote the Central Asia Policy Symposium, “Crossroads of Change: Security, Governance, and Human Rights in Contemporary Asia.” This symposium is sponsored by an array of academic institutions on campus, including the Clements Center for National Security, the Strauss-Clements Asia Policy Program, the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, Center for European Studies at the University of Texas at Austin and others. This conference will consist of three topical tracks: security, governance, and human rights. For more detailed information about the topics that will be addressed in each track, please look at the registration form.

The Security Track will examine these countries’ most pressing national and/or human security threats, as well as how these priorities have evolved following significant geopolitical events, before moving on to discuss how Central Asian states have cooperated with external actors, if at all, to address these threats. The symposium’s Governance Track will address the varied governance systems across the region before exploring the governance challenges that these countries have faced, as well as the policies (or lack thereof) that their capitals have undertaken to mitigate these challenges. Finally, the Human Rights Track will analyze the most significant human rights issues and/or social movements present as well as dive deeper into the status of civil society as a whole in certain Central Asian countries.

Schedule

Note: All panels are moderated discussions with all speakers.

Track 1: Security (Morning of Friday, February 28th – 9 AM – 12 PM)  

• Speaker 1: Dr. Eric McGlinchey on Kazakhstan
• Speaker 2: Dr. Mariya Omelicheva on Kyrgyzstan
• Speaker 3: Dr. Mariya Omelicheva on Tajikistan
• Speaker 4: Dr. Eric Rudenshiold on Uzbekistan

Track 2: Governance (Afternoon of Friday, February 28th – 1:30 PM – 4:30 PM) 

• Speaker 1: Dr. Degi Uvsh on Mongolia 
• Speaker 2: Dr. Marsha McGraw Olive on Tajikistan 
• Speaker 3: Dr. Johan Engvall on Kyrgyzstan 
• Speaker 4: Dr. Sean Roberts on Kazakhstan  

Track 3: Human Rights (Morning of Saturday, March 1st – 9 AM – 12 PM) 

• Speaker 1: Ambassador Allan Mustard on Turkmenistan 
• Speaker 2: Cian Stryker on Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan
• Speaker 3: Dr. Sean Roberts on Tajikistan 
• Speaker 4: Dr. Sean Roberts on Kazakhstan 

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