2019-09-24

Experts Discuss System Transformation in Central Asia

On 20-21 September the OSCE Academy in partnership with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Kyrgyzstan organized a conference on “System Transformation in Central Asia in Comparative Perspective.” This conference was initiated by Prof. Dr. Anja Mihr, DAAD Visiting Professor at the OSCE Academy, in order to enhance the exchange between local and international scholars, policymakers and representatives from civil society and to stimulate their discussion about the challenges of the gradual changes currently taking place in Central Asia vis-a-vis the democratic and human rights norms and standards. The conference was opened by the hosts of the event – Dr. Alexander Wolters, Director of the OSCE Academy, and Mr. Alexander Rosenplänter, Regional Director of FES as well as Dr. Anja Mihr, and followed by a keynote speech by Prof. Wolfgang Merkel from the German Research Center for Social Science (WZB) and from Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany on “The end of the third wave of democratization: Are autocracies on the return?”

Among other distinguished Speakers, Prof. Manfred Nowak, Secretary General of the Global Campus of Human Rights in Venice, Italy; Dr Kseniya Kizilova, Vice-Director of Eurasia Barometer; Prof. Mario Sznajder from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel; and Prof. Christian Haerpfer, President of the World Value Survey Association, discussed with scholars and policymakers from Central Asia the recent developments both in the West and East. The Academy Paper, summarizing the discussion of the conference, will be soon published on the Academy’s website.