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Book SynopsisThis anthology of articles, short studies, and interviews by Alexandros Petersen was written over the span of ten years, starting in 2004. Yet they are even more relevant today in their prescient analysis. Petersen insightfully addressed the implications of the West withdrawing its engagement from the Caucasus and Central Asia, the expansion of the Chinese influence, and Russia's strategic interests. The collection is organized along four main topics: (1) Eurasia and a changing transatlantic world: the world politics of shifting frontiers in the post-Soviet world; (2) Energy geopolitics in the Caspian and beyond, with its crucial implications for European energy security; (3) the Black Sea world, covering the dynamics of Russia, Turkey, and the South Caucasus, including the role of NATO and frozen conflicts in the region; (4) the new silk roads: China's inroads in Central Asia, which is often overlooked in the West but will be critical for the geopolitical balance of powers.Trade ReviewEURASIA’S SHIFTING GEOPOLITICAL TECTONIC PLATES IS A COLLECTION of writings on geopolitics and energy politics in Eurasia by the American academic and writer Alexandros Petersen, who died tragically on 17 January 2014 in a Taliban attack in Kabul. The book, published in the ‘Contemporary Central Asia’ series at Lexington Books, conveys an impression of Petersen’s ability to combine perceptive analysis with empirical insight. Given the paucity of analyses on and lack of Western strategies towards Central Asia in particular, his writings represent a much needed and welcome contribution. Most chapters are very brief and written with a journalistic flair. Petersen’s explicit aim was to provide succinct policy analyses rather than lengthy academic treatises. The brevity of the chapters should therefore not come as a surprise, as this is a collection to celebrate his scholarship as a prolific writer and passionate traveller rather than a sustained book-length analysis of geopolitics in Eurasia. * Europe-Asia Studies *This collection of articles, essays, and interviews provides important insight into a part of the world that has been often misunderstood, with global consequences. Alexandros Petersen was a young scholar with knowledge and wisdom beyond his years. We are fortunate to have this body of work to inform us and to help shape future policy. -- Minouche Shafik, London School of EconomicsThis is a wonderful collection of writings on energy geopolitics and Eurasia by a remarkably talented and well-traveled observer. Alexandros Petersen brought passion and keen insight to issues that demand far more attention from Western policymakers. -- Theo Farrell, University of LondonAlexandros Petersen was well on his way to being one of the leading scholars of twenty-first century international relations, not just as an academic but as someone who engaged with the world around him. He had that essential mix of drive, intelligence, and compassion that made him not only an impressive scholar but also a genuine friend. This volume is a fitting tribute to him, his scholarship, and his ideas. -- Michael Sulmeyer, Harvard UniversityAlexandros Petersen understood the good things that could result when the United States is constructively engaged in the world, especially in seemingly distant lands. His work helped build the case for US interests in places many Americans would consider distant lands. He presented eloquently the negative consequences that result when the United States disengages, ceding influence to those who neither share our values nor our interests. Today more than ever we should heed his cautions and follow his advice on how to shape a better world by building stronger partnerships. -- Damon Wilson, Atlantic CouncilAlexandros Petersen was a truly original thinker, and a truly unique person. This volume captures the breadth of his interest and expertise and serves as a poignant reminder of a life cut tragically short. -- Samuel Charap, International Institute for Strategic StudiesAlexandros Petersen's work combines the passion of youth with the wisdom of scholarship to give us hope for the future. His relentless curiosity and energy, his gift for geopolitics, and his love for the regions he wrote about will inspire a generation of young scholars. -- Margarita Assenova, The Jamestown FoundationAlexandros Petersen can be counted among a unique group of scholars who not only sought to interpret the world but to change it. His dedication and passion for political freedom and the construction of a post-imperial world impregnated his work and his life. -- Janusz Bugajski, Center for European Policy AnalysisAlexandros Petersen made significant and lasting contributions to the Woodrow Wilson Center's European programming as a Public Policy Fellow, an alumnus of its Southeast Europe Project, an advisor to the Global Europe Program, and a driving force behind its European Energy Security Initiative. We miss his scholarship—celebrated in this remarkable book—his entrepreneurial and adventurous spirit, his humor, and his grace. They remain an inspiration to all of us. -- Christian Ostermann, Woodrow Wilson International Center for ScholarsThis is a magnificent collection of works by Alexandros Petersen, a gifted and precociously experienced expert on the Caucasus and Central Asia. I am grateful to the fate that I came across this remarkable person and managed to become friends with him. It is a pity that our friendship was cut short as his life ended tragically. -- Archil Gegeshidze, director of The Levan Mikeladze Foundation and former ambassador of Georgia to the United StatesAlexandros Petersen was a singular intellect and an entrepreneurial thinker, unique in his generation of emerging geopolitical strategists. At an early stage, he combined a romantic reverence for an earlier era of great power realpolitik with perspicacious insight into the future of a region perilously overlooked. In this volume, which highlights his prolific contributions in a tragically short period, his voice emerges—relevant, scholarly, illuminating, mordant, and provocative—and offers readers a glimpse of extraordinary potential, not only as a visionary thinker, but as a captivating leader. -- Joshua Marcuse, Young Professionals in Foreign PolicyThis is a powerful collection of writing from someone who exemplified the value of getting out into the world and coming to know it deeply, rather than being content to stay in a Western capital and claim to understand complex events observed from afar. I am sad that I never had a chance to get to know him, but I know I can still turn to his writings to help us understand this dark and dangerous age. -- Ryan Evans, Center for the National Interest, and Editor-in-Chief of War on the RocksAlexandros Petersen possessed a wise mind for such a young man, reinforced by consistently strong issue analyses. Now that his work is available to all in this distinguished anthology, policy planners in Washington and worldwide will better know the prescient mind of this true analytical talent. He departed this life far too young, and his insightful policy work will long resonate with practitioners and scholars of geopolitical strategy in Eurasia and beyond. -- John Sitilides, former chairman, Wilson Center Southeast ProjectTable of ContentsForeword, S. Frederick Starr Part I: Eurasia and a Changing Transatlantic World Chapter 1: The Geopolitical Consequences of Transatlantic Energy Disunity Chapter 2: Regions in Between: Europe, NATO and the Geopolitics of Shifting Frontiers Chapter 3: Reimagining Eurasia (with Samuel Charap) Chapter 4: Getting the EU back into Eurasia (with Raffaello Pantucci) Part II: Energy Geopolitics: The Caspian and Beyond Chapter 5: The Final Leg in the Race for Caspian Gas Chapter 6: The Nabucco Pipeline project is dead Chapter 7: Alexandros Petersen: Interview on Nabucco Chapter 8: Turkey's Multivector Energy Hub: Ignore At Your Own Peril Chapter 9: Integrating Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey with the West: The Case of the East–West Transport Corridor Chapter 10: Turkey: The Transatlantic Energy Hub Chapter 11: BTC Security Questions Persist Chapter 12: Russia’s Energy Bully Takes a Fall Chapter 13: The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pipeline Part III: The Black Sea World: South Caucasus, Russia, and Turkey Chapter 14: Turkey: Abandoning the EU for the SCO (with Raffaello Pantucci) Chapter 15: Russia’s Eastern Anxieties (with Raffaello Pantucci) Chapter 16: The 1992–93 Georgia-Abkhazia War: A Forgotten Conflict Chapter 17: Russia Invaded Georgia to Teach the West a Lesson Chapter 18: Russia’s Resurgence: Risks and Rewards Chapter 19: Azerbaijan and Georgia: Playing Russian Roulette with Moscow (with Taleh Ziyadov) Chapter 20: Security and Western Integration in the Caucasus Chapter 21: Black Sea Security: The NATO Imperative Part IV: The New Silk Roads: China’s Inroads in Central Asia Chapter 22: China's Latest Piece of the New Silk Road Chapter 23: Central Asia's New Energy Giant: China Chapter 24: Central Asia's Most Important City Is….Not in Central Asia Chapter 25: China’s Strategy in Afghanistan Chapter 26: How the West Is Totally Missing China's Geopolitical Focus Chapter 27: China’s Inadvertent Empire (with Raffaello Pantucci) Chapter 28: Russia, China, and the Geopolitics of Energy in Central Asia (with Katinka Barysch) Chapter 29: Did China Just Win the Caspian Gas War?

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Book SynopsisThis book argues that American and European policies toward Central Asia and the Caucasus suffer from both conceptual and structural impediments. It traces the framework of Western policies to the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, which resulted in the stovepiping of relations into political, economic, and democracy categories – and in often uncoordinated or contradictory policies. While the authors embrace the goal of promoting human rights and democracy, they argue that the antagonistic methods adopted to advance this goal have proven counter-productive. They propose that Western governments work with the regional states rather than on or against them; and that instead of focusing directly on political systems, policies should focus on developing the quality of governance and help build institutions that will be building blocks of rule of law and democracy in the long term. The authors also argue that Western leaders have largely failed to grasp the significance of this region, relegated it to a subordinate status and thus damaging western interests. The development of sovereign, economically strong, and effectively self-governing states in the Caucasus and Central Asia is an important goal in its own right; the book stresses the importance of a region where the development and preservation of secular statehood could become a model for the entire Muslim world.

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Book SynopsisThis book argues that American and European policies toward Central Asia and the Caucasus suffer from both conceptual and structural impediments. It traces the framework of Western policies to the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, which resulted in the stovepiping of relations into political, economic, and democracy categories – and in often uncoordinated or contradictory policies. While the authors embrace the goal of promoting human rights and democracy, they argue that the antagonistic methods adopted to advance this goal have proven counter-productive. They propose that Western governments work with the regional states rather than on or against them; and that instead of focusing directly on political systems, policies should focus on developing the quality of governance and help build institutions that will be building blocks of rule of law and democracy in the long term. The authors also argue that Western leaders have largely failed to grasp the significance of this region, relegated it to a subordinate status and thus damaging western interests. The development of sovereign, economically strong, and effectively self-governing states in the Caucasus and Central Asia is an important goal in its own right; the book stresses the importance of a region where the development and preservation of secular statehood could become a model for the entire Muslim world.

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Book SynopsisUzbekistan, long considered the center of Central Asia, has the region’s largest population and borders every other regional state including Afghanistan. For the first 25 years of its independence, it adopted a cautious, defensive policy that emphasized sovereignty and treated regional efforts at cooperation with skepticism. But after taking over as President in autumn 2016, Shavkat Mirziyoyev launched a breathtaking series of reform initiatives. His slogan – “it is high time the government serves the people, not vice versa” – led to large-scale reforms in virtually every sector. Time will tell whether the reform effort will succeed, but its first positive fruits are already visible, particularly in a new dynamism within Uzbek society, as well as a fresh approach to foreign relations, where a new spirit of regionalism is taking root. This book is the first systematic effort to analyze Uzbekistan’s reforms.

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Book SynopsisUzbekistan, long considered the center of Central Asia, has the region’s largest population and borders every other regional state including Afghanistan. For the first 25 years of its independence, it adopted a cautious, defensive policy that emphasized sovereignty and treated regional efforts at cooperation with skepticism. But after taking over as President in autumn 2016, Shavkat Mirziyoyev launched a breathtaking series of reform initiatives. His slogan – “it is high time the government serves the people, not vice versa” – led to large-scale reforms in virtually every sector. Time will tell whether the reform effort will succeed, but its first positive fruits are already visible, particularly in a new dynamism within Uzbek society, as well as a fresh approach to foreign relations, where a new spirit of regionalism is taking root. This book is the first systematic effort to analyze Uzbekistan’s reforms.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsPreface Maps of Central Asia Introduction 1) Civil Society in Central Asia 2) The Legal Regulation of NGOs - Central Asia at a Crossroads 3) Freedom of Association and the Question of its realization in Kazakhstan 4) Governement and Nonprofit Sector Relations in the Kyrgyz Republic 5) Enviornmental NGOs & the Development of Civil Society in Central Asia 6) Kolkhoz and Civil Society in the Independent States of Central Asia 7) Prospects for Development of an Independent Media in Kazakhstan 8) Can Uzbekistan Build Democracy and Civil Society? 9) Civil Society and Identity in Uzbekistan 10) Islam and Tajikistan’s Human and Ecological Crisis 11) Women’s NGOs in Central Asia’s Evolving Societies 12) The Real Work - Sustainig NGO Growth in Central Asia Organizations Online Resources Appendices

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Book SynopsisChronicles the life of one of the most remarkable musical minds of the American experience, the great nineteenth-century New Orleans-born composer and pianist Louis Moreau Gottschalk. This book recounts Gottschalk's experiences as he traveled and performed throughout the last decade of his life.Trade Review"Exactly what it took to become a musical superstar in the mid-19th century is vividly documented in Notes of a Pianist, Gottschalk's charming and fascinating diaries, which are now back in print for the first time in decades... Notes of a Pianist is informative, above all, as a document of our cultural adolescence, a time when Americans knew the were supposed to want good music, but weren't quite sure how to enjoy it."--Adam Kirsch, New York Sun "First published in 1881, this work is an invaluable first-hand look at the music and culture of the 19th century."--H.J. Kirchhoff, Toronto Globe and Mail "As well as a pianist and composer, Gottschalk was a superb writer of prose... Notes of a Pianist is a work of the highest importance, the first book of permanent interest by an American artist who was not a fulltime author and matchlessly vivid document of American musical life during the Civil War."--Terry Teachout, Commentary "Louis Moreau Gottschalk had something resembling rock-star status in 19th-century America, but the pianist-composer's most important contribution might not be musical; rather, it might be his tumultuous, trenchant, Zelig-like diary... His perspective is singularly significant."--David Patrick Stearns, Philadelphia Inquirer

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