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  • Activity Of Some Of The Azerbaijani Research Centres

    ACTIVITY OF SOME OF THE AZERBAIJANI RESEARCH CENTRES
    Diana Galstyan, Araks Pashaian

    "Noravank" Foundation
    07 December 2009

    Azerbaijani research centers or the so-called "think tanks" work in
    the format of foundations, NGOs, as well as academic entities. The
    centers mainly work in two directions: social-economic and social and
    political. They attach special importance to the studies directed to
    the development of Azerbaijan as well as researches devoted to the
    study of the regional developments. A lot of attention is paid to the
    problems connected with the RA and NKR. The "think tanks" from time
    to time arrange conferences, workshops (very often in collaboration
    with the well-known foreign organizations) on different themes.

    >From typological point of view "think tanks" in Azerbaijan can be
    divided into two main groups:

    "Think tanks" established and sponsored by the state "Think tanks"
    financed by the international structures and foundations.

    Azerbaijani analytical centers cooperate with many foreign
    organizations (UN, Council of Europe, NATO, OSCE, World Bank,
    International Institute for Strategic Studies, World Trade
    Organization, UNESCO, Eurasia Foundation, Carnegie Foundation (New
    York), Marshal Foundation (Germany), George Soros Foundation, UNPD,
    USAID, Oxfam and etc.).

    The main purpose of the centers financed by the western structures
    and foundation is to boost:

    The establishment of the civil society in Azerbaijan Democratic
    processes The implementation of the liberal social and political
    reforms The protection of human rights and gender equality.

    The entities sponsored by the state can be classified into two groups:
    academic and non-academic. The vivid example of the latter is the
    centre for strategic studies under the president of the Republic of
    Azerbaijan which receives rather big subsidies from the state.

    It is characteristic that in Azerbaijan there are net structures
    working in the Caucasian region which also have offices in Armenia and
    Georgia, such as the Caucasus Research Resource Center CRRC. Let us
    mention that the logic, financing and target goals of the analytical
    centers financed by the West both in Armenia and Azerbaijan generally
    coincide. In Azerbaijan almost the same grant programmes work as in
    Armenia and other post-Soviet countries.

    Below we present information about several Azerbaijani leading
    analytical centers.

    Centre for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of
    Azerbaijan Though the centre has only two years history (established
    in November 2007 by the decree of Ilham Aliyev) it has already
    been distinguished by its eager activity. The constituent document
    of the organization reads that the establishment of the centre
    is conditioned by the necessity in the analyses directed to the
    improvement of the governing system of Azerbaijan, social and political
    analyses. According to the aforementioned document the number of the
    employees of the centre is 30. It is headed by Elhan Nuriev1, who had
    worked in European and the US research and analytical centers. Nuriev
    wields the methodology of dynamic studies and implementation of the
    results of those studies.

    The centre works in several main directions. Among them are, e.g.,
    the study of the local, regional and international processes. As a
    result of those studies the political programmes concerning domestic
    and foreign policy are drawn up. The part of the functions of the
    centre is the coordination of the activity of the authorities and
    other research institutions.

    The important part of the activity of the centre is providing
    "truthful" information about the NKR. In this context the special
    attention is paid to the establishment of the centre of the Armenian
    studies. According to the statement of Nuriyev made in one of
    the interviews there are specialists who speak Armenian, know the
    Armenian history, psychology, mentality. The centre is monitoring
    the Armenian books, mass media, the statements and addresses of the
    public figures in Armenia and the Diaspora. The publications of the
    monographs concerning different aspects of the "Armenian Question"
    as well as the elaboration of "Conception of the Nagorno-Karabakh
    conflict settlement" are prepared.

    For the short time of its existence the centre managed to arrange
    several conferences in Moscow, Baku, London, Berlin and etc.

    The motto of the centre is: "Our purpose is the national security
    protection of Azerbaijan".

    Center for Economic & Social Development (CESD) It was established on
    January 1, 2005. The chairman of the centre is Vugar Bayramov2. The
    centre was created to study economic, social, energy, communication,
    financial spheres in modern Azerbaijan; it promotes the implementation
    of practical projects in the social and economic spheres. CESD
    elaborated programmes and proposals on the poverty eradication,
    social and economic reforms, the efficient use of the energy resources
    and etc.

    The centre which is supposed to be one of the leading "think tanks"
    in the country is cooperating with German Marshal Foundation, Eurasia
    Foundation, World Bank, World Trade Organization, International
    Development Economics Association and other international
    organizations. CESD is included in NIRA3 (National Institute for
    Reserach Advancement) list and together with another centre - Centre
    for Economic Studies (since 2006 Institute for Scientific Studies
    and Economic Reforms) - is included in PAROS4 (The Policy Association
    for an Open Society).

    In the first half of 2009 CESD arranged 12 workshops in different
    regions of Azerbaijan and 2 international conferences ("Choice between
    Asia and Europe: the Possibilities of the Central Asia", conference in
    Hong Kong in cooperation with the WTO); it published reports and books.

    The difference of the "Centre for Economic and Social Development"
    from other Azerbaijani analytical centers is the following:

    It publishes strategic reports in order to influence the policy of the
    government It has the largest and the most verified network on local
    (almost all the Azerbaijani analytical centers and universities are
    included) and international levels.

    The centre lays a claim to become a school for the young specialists
    who can play an important role in the development of the political
    system.

    It also works actively with the volunteers. Today 8 volunteers are
    included in the day-to-day works of the centre and that number tends
    to rise.

    Institute of Peace and Democracy - IPD The initiator of the
    establishing of this "think tank" was Leila Yunusova5. The IPD was
    founded in 1995 as the humanitarian project of the Union of Women
    of Azerbaijan "For the Peace and Democracy in South Caucasus". That
    union has been working since 1994 as an Azerbaijani branch of the
    "Dialogue of the Women of Transcaucasia".

    The institute deals with rather wide spectrum of issues. It deals with
    the search of the ways of development of Azerbaijan and the mechanisms
    of maintenance of peace in the region, protection of human rights
    and the issues of the improvement of the market economy as well as
    carries out educational activity.

    IPD has the following departments:

    Human rights protection State and the society Conflict resolution
    studies and migration Women issues Youth issues Institute arranged
    conferences ("Women for the life without war", "Youth and the peaceful
    settlement of the conflicts", "Islam in modern Azerbaijan", "European
    Council and the issues of ethnic minorities"), workshops ("Women
    political figures and social and political life", "Nagorno-Karabakh
    conflict and its influence on the ethnic minorities living in
    Azerbaijan").

    The brief information about the aforementioned and other "think tanks"
    is presented below in the Table 1 .

    Academic institutions of Azerbaijan These institutions mainly deal
    with the research in the fields of political studies, history,
    oriental studies, sociology, philosophy, ethnography, archeology,
    law, religion and economy.

    It should be mentioned that the capacities of the academic institutions
    are inferior to the ones of the non-academic institutions. The
    available public funds are not enough to pay high salaries, arrange
    conferences and academic missions, running web-sites, publishing books
    and carrying out other issues concerning the academic management. From
    this point of view the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences is
    an institution which needs serious reforms6. It is remarkable that
    the development of the academic science in Azerbaijan is boosted by
    the western structures. As a rule Azerbaijani academic institutions
    cooperate with NATO, CORDIS (Community Research and Development
    Information Service), IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency),
    NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), UNESCO (United
    Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), INTAS
    (International Association for the promotion of cooperation with
    scientists from the New Independent States of the former Soviet Union),
    ANSF (Azerbaijan National Science Foundation), ISTC (International
    Science and Technology Center), CRDF (Civilian Research & Development
    Foundation)7.

    Table 2 presents brief information about the Azerbaijani academic
    institutions.

    1Elhan Nuriyev - political scientist, Doctor of political sciences.

    Professor. Graduated from the Faculty of the English and French
    languages of the Azerbaijan Pedagogic Institute (today, Azerbaijan
    University of Languages). Then he studied at the Diplomatic Academy
    of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan and Goethe Institute in
    Germany. He worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan,
    the George Washington (US) University, Peace and Conflicts Institute
    (Germany). In 2001-2004 he was co-chairman of the expert group
    working under "Partnership for Peace" consortium which dealt with
    the settlement of conflicts in the South Caucasus.

    2Vugar Bayramov - Ph.D. in Economics. He graduated from the Azerbaijan
    State Economic University, continued his education in the US. He worked
    at Economic Research Centre, Azerbaijan State Economic University,
    "Azadliq" newspaper.

    3NIRA is a Japanese independent policy research think tank. It was
    founded in Tokyo in 1974. Its objective is to conduct independent
    research to contribute to the resolution of contemporary complex
    issues. They include rather wide scope of issues such as politics,
    economics, international affairs, society, new technologies, and
    administration.

    4The founding meeting of PASOS took place on June 18, 2004 in Moldova.

    This institution promotes and protects such open society values
    as democracy, protection of human rights. It supports the entities
    that individually and jointly foster public participation in public
    policy issues

    5Leila Yunusova - Doctor of Historical Sciences, the founder of the
    first human rights protection non-governmental organization in the
    Soviet Azerbaijan (1988), the leader of the "Independent Democratic
    Party" (1991-1996).

    6It is remarkable that the scientific sphere is announced a priority
    line in the development of the country. In April 2008 by the decree of
    president I. Aliyev state committee on the reforms in the sphere of
    science which firstly implies the alternation of the generation. And
    in 2007 by another decree of president the state programme for the
    Azerbaijani youth to be educated abroad in 2007-2015.

    7Only in 2007 the US Civil Studies and Development Foundation allocated
    $2.5 million to the Azerbaijan National Science Foundation for the
    development of the science in the country and in that framework
    about 57 grant programmes, in which 214 scientists were involved,
    were carried out.
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