07.12.2009ACTIVITY OF SOME OF THE AZERBAIJANI RESEARCH CENTRES
Diana Galstyan, Araks Pashaian
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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