Central Asia Program
The CCDPS is now organizing a workshop that will investigate the theme of constitutional reform in Central Asia to take place in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in 2008.
This workshop will be the beginning of a "permanent forum" or institute designed to inspire ongoing regional and international conversation about constitutionalism in Central Asia. The CCDPS has been involved in Central Asia for some time, but the initiation of this discussion represents a permanent commitment to the region.
Participants will be genuine democratic reformers, or in other words, those with the ability to understand the importance of constitutional reform to the future of Central Asia, and who have some power and/or contacts to begin promoting the ideas that come out of the working group.
David Williams, Susan Williams, and Gulnara Iskakova will lead the program, guiding representatives from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan. Also included will be Edward Delaney, CCDPS advisory board member; and, Blake Puckett, an IU PhD student, graduate of Yale Law School, and scholar of constitutionalism in Central Asia.
In these diverse countries, the current constitutions grant great power to the executive branch, usually at the expense of the country's citizens and the other branches of government. Democratic reformers in Central Asia do not have the legal and constitutional tools they need to check this excessive presidential power, relying instead solely on political activities.
The workshop format will be an intensive one- to two-week working group, including reading groups to analyze scholarly materials on constitutionalism and democratic reform and vibrant discussion sessions.
This workshop clearly builds on the CCDPS's prior work in the region, where the Center has contacts and has completed preliminary projects in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. Most recently, CCDPS co-sponsored an IU conference entitled, "Paths to Democracy: An International Conversation About Constitutional Stories," which included both Iskakova and Dzhuraev. Indiana University also has an institutional relationship with American University of Central Asia, located in Kyrgyzstan, to support faculty and library development, training, and research, as well as strong area studies programs and centers focusing on Central Asia.