While Laos largely avoided the health impacts of COVID-19, the pandemic’s economic consequences exposed existing vulnerabilities, and left the country at the precipice of fiscal and debt crises. At the 11th national congress of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP), held in January 2021, the LPRP reinforced key elements of the regime’s high-stakes economic strategy but also hinted that the pandemic had encouraged a shift in economic emphasis. Even before the pandemic hit, Laos’s economic transformation had started to slow in 2019.
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Showing items 1 through 9 of 18.-
Library ResourceReports & ResearchNovember, 2022Laos
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Library ResourceReports & ResearchMay, 2022Azerbaijan
During the reporting period, the consolidation of authoritarian rule in Azerbaijan continued. Snap parliamentary elections in February 2020 did not meet international standards for free and fair competition. However, some notorious high-ranking state officials were fired, and corrupt local level administrators detained on corruption charges. These developments, in addition to the appointment of some young professionals to ministerial posts, raised hopes for a possible opening of the country to real reforms and changes.
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Library ResourceReports & ResearchMay, 2022Armenia
The crucial event in the reporting period was undoubtedly Armenia’s war with Azerbaijan. On September 27, 2020 Azerbaijan started its war on Nagorno-Karabakh, a long-disputed region called Artsakh in Armenia, which lasted for 44 days. It ended on November 10, 2020, when Russia facilitated a cease-fire, apparently just after the Azerbaijani forces had captured most of the territories occupied by Armenia in the previous war in the early 1990s, plus a major chunk of Nagorno-Karabakh proper.
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Library ResourceReports & ResearchFebruary, 2022Georgia
The governing Georgian Dream party (GD) continues to control all branches of the state. Although the UNM-led opposition put pressure on the GD government, it won a third term in allegedly fraudulent parliamentary elections on October 31, 2020. The opposition refused to take up their seats in the new parliament, which led to a political deadlock. The crisis peaked when Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia resigned in February 2021 over his personal refusal to arrest UNM opposition leader Nikanor Melia.
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Library ResourceReports & ResearchJanuary, 2022Kazakhstan
In 2019, the long-awaited transition of presidential power from Nursultan Nazarbayev to his anointed successor Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev took place. However, Nazarbayev continues to wield power. Among his many positions is the chair-for-life of the National Security Council, a constitutional body that has effective veto power over key policy decisions.
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Library ResourceReports & ResearchMay, 2020Bhutan
Bhutan’s democracy consolidated further following the third elections to National Council and National Assembly in 2018. In the primary round of National Assembly elections, voters favored a newly established third party, Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa (DNT), followed by the opposition in the last parliament, Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT). The incumbent People’s Democratic Party (PDP) failed to advance to the general round.
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Library ResourceReports & ResearchMay, 2020Nepal
The last two years have been a period of rebound and cautious optimism in Nepal. After having been hit by two large earthquakes in 2015 that killed over 9,000 people and rendered many more homeless, and having suffered through a long, tortuous constituent assembly process that finally resulted in a new constitution, the country has seen progress on political and economic fronts in the recent past. Governance, however, remains an issue.
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Library ResourceReports & ResearchMay, 2020Uzbekistan
ABSTRACTED FROM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The 2017 to 2018 period in Uzbekistan gave rise to a feeling of relief among the population. With the death of the first president of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, in September 2016 and the election of Shavkat Mirziyoyev as new president in December 2016, the so-called post-Soviet transition period had come to an end. The new president managed to create a new image as the leader of the country and as a reformer.
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Library ResourceReports & ResearchMay, 2020Afghanistan
ABSTRACTED FROM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: In 2014, Afghanistan faced two major interconnected transformations. First was the withdrawal of most international troops. On January 1, 2015, the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces officially took over full defense and security related responsibilities in Afghanistan. Second was the first transition of power through elections in the history of the country. In light of the withdrawal of international troops, the new Afghan government was supposed to focus on developing effective policies related to military, economic and security aspects.
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Library ResourceReports & ResearchMay, 2020Tajikistan
ABSTRACTED FROM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: In the period from 2017 to 2019, Tajikistan’s authoritarian retrenchment continued. Political institutions were monopolized by the elite after the destruction of the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) in 2015, at the time the only viable political opposition party. The IRPT’s chairman went into exile, its remaining leaders were rounded up, and lawyers who acted on their behalf were also imprisoned for lengthy prison terms.
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