Suchergebnisse

Abkhazia's contested status is a source of geopolitical conflict between states and alliances. But how has the campaign to expand this unrecognised state's network of diplomatic contacts been conducted? Using a wealth of contemporary archival material made available by Wikileaks, combined with interviews with key players in the process, this article investigates efforts to secure recognition for Abkhazia in the post-Soviet space, Latin America and amongst the South Pacific microstates. Different regions presented particular challenges and produced variable outcomes, some of which are counter-intuitive. Despite Russia's pre-eminence in the former USSR and its impressive arsenal of inducements and threats, the Kremlin failed to secure a single recognition for Abkhazia, though not from want of asking. Distant Latin America, where internecine Caucasian conflicts mattered little but alliances with Russian and antipathy towards the US were strong, produced the early recognitions and some near misses. As veterans of the China-Taiwan dispute, the microstates of the South Pacific region included many veterans of earlier diplomatic tugs-of-war. With sovereignty for sale, recognitions had a price and could potentially be reversed if these miniature states were presented with a better offer. A final recognition provided by Syria was in large part payback for Russia saving Bashir Al-Assad's regime from oblivion. With some recognitions dependent on personalities or regimes rather than enduring inter-state solidarity and others influenced by pecuniary considerations, all are vulnerable.

This article charts the development of electoral politics in Abkhazia, South Ossetia and the Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic (NKR). It provides an overview of the political systems in these three de facto states, primarily
by examining presidential and parliamentary elections. Particular attention is given to the level of competition
during these election campaigns and to the level of participation of women and ethnic minorities.

This article begins by chronicling and evaluating the reaction of the government of Kazakhstan to Sacha Baron Cohen's fi lm Borat—Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefi t Glorious Nation of Ka zakh stan. It then compares and contrasts the offi cial government reaction with the expressed attitudes of local members of Kazakhstan's young English-speaking elites. This study is based on the results of a survey of almost fi ve hundred young university students conducted in March 2007 at the Kazakhstan Institute of Man age ment, Economics and Strategic Research (KIMEP), the most prestigious university in the country. The sample gives a snapshot of those most likely to have been aware of Borat - the young, internet-savvy, educated urban elite - and inter alia provides insights into how respondents in Kazakhstan thought the movie impacted their country and would infl uence how they were treated abroad. The survey results suggest that while responses to Borat were heterogeneous, most students accepted that the choice of Kazakh stan as a target for satire was coincidental rather than conspiratorial. Despite offi cial eff orts to ban the movie, a majority of the respondents had seen the fi lm and believed that the ban was a mistake. Also, while recognising that Borat would raise Kazakhstan's profi le in the world, respondents doubted it would increase knowledge, and some feared a change in their treatment when travelling abroad.