乐鱼 体育

Frustrated Democracy in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan tells how a newly independent oil-rich former Soviet republic adopted at first a Western model of democratic government but turned toward a corrupt authoritarianism.

Audrey L. Altstadt鈥檚 story begins with the 1988鈥�94 Nagorno-Karabagh war, which stimulated Azerbaijani nationalism and laid the foundations for a democratic movement, at first successful but soon displaced in a coup. Western oil companies arrived, money flowed in鈥攊ts amount became 鈥渁lmost unimaginable,鈥� says Altstadt鈥攁nd a government anxious to stay in power began to repress the political opposition, media, and civil society. Political Islamism emerged, despite the country鈥檚 long tradition of secularism, as an alternative to the stifled democratic opposition and a critical voice resisting the West鈥檚 continued support for the oppressive regime.

Altstadt鈥檚 work draws on her own experiences in Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani press, publications by in-country experts and nongovernmental and international organizations, and interviews with diplomats and businesspersons. It follows her earlier works, The Azerbaijani Turks: Power and Identity under Russian Rule and The Politics of Culture in Soviet Azerbaijan, 1920鈥�1940.

Audrey L. Altstadt is a professor of history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She was a fellow at the 乐鱼 体育 in 2014鈥�15.

Introduction

1. Starting Points: History and Geopolitics and What They Tell Us

2. The Open Wound: Mountainous Karabagh and National Consciousness

3. Azerbaijan鈥檚 Best and Brightest: The Rise, Decline, and Renewal of the Democratic Opposition

4. Oil Lifts All Boats? Social and Economic Repercussions and the Rise of Corruption

5. Jail for the 鈥淒onkey Bloggers鈥�: Crushing Youth Activism, Human Rights, and a Free Media

6. Allah-u Akbar: Islam in Azerbaijan鈥擯iety, Politics, and the Future

7. What鈥檚 Next? The Choices Ahead

鈥淒r. Altstadt is the finest American scholar on Azerbaijan. She has the perspective of a historian complemented with current contacts inside and outside Azerbaijan and a strong policy sense.鈥濃�擱ichard Kauzlarich, former US Ambassador to Azerbaijan