The Central Asia-Caucasus Institute or CACI was founded in 1996 by S. Frederick Starr, a research professor at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

School of Advanced International Studies The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) is a graduate school of Johns Hopkins University based in Washington, D.C., United States, with campuses in Bologna, Italy, and Nanjing, China. It is consistently ranked one of th ...

. He has served as vice president of

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

and as president of

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest coeducational liberal arts college in the United States and the second oldest continuously operating coeducational institute of highe ...

(1983–1994) and the

Aspen Institute The Aspen Institute is an international nonprofit organization founded in 1949 as the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies. The institute's stated aim is the realization of "a free, just, and equitable society" through seminars, policy programs ...

. He has advised three U.S. presidents on Russian/Eurasian affairs and chaired an external advisory panel on U.S. government-sponsored research on the region, organized and co-authored the first strategic assessment of Central Asia, the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historica ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

for the

Joint Chiefs of Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, that advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and the ...

in 1999, and was involved in the drafting of recent U.S. legislation affecting the region. The Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and the Silk Road Studies Program, which is housed within the Institute for Security and Development Policy (ISDP), form a joint

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-govern ...

with offices in Washington, D.C. and

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

, Sweden. Dr. S. Frederick Starr serves as the chairman, while Dr. Svante E. Cornell serves as director of the institute. The institute's fellows include Dr. Stephen Blank and Dr. Brenda Shaffer. CACI was affiliated with the

Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) is a graduate school of Johns Hopkins University based in Washington, D.C., United States, with campuses in Bologna, Italy, and Nanjing, China. It is consistently ranked one of th ...

for 19 years, until February 2017. The institute is currently based at the

American Foreign Policy Council The American Foreign Policy Council (AFPC) is a 501(c)3 non-profit located in Washington, DC, which is largely chaired by conservatives and officials that served in conservative Presidential administrations. Its foreign and defense policy speciali ...

's (AFPC) offices on Capitol Hill. Its in-house publications include the
CACI Analyst
', th
Turkey Analyst
the ''China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly'', and th

The series includes papers and monographs on topics such a
the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflictcivic nationhood in Azerbaijan
and th

CACI also mounts a program of forums in Washington D.C. jointly with the

Atlantic Council The Atlantic Council is an American think tank in the field of international affairs, favoring Atlanticism, founded in 1961. It manages sixteen regional centers and functional programs related to international security and global economic pro ...

. CACI sponsors a Rumsfeld Fellowship program jointly with th
Rumsfeld Foundation
The goal of the program is to foster better understanding and build stronger relations between the United States and countries of the region. Since its inaugural session in the fall of 2008 the program has brought close to two hundred young leaders to the United States to conduct independent research and to meet policymakers, business leaders, journalists and academics. In addition, a yearl
CAMCA (Central Asia-Mongolia-Caucasus-Afghanistan) Regional Forum
has evolved out of the Rumsfeld Fellowship Program. The 2016 Forum took place in Tbilisi, Georgia and included President

Giorgi Margvelashvili Giorgi Margvelashvili ( ka, გიორგი მარგველაშვილი; born 4 September 1969) is a Georgian academic and politician who was the fourth President of Georgia, in office from 17 November 2013 to 16 December 2018. ...

, Prime Minister

Giorgi Kvirikashvili Giorgi Kvirikashvili ( ka, გიორგი კვირიკაშვილი; born 20 July 1967) is a Georgian politician who was Prime Minister of Georgia from 30 December 2015 to 13 June 2018. Prior to that he was Minister of Economy and ...

, Donald H. Rumsfeld, and Ambassador R. James Woolsey among its speakers. The 2017 CAMCA Regional Forum is due to be held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

References

{{reflist Think tanks based in the United States