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

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

School of Advanced International Studies The School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) is a graduate school of Johns Hopkins University based in Washington, D.C. The school also maintains campuses in Bologna, Italy and Nanjing, China. The school is devoted to the study of int ...

. He has served as vice president of

Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...

and as president of

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...

(1983–1994) and the

Aspen Institute The Aspen Institute is an international nonprofit organization founded in 1949 as the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C., but also has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, its original home. Its stated miss ...

. 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 spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran 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, which advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and ...

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 public 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-governme ...

with offices in Washington, D.C., and

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, 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 School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) is a graduate school of Johns Hopkins University based in Washington, D.C. The school also maintains campuses in Bologna, Italy and Nanjing, China. The school is devoted to the study of int ...

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 non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States. Founded in 1982 and based in Washington, D.C., its foreign and d ...

'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 prosp ...

. 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