Course Description
Kyrgyzstan is an interesting example of a relatively weak state, which for its brief period of independence has already ousted two presidents, experienced two revolutions, survived two interethnic conflicts and yet remained intact. This book explores this apparent paradox and argues that the schism between domestic and international dimensions of state and regime security is key to understanding the nature of Kyrgyz politics. The book shows how the foreign policy links to the Manas Air Base, used by the US military and essential for supplying their forces in Afghanistan, the economic arrangements necessary for sustaining the base, both inside and outside Kyrgyzstan, and the myriad of different actors involved in all this, combined to overshadow points of friction to ensure stable continuance of the status quo. Overall, the book shows how broad geopolitical forces and complex local factors together have a huge impact on the formation of Kyrgyz foreign policy.

Description of the course
 The course introduces concepts of development through the prism of political economy and with particular focus on East Asia (and Korea particularly). There is also a special emphasis on interregional comparison of East Asia and Central Asia both in terms of their developments as well as on connections between the two regions in terms of development. The course uses examples of connection between East Asia and Central Asia in trade, investment and development. 

Course outline
The aim of this course is to introduce students to the international relations of East Asia. The course is divided in two parts. The first provides an overview to the region. An overview of East Asia during the 20th and early 21st centuries is provided: Attention is paid to state formation, regime types, democratization, and political culture. The second part covers developments in the international politics of East Asia since the end of the Cold War. Here the interplay between external and regional powers is analyzed, alongside the foreign policies of the main actors in the region. Special attention is also given to trends in Asian regionalism (politics, security, economy).

COURSE CONTENT
The subject matter of International Relations includes some of the most pressing problems of humanlife – first and foremost the question whether war and conflict really are an inevitable part of thehuman condition, or whether and how stable peace can be found. Other important questions includewhether we are all part of a common humanity or whether cultural differences keep us apart. In fact,IR deals with these big questions and many more besides, from traditional diplomacy to globalization,from international economic relations to the question of humanitarian intervention. In thisintroduction to International Relations (IR) students will acquire an understanding of internationalrelations and how they are reflected in the discipline of IR. The course introduce the main theoreticalapproaches – while this is not a theory course, IR is a very theoretical discipline and a goodunderstanding of what is being discussed in other parts of the course depends on a basic grasp of thesetheoretical schools and the very different views of the world they represent.

COURSE CONTENT
Foreign Policy Analysis investigates the processes involved in foreign policy decisionmaking.It requires an understanding of the contexts, pressures and constraints withwhich foreign policy-makers have to deal and the ability to engage in comparativeanalysis without losing a sense of historical context. The course is largely theoretical.Individual cases will be touched mainly for discussion purposes, but the major themessuch as foreign policy decision-making process, influences on foreign policy, types offoreign policy actors etc. are approached from conceptual aspect.

Course Description
This course is designed to provide an introduction to the study of politics. It focuses on the political systems and governmental institutions which are functional in the contemporary world. Through lectures, discussions, readings and various assignments students are expected to get familiarized with the following concepts: power and its dimensions; the state, its role and functions; constitutions and legal systems; political ideologies and political culture; political parties and other political institutions.

Last week, Assistant Professor Rafael Dagold, Coordinator of Academic Advising Barbara Verchot, and PR Director Dinara Orozbaeva visited the Osh Humanities Pedagogical Institute (OGPI) to hold a pedagogy workshop with OGPI teachers and a creative writing workshop with OGPI students.

Television, Cinema and Visual Arts Department of the American University of Central Asia is pleased to invite you to the lecture “Light as Art” by Hap Tivey.

On November 3, 2016 Johannes Stenbæk Madsen, the head of cooperation at the European Union Delegation to Kyrgyzstan, gave a lecture at the American University of Central Asia (AUCA).

On November 2, 2016 Klaus Bobich, a lawyer from Germany, gave a lecture entitled "Constitutional rights and their implementation/realization in the German legal system" at the American University of Central Asia (AUCA).