The project begins. You can follow along with the action if I have Internet access and am not too much of a slacker. Feel free to register and comment.

Sorry about all of the hyperlinks. They are for all of the link junkies who love to track things to the source and all of the bookmarking packrats who collect interesting tidbits from the Internet.

If you want to keep up with the news, here are a few places to start.

I will be studying American democracy promotion programs in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Dushanbe, Tajikistan and Ulan Bator, Mongolia. Democracy is a relatively new concept in Central Asian republics, which in 1991 suddenly became independent of Soviet authority. Nevertheless, Mongolia has been able to develop a relatively open system, while Kyrgyzstan, initially the great democratic hope of Central Asia, slid into authoritarianism and Tajikistan fell into a civil war.

Yes, I am going to Central Asia. Why? Because it’s an interesting area that I think will offer interesting insight into the on-the-ground effect of American democratization efforts.

As Ukraine demonstrated, democracy - clean elections, transparency, civil liberties - matters.

If you want to get a better sense of the region, here are a few country-specific links:
Tajikistan, Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan.