Cornell Caspian Consulting, LLC provides counsel to private or public contractors on the politics and economy of the Caucasus, Central Asia and Southwest Asia. The Company’s expertise spreads over a wide region and several fields. The region includes the Caucasian states of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia and the North Caucasus, part of the Russian Federation; the Central Asian States of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan as well as Afghanistan and the Volga-Ural region of the Russian Federation; Turkey, Pakistan and Iran. The fields of expertise of CCC staff include:

Strategy and Security. CCC possesses extensive expertise in the security issues and regional politics of the Caucasus, Central Asia, Southwest Asia and Turkey. This includes domestic political conditions in the regional countries; regime stability; foreign policy and relations between regional states; foreign policies of external actors toward the region; and military and defense matters. We produce analyses of traditional military threats to security; strategic forecasting; political risk analysis; as well as analyses of the so-called “new”, or transnational and non-state threats to security.

Business Consulting. CCC is well placed to help investors seeking to operate in the region. We assist corporations in navigating the societies, norms and regulations that often pose a difficulty for western investors, using our well-developed network of contacts in the private and public sectors in these countries.

Energy Development and Economic Security. CCC has considerable expertise in the political and economic aspects of energy development in the wider Caspian Basin. We produce analyses of the domestic ramifications of energy development; the role of oil and gas in regional politics; pipeline security; the social consequences and local-level politics linked to energy development and pipeline construction; the domestic energy security of the regional states; non-oil natural resource issues, including water.

Defense and Military. CCC has considerable expertise in defense and military matters in the region, monitoring defense-related domestic and regional developments closely. This includes the process of military reform and the building of efficient military forces in the region; civil-military relations; strategic analysis of possible military conflict; defense cooperation and external military presence in regional countries.

Legal Reform. CCC has expertise in the process of legal reform in the region, especially those in Central Asia and the Caucasus, including the constitutional processes in these newly independent states, and legal matters and constitutional reform in Turkey.

Transnational Crime. An issue of growing importance but widely neglected, CCC has extensive expertise in the issues of transnational crime, including narcotics trafficking, human trafficking, arms smuggling, smuggling of WMD-related materials, and terrorism in the region.

Development and Civil Society. CCC has extensive expertise in issues of economic and social development, and the building of civil society, in the region, particularly in but not limited to the South Caucasus.

Depending on the wishes and needs of its clients, CCC expertise is presented in a number of forms. These stretch from short-term assignments led by a small team of experts or a single staff member, such as confidential consultations and briefings or seminars on specific issues; to longer-term assignments including topic-specific field research and full research reports, support in clients’ dealings with regional firms, organizations, or governments; or continuous advice during the duration of a contractor’s project in the region—either in the region or in the contractor’s home base. CCC also organizes tailor-made intensive courses on the region.

CCC also encourages its staff to keep a close relationship with institutions engaging in policy-relevant academic research. Hence most CCC staff keep a part-time position in universities, think tanks or research institutes, enabling them to take advantage of a fruitful and serious research environment and the interaction with academic colleagues. This enables staff to keep their expertise in matters related to CCC’s work constantly updated, and ensures that their analysis is rigorous and up to date. As such CCC also encourages its staff to contribute to the debate through publication of research, including the publication of policy pieces and op-eds, academic articles, and books. This, however, never takes a first seat to our relationship with our clients, and never compromises the level of confidentiality we guarantee our clients.