2006 Title VIII Award for Distinguished Policy Paper on Eurasia
The 2006 Title VIII Award for Distinguished Policy Paper on Eurasia is awarded for an outstanding policy paper on Eurasian Affairs by a graduate student or recent Master’s or PhD graduate.
Brian Grodsky
The 2006 Title VIII Award for Distinguished Policy Paper on Eurasia was awarded to Brian Grodsky who received his Ph.D. from University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in August 2006, and is currently Assistant Professor of Political Science at University of Maryland, Baltimore County, for the essay “Civil Society and Democratization: Warnings from Uzbekistan.”
The winning policy paper on Eurasian affairs for 2006 addresses the U.S. national interest of supporting civil society in the priority region of Central Asia. In his policy brief, Brian Grodsky offers a multifaceted viewpoint on the evolution and reality of Uzbekistan’s civil society environment. His close and critical look at foreign assistance outcomes points to a case where certain strategies may in reality prove counter-productive to the goals of U.S. assistance in the region. A significant finding in Grodsky’s data shows that opposition parties indeed use NGOs as a front for political activity, which could explain how the non-democratic Uzbekistani government justifies questioning American intentions, and therefore shuts down all foreign-backed NGOs in their country. Grodsky clearly describes exactly where and how the unintentional subsidizing of political groups through civil society programs could derail efforts to support the organizations most interested and able to encourage mass participation and development of civil society in Uzbekistan.
In his policy recommendations, Grodsky challenges the U.S. Government to recognize which NGOs genuinely represent civil society, to better understand Uzbekistan’s needs in the civil society arena and its own goals for civil society in Uzbekistan, and be clear about expectations of local NGOs to accomplish these goals. In sum, the key strength of Grodsky’s paper is that it breaks down the integral aspects of civil society into manageable pieces, including human rights, political parties, rule of law, social policy, and economic sustainability; shows where and how these factors currently intersect; and then provides concrete examples where the U.S. could be more effectively “hastening the very changes that NGOs are expected to produce.”
