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Gavin Helf, Ph.D.

Senior Expert, Central Asia

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Please submit all media inquiries to interviews@usip.org or call 202.429.3869.

For all other inquiries, please call 202.457.1700

Dr. Gavin Helf is a senior expert on Central Asia for the U.S. Institute of Peace where he works on Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Before joining USIP, Dr. Helf worked as a senior democracy and governance advisor in the USAID Asia and Middle East bureaus, covering democracy promotion and countering violent extremism portfolios. From 2007-2009 he worked at USAID Iraq, managing and helping design much of the democracy and governance, community peace-building, and civilian assistance portfolios there during “the surge.”

Dr. Helf studied, lived, and worked in the USSR and its successor states from 1984-2007, mostly in Central Asia and the Caucuses, with nongovernmental organizations and USAID. From 2005-2007 he was a democracy and governance advisor at USAID Armenia. From 2003-2005 he worked as a consultant on Central Asia. From 2000-2002 he was director of grant programs for the Eurasia Foundation. From 1997-2000 he was Central Asia regional director for the International Research & Exchanges Board based in Almaty.

Dr. Helf graduated with a bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate in political science from University of California at Berkeley. He has taught Russian and Soviet foreign policy, comparative politics, and security studies at Notre Dame, Cornell, The George Washington University and Moscow's International University. He was also a guest lecturer at the National War College, The U.S. Military Academy and The Foreign Service Institute, among others.

Publications By Gavin

China Looks to Fill a Void in Central Asia

China Looks to Fill a Void in Central Asia

Thursday, May 25, 2023

By: Carla Freeman, Ph.D.;  Gavin Helf, Ph.D.;  Alison McFarland

As the Group of Seven met at the end of last week in Hiroshima, Japan, China organized a summit with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, marking a new chapter in Beijing’s engagement with the region. Central Asian states are looking for a new partner to help ensure their own security against domestic rebellions, as Russia’s war in Ukraine has limited Moscow’s ability to fulfill a longstanding role as a guarantor of domestic stability in the region. While most of the summit’s public discussion focused on economic and trade issues, China noted that it would help Central Asia enhance it’s law enforcement and security capabilities, which aligns with Beijing’s intensifying campaign for “global security.”

Type: Analysis and Commentary

Global Policy

Blinken Debuts New U.S. Approach in Central Asia

Blinken Debuts New U.S. Approach in Central Asia

Thursday, March 2, 2023

By: Gavin Helf, Ph.D.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan this week, where he signaled that Washington is changing tact in the region. For nearly two decades, U.S. engagement in the region focused on how it could help Washington in Afghanistan. Following the Afghanistan withdrawal, U.S. policy in Central Asia should be more modest, focused on helping these countries achieve balance in their relations with each other and the outside world, particularly in an era of great power competition. After all, these countries are neighbors of Russia and China and can’t afford to choose sides.

Type: Analysis and Commentary

Global Policy

With Friends Like These: How Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Hurts Central Asia

With Friends Like These: How Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Hurts Central Asia

Monday, February 28, 2022

By: Gavin Helf, Ph.D.

While accepting Russia’s big footprint in their security and economic lives, Central Asian countries have tried to conduct “multi-vector” foreign policies. These countries know that having good (or at least balanced) relations with Russia, China and the United States is important in the long term — and that Central Asian leaders who’ve tried to play the big powers against each other often wind up the loser. 

Type: Analysis and Commentary

Conflict Analysis & Prevention

What to Make of Kazakhstan’s Seemingly Sudden Unrest

What to Make of Kazakhstan’s Seemingly Sudden Unrest

Friday, January 7, 2022

By: Gavin Helf, Ph.D.;  Donald N. Jensen, Ph.D.

What started last week as a protest against fuel price increases has quickly turned into a nationwide movement that is taking aim at Kazakhstan’s elite political and economic leaders — in particularly, the semi-retired former President Nursultan Nazarbayev, whose continued role in political affairs has become a focal point of popular discontent. The demonstrations have become increasingly violent in recent days, as protesters clash with Kazakh police and Russian military personnel have been brought in at the request of Kazakhstan’s president. USIP’s Gavin Helf and Donald Jensen discuss where these explosive protests came from, Moscow’s increasing role in the crisis and where Kazakhstan goes from here.

Type: Analysis and Commentary

Democracy & Governance

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