The Institute of Politics at Khazar University is an independent, non-partisan institution committed to public policy research, analysis and education.
The Institute (formerly the Center for International and Strategic Studies) has a primary objective of contributing to improving the performance of public institutions in Azerbaijan and the quality of public policy through cultivating regular interaction between policymakers and scholars to analyze current issues, and offering practical approaches for dealing with those issues.

The Institute holds regular conferences, seminars, workshops and panel discussions with various public officials, diplomats and scholars as well as various student-oriented workshops, such as annual crisis simulation exercises and annual moot courts. It has offered a wide range of programs and resources including speakers, visiting and resident fellows, study groups, conferences, and internships.

Major recent activities

The two-day Modeling Azerbaijan's Future: Examining Trends, Exploring Opportunities conference took place on June 18-19, 2005 and was a convention of around 60 scholars, practitioners and students of public policy, government executives and civil society leaders, devoted to expert discussion of trends and opportunities pertaining to major public issues in Azerbaijan. The core outcomes of the conference were concrete policy recommendations to various institutions and agencies in Azerbaijan, involved in public policy making. The program consisted of several panels and roundtables on political development, economic development, foreign policy and public diplomacy, identity and nationalism. During specialized workshops concrete policy recommendations were developed by specialists and shared with the larger audience.

Second Annual Crisis Simulation Exercise was held on April 30, 2005 and around 70 students from four universities in Baku took part in the exercise. Seven teams of students from Khazar University, Baku State University, Azerbaijan State Economic University, and Baku Slavic University were "representing" mock National Security Councils (NSC) of seven countries--Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Russia, Turkey and the United States--in a role-play game in order to solve an imaginative crisis in the South Caucasus. Each "NSC" consisted of a President, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of National Security, Minister of Defense, and Adviser to the President on Economic Affairs. Several other states as well as major international organizations were "represented" by one person. "Mass media" were highlighting the developments during the exercise. The working language at the exercise was English.

From November 22-26, 2004, Khazar University Institute of Politics held its First Annual Executive Education Workshop Doing Policy Analysis: How to Tackle Policy Problems in Azerbaijan. This unique workshop was conducted under the auspices of the Eurasia Foundation/ Azerbaijan and the Embassy of the United States of America in Azerbaijan to equip government and public sector executives and analysts as well as faculty and students of public policy with essential tools to handle problem identification, policy formulation and decision-making issues confidently and effectively. 25 government executives and policy analysts, NGO managers, junior faculty and advanced students from Azerbaijan and Georgia participated in this workshop led by Dr. Beryl Radin, Professor of Government and Public Administration at the American University in Washington, DC. Participants applied various methods in policy analysis through analyzing case studies and developing their own policy analysis project.