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Kazakhstan has followed a foreign policy of multivector diplomacy since its independence from the former Soviet Union. While multivectorism was a strategy of necessity in its early years, it has evolved to empower Kazakhstan to effectively protect its independence and negotiate its relationship with the great powers on its borders and further afield. After the 2014 Russian seizure of Crimea it is noteworthy that Kazakhstan has maintained positive relations with Russia while asserting its sovereignty and independent foreign policy. In this article we investigate how Kazakhstan has negotiated the rise of China, taking advantage of the economic opportunities it presents. We trace the foreign policy of Kazakhstan from independence forward, examining its relationships with its Great Power neighbours and its role in international organizations and negotiations. We posit that multivectorism is similar to the strategy of omni-enmeshment and complex balancing seen in south-east Asia. Both are effective methods for secondary powers to protect their sovereignty and to coexist with Great Powers without becoming their client states. Kazakhstan's approach to foreign policy is an exemplar for secondary states. This article contributes to the literature on the strategic decision-making of secondary powers and to the theoretical analysis of the foreign policy of Kazakhstan during a critical moment of transition from the long-time rule of Nursultan Nazarbayev to the presidency of Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses challenges facing Kazakhstan's transitioning society after its independence from the collapsed Soviet Union. Topics discussed include the emergence of big metropolitan areas as a result of large population movements, the country's post-Soviet urbanization which decoupled from industrialization, and the rise of Islamization. Also discussed are the continuing influence of former president Nursultan Nazarbayev and the resistance to globalization and foreign investment.

Building on recent scholarship, this essay contributes to further developing a conceptual understanding of multivector foreign policy, a term that, despite its frequent use, is still in need of additional refinement. I use the two-pronged concept of diversification as hinging, first, on simultaneous co-alignment with multiple major power providers and, second, as resulting from the interaction of variables at both system and unit levels. The essay then models a causal mechanism to explain Kazakhstan's approach to international infrastructure connectivity, an oft neglected issue-area of interstate collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the concept of political postcolonialism and how political groups appropriate and contest this discourse. Elites and contesting political groups utilise postcolonial rhetoric to legitimate their political goals by projecting that their country, in this case Kazakhstan, was colonised by the Tsarist Russia and then by the Soviet Union. For President Nursultan A. Nazarbayev's nationalising regime the status of Kazakhstan as a colony represented a vital item in post-1991 nation-building projects. Political opposition and Kazakh national- patriots contested this official discourse, blaming the regime for scarce efforts towards 'full decolonisation'. The absence of major intellectual discussion allowed these elites and political players to reappropriate these discourses in the political rather than critical intellectual domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Beginning in 1992, the newly independent government of Kazakhstan has facilitated the in-migration of 944,000 Kazakhs from neighboring countries, with the majority migrating as family units. Using the post-Soviet repatriation of Kazakhs as an example, we illustrate in this article how socially constituted notions about gender and kinship help reinforce institutional and informal power structures that favor men at three different points in the migration process: in making the decision to migrate, in dealing with the bureaucratic aspects of migration, and in facing the consequences of migration. First, patriarchal power dynamics often mean that women have less influence than men on the decision to migrate. Second, the legal framework for repatriation is based on an implicit assumption that Kazakh households correspond to a patriarchal model, and this has financial consequences for women. Third, transnational migration widens the physical separations from natal kin that women already experience due to Kazakh kinship practices that emphasize patrilineal descent, clan-based exogamy, and patrilocal marriage. [ gender, migration, kinship, transnational, Central Asia] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates Kazakhstan's natural resource policies and their impact on the standard of living of the Kazakhstan population within the framework of three determinative factors: globalization and international markets; Soviet legacy and ‘resource nationalism’; and Nursultan Nazarbayev and his authoritarian leadership. It argues that natural resource policies of Kazakhstan failed to improve the living standards of the majority of people in Kazakhstan, especially the poor and those living in oil-producing and rural areas, despite increasing oil prices and revenues. The argument will be supported with an analysis of Kazakhstan's oil wealth distribution in light of global initiatives as well as with evidence derived from official reports and statistical data to find out whether Nazarbayev's widely discussed ‘resource nationalism’ is ‘nationalistic’ enough to favour the whole nation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article discusses the process of adjustment for repatriates into their country of origin and considers their ethno-lingual identification. This article also presents the results of a sociolinguistic survey among Kazakh repatriates, in particular the questions connected with the influence of language on the process of ethno-lingual identification and the role of language competence in readapting to the country of origin. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The pragmatic interests of Kazakhstan and the European Union have profoundly influenced the relationship between them, preventing the establishment of successful cooperation in the human dimension. This article investigates these dynamics in detail, placing its spotlight on the role assigned to the relationship with the European Union in the most recent technologies of power devised by the Kazakhstani regime. Particular attention here will be devoted to the tension between the regime's search for international legitimacy and its efforts to insulate itself from EU pressures for political liberalisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In December 1997, the Republic of Kazakhstan officially proclaimed that the city of Astana would be its new capital. The decision to transfer the seat of government from the city of Almaty in the south to the more centrally located Astana was connected to the process of nation building in a multi-ethnic society where the titular nation represents little more than half of the population. Efforts to transform the rather remote regional center, Akmola (later renamed Astana) into a modern capital city have been underway since the late 1990s. One important component of this transformation is the idea of building a “metabolic” and sustainable “Eurasian” city. As the symbolic center of the whole country, this new capital would function as a showpiece of Kazakh culture and identity. The city would also become a symbol of economic prosperity and the regime's geopolitical vision. While the government's intensions are expressed rather openly, it remains unclear to what extent these politically verbalized leitmotivs are actually being realized through contemporary architecture and structure. This article offers a critical assessment of what has been achieved to date and argues that the production of the new Kazakhstani capital has often failed to translate rhetoric into reality. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the state-building project in Kazakhstan since independence in 1991. It argues that both civic and ethno-nationalistic tendencies in state-building can be identified but that it is not any particular trajectory of nationalism in Kazakhstan that is of significance so much as the tensions between two very different trajectories. We argue that, at least to date, the government has succeeded in managing these tensions quite effectively both at the policy level and in its relations with different ethnic groups and neighbouring states. Whether Kazakhstan can continue to manage these tensions in the post-Nazarbayev era is one of the most significant questions facing the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kazakhstan's regime functions through a neopatrimonial/patronal system, which is made up of several concentric circles. This article focuses on the first three circles: the family, the oligarchs, and the technocrats. It argues that patronal practices linking political elites and business interests are key to interpreting the functioning of the Kazakh political system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores democracy development efforts in the former Soviet Union as a cultural encounter between the producers and consumers of development assistance. Drawing on literature in both anthropology and development studies, Sean R. Roberts suggests that the divergent worldviews of these different actors in the development process problematizes their interaction, often leading to unintended results. Highlighting a case study of U.S. assistance to Kazakhstan's 2004 parliamentary elections, Roberts also suggests that, although democracy assistance does foster change, this change is both gradual and unpredictable. More generally, Roberts argues that the challenges of democracy development are less related to technical issues than to cultural factors. Furthermore, democracy development efforts in the long term are likely to produce a contested arena in which to negotiate the meaning of "democracy" or acceptable "good governance" in the context of globalization and today's increasingly multipolar geopolitics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A new political development that emerged after the disintegration of the Soviet Union was the adoption of ‘homeland stances’ by the newly independent states. Through the construction of the homeland image, the states of the region claimed responsibility not only for their own citizens, but also for a diaspora community of co-ethnics. Kazakhstan became one of these states and its leadership portrayed Kazakhstan as the homeland of the Kazakh diaspora. Furthermore, Kazakhstan's leadership developed far more active homeland rhetoric and initiated an ethnic return-migration policy as early as 1992. This paper will explore the discourse of Kazakhstan's leadership on the repatriation of its co-ethnics as well as the legal and political context that it created to achieve their smooth absorption into domestic society. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article examines the way the cultural revival in post-Soviet Kazakhstan is perceived by both the state and militants from non-titular nationalities. Based on ethnographic material, the author analyses state engineering of cultural diversity and the strategies elaborated by militants of Tatar cultural associations to manage the status quo, as well as the preservation of ‘cultural intimacy’. The study points to convergences between the state discourse about inter-ethnic concord and the practices of cultural national militants. It also shows that behind this apparent status quo, the cultural sphere has become the arena where the issue of the recognition of full-fledged citizenship and the legitimacy to reside in Kazakhstan is raised and disputed by non-Kazakh groups, albeit implicitly. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article offers information on the political instability in Kazakhstan. It states that the major factor for the political stability of Kazakhstan is the personal authority of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev. It says that Kazakhstan never had a leader who can capitalize on the discontent of Kazakhs and transforms discontent into political actions and expectations.

This article analyses and reviews the progress made by Kazakhstan, a post-communist country in Central Asia, towards its journey to become a knowledge-based society. An attempt has been made to examine how and to what extent good governance plays a critical role in building a knowledge-based society. Available evidence suggests that Kazakhstan made considerable advancement, in the midst of profound transitional challenges, to move to transform itself into a knowledge society. The article argues that, while improving governmental quality, good governance will have a solid impact on transforming Kazakhstan to a knowledge-based society in order to achieve the ‘Kazakhstan 2030’ policy strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article offers a Russian perspective on cross-border cooperation with Kazakhstan as of January 2011. The Russia-Kazakhstan Interregional Cooperation Forum, held in Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan on September 6 and 7, 2010, is described. It is noted that Russia and Kazakhstan share a border that is over four thousand miles long. The effects of the global financial crisis which began in 2008, and weather anomalies of 2010, on the economies of Russia and Kazakhstan are noted, and the promotion of sustainable development initiatives is described.

The article examines the development of the political Internet in Kazakhstan. The results of a Political, Economic, Social, and Technological (PEST) market analysis are presented to identify the factors affecting the potential of the Internet in Kazakhstan's public life. Its role in public politics is defined in terms of the news websites and political websites. The five stages of its life span are provided in order to identify the country's political expanse. The political influence of its Internet is discussed in the articulation of public interests.

The article examines public opinion polls conducted in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in 1993 and 2007, focusing on the implications of those polls for U.S. foreign relations. Changes in results of the two polls are discussed, including the relatively low support for a democratic system of government in both polls compared to a desire for an orderly society. It is noted that Kazakhstan saw a large increase in the number of respondents stating that economic conditions in their country were good from 1993-2007 while Uzbekistan did not. An increase in those expressing belief in Islam in both countries is considered. Implications for U.S. economic assistance to the two countries, much of which has gone to support democratic and economic reforms, are discussed.

Departing from some prominent scholarship on Kazakhstani politics, the author argues that competition between financial-industrial groups over scarce economic and political resources—rather than inter-clan or centre-periphery rivalries—largely determines who gets what, when and how. While clan politics and regional grievances may still influence struggles over the distribution of power and wealth, their importance has diminished in recent years. Instead, observable political conflict has centred around competing financial-industrial groups, which represent the diverse, and at times clashing, interests of Kazakhstan's business and political elites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the genesis and influence of informal politics on non-democratic outcomes in Central Asia. As opposed to current scholarship which explains the emergence of informal politics as a result of kinship-based cultural legacies, this work uses the broader analytical framework of neopatrimonialism to understand informal political phenomena while emphasizing the role of uncertainty and contingent actor choice in explaining its appearance. The article also assesses how informal political behaviour (patronage and patron-client relations) was used to consolidate authoritarianism. Using Kazakhstan's (1990-95) early transition period as a case study this article notes how three processes central to transition (institutional conflict, emerging pluralism, and electoral competition) elicited a degree of uncertainty which destabilized prior institutional equilibrium. The president of Kazakhstan applied informal forms of politics to manage this uncertainty to re-assert his power and consolidate his personal authoritarian rule at the expense of emerging democratic institutions. The article illustrates how the uncertain and contingent process of transition is instrumental to the emergence of informal politics and the durability of authoritarianism in Kazakhstan, and that informal political relations and behaviour are important to understanding non-democratic and democratic paths in former Soviet states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the outlook for democracy and social modernization in Kazakhstan. Kazakh identity that is distinct from the former collective Soviet identity, ethnic relations between Kazakh tribes, and the development of a national identity are discussed. Opposition from traditionalists against the concepts of modernization, democratic liberalism, and a market economy is mentioned. The distinction between traditionalism and tradition is noted. Urbanization and paternalism in Kazakhstan during the Soviet era of colonization and agricultural de-collectivization in the country after the Soviet Union's collapse are discussed.

The article explores foreign policy and relations of Kazakhstan and its geo-strategic role in Central Asia. The author reflects on petroleum reserves and the location of the country as factors in Kazakhstan's geopolitical importance. A policy of multi-vector politics is related to the security relationships of the Kazakhstani government. The multi-ethnic character of Kazakhstani society and tensions with the Russian Federation are also noted. Other topics include oil pipeline routes, foreign investment in Kazakhstan, and authoritarian regimes.

The essay discusses public relations campaigns undertaken by the Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan that aim to establish these countries' national identities among the international community. The political aspects of nation branding in these countries are discussed. Various slogans developed by these campaigns are analyzed.