Threading a needle: Kazakhstan between civic and ethno‐nationalist state‐building |
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Authors: | Donnacha Ó Beacháin Rob Kevlihan |
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Institution: | Centre for International Studies, School of Law and Government, Dublin City University, , Dublin, Ireland |
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Abstract: | 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. |
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Keywords: | Central Asia civic nationalism ethno‐nationalism Kazakhstan Nazarbayev post‐Soviet |
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