Introduction

Developments in Kazakstan in the post-Soviet age have tended to follow a pattern similar to that in most countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Economically, the collapse of the communist regime precipitated a drastic plunge in living standards. High unemployment and inflation have been the major features thus far in Kazakstan’s nascent market economy. Six years after gaining independence, Kazakstan is still struggling to recover from a severe slump in productivity. At the same time, the country’s political evolution from authoritarianism into a pluralistic system has proceeded at a much slower pace than originally expected. As in the other nations of Central Asia, political power in Kazakstan remains highly concentrated in the hands of the leader, President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Political opposition is tightly controlled and subject to frequent harassment by incumbent authorities.

Society, meanwhile, has been buffeted by strong nationalist currents. During the Soviet era, the languages and cultural traditions of all non-Russian peoples were resolutely suppressed. But Communist authorities never fully succeeded in creating a “Soviet culture” that could weave a common thread through the disparate traditions found across the empire. All the while, the aspirations of non-Russians to reconnect with their distinct heritages remained latent, and strong. Just how strong did not become apparent until former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev’s policies of perestroika, or restructuring, created the opening for non-Russians to launch cultural revival efforts. Those efforts played a fundamental role in sparking the Soviet Union’s spectacular implosion.

For all its similarities to other former Soviet republics since the 1991 collapse of communism, Kazakstan has one feature that sets it apart—demographics. Kazakstan is the most ethnically diverse of the former Soviet republics. In Soviet times, it was the only republic in which the titular nation, i.e., ethnic Kazaks, comprised a plurality, but not an outright majority. This factor has had crucial implications for state-building efforts.

Thus far, Kazakstan has been fortunate to have largely avoided nationalist-inspired violence. But because of its demographics, as well as geopolitical considerations, the country remains in a tenuous position. Difficulties in reconciling the aspirations and expectations of Kazaks and non-Kazaks have spurred large-scale outward migration, especially by ethnic Russians and ethnic Germans. Population movements on the scale of those experienced by Kazakstan are indicative of economic malaise and an insufficiently developed policy of inclusiveness.

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