Registan’s Kazakhstan News & Analysis Archive

Kazakhstan is the most vibrant economy of Central Asia and increasingly important in international politics. It is perhaps because of Kazakhstan’s success in transitioning toward becoming a country with a vibrant economy and generally responsive — though not democratic — government that it has received comparatively less attention at Registan. However, as public expectations begin to outpace the capability of the government to keep society satisfied and violent extremist groups being to operate in the country, Kazakhstan demands attention to determine whether or not its path continues to diverge from the rest of Central Asia or begins finally to converge.

Several of our authors have experience living, researching, and working in Kazakhstan and others have worked on a variety of research and analysis projects on Kazakhstan. Our most current coverage of Central Asia news can be found on our front page. Inquiries about our Kazakhstan news and analysis, hiring Registan authors to consult on Kazakhstan, or any other topic, can be submitted via the contact form on our about page.

Eye-Popping

by Joshua Foust
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Andrew Kramer has a report on Uncle Nazzy’s latest attempt to soothe Zhanaozen with sweet, sweet cash: Prime Minister Karim Q. Massimov said in a telephone interview last week that the government would give oil workers raises of up to several hundred dollars a month and would invest about $300 million in the town. “I [...]

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Kazakhstan’s Elections: Aspirations for Democracy amidst Expectations of Paternalism

by Alima Bissenova

The background to the January 15 Kazakhstan’s parliamentary elections has been most unfavorable. The image of stability that Kazakhstan’s government had carefully cultivated over the years has been tarnished with the outbreak of violence in an oil town of Zhanaozen. In neighboring Russia, on which Kazakhstan depends both culturally and politically, dozens of thousands of [...]

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Monitoring the Monitors

by Casey_Michel

Over the last few days, there’s been an ongoing debate on my Facebook wall as to the merits of the OSCE’s criticisms that came out following Kazakhstan’s recent Majlis election. After I posted Nazarbayev’s response to the criticisms – that is, his refusal to allow future critical monitors into his nation – a series of Kazakhstani friends came out in [...]

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Democracy’s Miller Test

by Nathan Hamm

Joshua Kucera has a very good article at EurasiaNet on the deflection of election criticism by Kazakhstani officials and a handful of DC analysts. They argue that the deficiencies in the parliamentary election are less important than overall progress toward democracy. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in particular have argued that they are on gradual, managed path [...]

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The Bizarre Kazakh Election Whitewash

by Joshua Foust

The OSCE is fairly unambiguous: Notwithstanding the government’s stated ambition to strengthen Kazakhstan’s democratic processes and conduct elections in line with international standards, yesterday’s early parliamentary vote still did not meet fundamental principles of democratic elections, the international observers concluded in a statement issued today. This probably surprises no one, since Uncle Nazzy declined to [...]

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The “Wild West” of Kazakhstan: a Crisis of Aspirations and Expectations

by Alima Bissenova

The outbreak of violence in Zhanaozen, a small oil town in Western Kazakhstan, has caused people to sit up and notice that Kazakhstan, despite its carefully cultivated reputation as a stable modernizing state, is not immune to social upheaval (if it has ever been) and that some internal discontent is brewing within the country. However, [...]

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Central Asia: An Exception to the “Cute Cats” Theory of Internet Revolution

by Sarah Kendzior

Last month Ethan Zuckerman, a senior researcher at the Berkman Center of Internet and Society, gave a lecture on how his “cute cats” theory of the internet applies to the Arab Spring. For those of you unfamiliar with the theory, Cory Doctorow sums it up in an rapturous review of the talk in the Guardian: [...]

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Turkmenistan’s Surreal Election

by Joshua Foust

The OSCE election monitors (and, umm, others) are heading out to Kazakhstan over the next few days and weeks — but not to Zhanaozen! — to keep track of precisely how Uncle Nazzy is going to maintain his one-party monopoly on the Kazakh parliament. It should be interesting, as the closure of elections in the [...]

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Critical Journalism and Janaozen

by Michael Hancock-Parmer

Prologue   Criticism and Critique are often confused. This might be partly because their adjectival forms are usually written the same way. Is a critical report critical in the sense of important? I think that definition is the least confusing from context. But what about other meanings? Is the report critical because it judges the [...]

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Book Review: A Small Key Opens Big Doors

by Michael Hancock-Parmer
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Chen, Jay, ed. A Small Key Opens Big Doors. 50 Years of Amazing Peace Corps Stories, Volume Three: The Heart of Eurasia. Travelers Tales: Palo Alto, 2011.336 pages, includes Foreword, Preface, Introduction, Acknowledgments. Disclosure: Jay Chen is a friend and fellow Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV). We served in the same group in Kazakhstan starting in [...]

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