Analysing Kazakhstans Foreign Policy
This book investigates the roles that ideas and constructs associated with Eurasia have played in the making of Kazakhstans foreign policy during the Nazarbaev era.
This book delves into the specific Eurasia-centric narratives through which the regime, headed by Nursultan A. Nazarbaev for almost three decades, imagined the role of post-Soviet Kazakhstan in the wider Eurasian geopolitical space. Based on extensive fieldwork and sustained engagement with primary sources, the book unveils the power implications of Kazakhstani neo-Eurasianism, arguing that the strengthening of the regimes domestic power ranked highly in the list of objectives pursued by Kazakhstani foreign policy between the collapse of the Soviet Union and Nazarbaevs apparent withdrawal from the Kazakhstani political scene (19 March 2019). This book, ultimately, is a study of inter-state integration, which makes use of a rigorous methodological approach to assess different incarnations of post-Soviet multilateralism, from the Commonwealth of Independent States to the more recent, and highly controversial, Eurasian Economic Union.
This book offers a ground-breaking analysis of Kazakhstani foreign policy in the Nazarbaev era. It will be of interest to students and scholars of Central Asian Politics, International Relations and Security Studies.
Luca Anceschi is Senior Lecturer in Central Asian Studies at the University of Glasgow, UK. He is the Editor of the journal Europe-Asia Studies and the author of Turkmenistans Foreign Policy: Positive Neutrality and the Consolidation of the Turkmen Regime, also published by Routledge (2009).
Central Asia Research Forum
Series Editor: Harun Yilmaz
Other titles in the series:
Leadership and Authority in Central Asia
The Ismaili community in Tajikistan
Otambek N. Mastibekov
National Identities in Soviet Historiography
The rise of nations under Stalin
Harun Yilmaz
Identity and Memory in Post-Soviet Central Asia
Uzbekistans Soviet Past
Timur Dadabaev
Migration and Identity in Central Asia
The Uzbek Experience
Rano Turaeva
The Management of Public Services in Central Asia
Institutional Transformation in Kyrgyzstan
David Scott
Xinjiang - Chinas Northwest Frontier
Edited by K. Warikoo
Sustainable Energy in Kazakhstan
Moving to cleaner energy in a resource-rich country
Edited by Yelena Kalyuzhnova and Richard Pomfret
Eurasia and India
Regional Perspectives
Edited by K. Warikoo
Analysing Kazakhstans Foreign Policy
Regime neo-Eurasianism in the Nazarbaev era
Luca Anceschi
First published 2020
by Routledge
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2020 Luca Anceschi
The right of Luca Anceschi to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Anceschi, Luca, 1976- author.
Title: Analysing Kazakhstans foreign policy : regime neo-Eurasianism in the Nazarbaev era / Luca Anceschi.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2020. | Series: Central Asia research forum | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019053714 | ISBN 9780415711432 (hardback) | ISBN 9781315674698 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: KazakhstanForeign relations1991- | GeopoliticsEurasia.
Classification: LCC DK908.8677 .A64 2020 | DDC 958.45/08dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019053714
ISBN: 978-0-415-71143-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-67469-8 (ebk)
This book is for Carmine and Milo
This book was initially conceived in Australia, researched mostly in Kazakhstan and written, for its greater part, in Scotland. On this long journey, I crossed paths with many colleagues who have made the completion of this work a more meaningful endeavour. This is my place to thank them all.
My first note of gratitude goes to the Research Support staff in the libraries of the two institutions where I worked while preparing the book. In particular, Kay Munro and Lynn Irvine, who managed the Russian and East European Studies collection at the University of Glasgow Library, have often addressed, with great patience and efficiency, my frequent requests for obscure material on or from Kazakhstan.
Melinda Rankin and Anna-Sophie Maas have assisted me at different times with the collection of statistical data for the economic analysis presented through the book. Katerina Aleksoska proofread, with great flair and precision, the initial chapters.
Particular thanks go to Dorothea Schaefter and her editorial team at Routledge, who demonstrated great flexibility and patience while working on this project.
I am particularly indebted to two colleagues, Marlne Laruelle (George Washington University) and Nargis Kassenova (Harvard University), with whom I frequently discussed Eurasianism and Kazakhstani foreign policy more generally: their insights, as well as their brilliant scholarship, have greatly strengthened the argument that unfolds in the following pages. Through continuous exchanges (and much laughter) with Bruce Pannier and Paolo Sorbello, I have been able to remain up-to-date with Kazakhstans changing domestic politics.
In Almaty, the Department of International Relations and Regional Studies at KIMEP University has constituted a stimulating intellectual home during frequent research trips. I also want to acknowledge the many colleagues in Kazakhstan who agreed to discuss topics germane to this book, hoping that the inclusion of local views has made my argument more relevant to the Kazakhstani IR debate, which continues to grow in sophistication and richness.
My former colleagues Nick Bisley and Robert Horvath, both at La Trobe University in Melbourne, commented on the books early chapters, pushing me to look beyond the seemingly impenetrable cloud that surrounded Kazakhstans neo-Eurasianist rhetoric.
Richard Berry, who heads the Central and East European subject group at the University of Glasgow, has a special place on the path that led to the completion of this book, as he very kindly granted me the time and the space to finish up the writing process throughout 2018 and 2019.
Earlier drafts of the chapters included in the final manuscript were presented at the University of Oxford, Universiteit Leiden, the University of St Andrews, the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) and the Lobachevsky University of Nizhnii Novgorod: the feedback I received at these seminars has greatly sharpened the focus of the books argument.
