Kazakhstan: constructing identity in a post-Soviet society

Abstract

One of the problems with the now independent countries of Central Asia is that they have little history of independent statehood and even less experience of any ideological context that legitimizes a specific set of political arrangements, other than the discredited Marxist model of the Soviet system. Neither habit nor attachment to a coherent set of political ideals is very helpful as the basis for individual identification with or support of the State. Perhaps as a consequence, political operatives in Central Asian countries have opted to emphasize the centrality of ethnicity to legitimize their current political arrangements. But in Kazakhstan this presents a potential problem – the country is ethnically very diverse, has a large Russian/Slavic population and the ‘core nation’ of ethnic Kazakhs comprises a bare majority of Kazakh citizens. We utilize survey research to test the influence such factors as ethnicity, religion and other nexus of identity have on feelings of attachment to the state. Our findings indicate that identifying as ‘Kazakh’ indeed has a positive effect on identification with the state, as do identifying as Sunni Muslim and ‘Asian’. However, institutional trust and economic well-being are also positive influences on affective regard for the state, allowing an opening for broadening and deepening the basis for state legitimacy.