Reasons and Nature of the Accession of Kazakhstan to the Russian Empire (Historiography of the Problem)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of historical concepts developed by Soviet, Russian and Kazakhstan historians on one of the most debatable issues in the history of Russian-Kazakh relations, regarding the reasons and nature of Kazakhstan's accession to the Russian Empire. Soviet historians have done a lot to accumulate a factual base for studying Russian-Kazakh relations. However, following predetermined ideological theses narrowed the problems of research and obscured the complexity and inconsistency of the phenomena under consideration.
 In the post-Soviet period, Russian historical science uses the latest methodological approaches to study the phenomenon of empire, requiring neutral assessments taking into account various aspects of imperial construction and imperial practice. Onedimensional damning characteristics began to give way to issues of historical experience of the Russian Empire, explaining how, in conditions of confessional diversity and multinational composition of the population, it managed to maintain stability for many centuries.
 In the 1990s in Kazakh historiography, the concept of "voluntary entry" of Kazakhstan into Russia was radically revised with an emphasis on exposing the colonial essence of Russian transformations in the region. Over the past two decades, Kazakh historical science has been gradually moving away from unilateral radical assessments and political conjuncture, more balanced and justified characteristics of the accession of the Kazakh Steppe to the Russian state appear.