President Nursultan Nazarbayev Research Articles

CONTEMPORARY ART OF THE PUPPET THEATER IN THE CONTEXT OF THE NATIONAL CULTURE OF KAZAKHSTAN

The author of the article considers the question of understanding the role of keeping alive and embodying national traditions in the modern theatrical space (on the example of the play "Er Tostik" of K. Yezhembek, staged by K. Eshmuratova). The analysis of the play "Er Tostik" is presented from the point of view of using a new range of expressive means and introducing modern genres of musical art as an original directorial solution. The purpose of this article is to study the contemporary art of the puppet theater in the context of the national culture of Kazakhstan.
 In modern conditions of social development, when the whole world is on the verge of two times – two millennia: the second millennium is coming to an end and the third millennium is about to begin, due to objective and subjective reasons, among the urgent problems of the present, problems concerning not only the economic and political sphere, social development, but also no less an important one is the spiritual sphere. It is not for nothing that the processes that we can observe in our time with all the brightness and acuteness illuminate a wide range of problems in the field of spiritual culture of the country.
 One of the topical issues of the spiritual development of modern Kazakh society is keeping alive the national traditions and values. And this topic became the key for the state project "Tugan Zher", developed on the initiative of the First President Nursultan Nazarbayev. The deep essence of the goal-setting of the presented state project is the formation of the cultural code of the nation, without which it is impossible to solve the tasks of strengthening national unity, developing human capital and civil society.
 The formation of cultural codes is the core of the formation of cultural identity, which as you know should be formed starting from an early age, in the so-called sensitive period of personality development. It is obvious that puppet theater as an artistic phenomenon is in this sense one of the most effective forms of art. It is no coincidence that researcher E.Y. Romanovsky emphasizes that "the national is inherent in the very nature of the puppet theater. We can say that this theater has always had regional specifics or sought to express through the universal, some unique qualities of culture."
 The modern Kazakh puppet theater, like society, is going through an age of active restructuring, when old norms and ideas fade into oblivion, revealing the way to a new methodology, a synergetic scientific approach. Today we can see how the puppet theater of the XXI century performs the functions of a research laboratory, diagnostics of public sentiment, a forecaster of the social future and a creative space for the formation of national values of a new generation.
 Characterizing the repertoire policy of the modern Kazakh puppet theater it can be noted that, perhaps, the main goal of a particular collective is the opportunity to vividly reflect not only the peculiarities of the national identity of culture, but also to highlight the most important ideas and problems of modernity in their work. In the performances that define the face of the theater, attention is paid to the multidimensionality of Kazakh culture, the spiritual world of the contemporary, reflecting the problems of the common man.

Art and Protest in Kazakhstan

Recent events in Kazakhstan show that political art has the potential to be a potent form of protest in some of the most authoritarian states in contemporary Central Asia. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, artists in Kazakhstan and elsewhere in the region began turning away from the canon of Socialist Realist art, with its sole aim of serving the regime and depicting its visions of the future. New forms of contemporary art emerged, drawing sharp contrasts with official art in form, content, and culture, as more artists insisted on freedom from state patronage and control. In the political upheaval following the resignation of long-ruling President Nursultan Nazarbayev, artists have inspired protests with pointed critiques.

Қазақстан Республикасы Ұлттық архив қорларының «Рухани жаңғыру» бағдарламалық мақаласындағы идеяларын іске асыруға қосқан үлесі

The article provides the analyses of the work of the National Archives of the Republic of Kazakhstan aimed at reviving the history of the country. The contribution of the country’s archives to the issues raised in the program article by President Nursultan Nazarbayev, “Focus on the Future: Spiritual Revival”, is studied. The implementation of programs adopted by the state in connection with the modernization of archives is described. The authors analyze the activities of the archives of Kazakhstan over the years of independence and classify them step by step. For example, between 1990 and 2000, the storage units in the republican archives focused on the status of received cases, during the celebration of these dates, a description of the work done by the collected country’s archives, exhibitions, documents. To consider the “white patches” of the history of Kazakhstan, the regional archives collected documents on Kazakhs who went abroad in the twentieth century, the tragedy of famine and repression, and submitted them to the General Archives. In 1995, the International Conference dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the country’s archives was examined. The conference was attended by representatives of archival departments of the CIS countries. In addition, on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the Great Victory, a large-scale event was held, which included a list of citizens from different regions of Kazakhstan who went to the front in search of soldiers killed and missing in the Great Patriotic War. As a result, The Book of Remembrance of each region was published. The authors tried to dwell on the issues of research work of archives in this direction. In 1997, in the “Year of National Reconciliation and Remembrance of Victims of Political Repressions”, the country’s archives contributed significantly to this noble cause by raising documents on the dusty shelves of archives to justify innocent people who were shot during the political repressions of the 1930s. The adoption of the Law on the National Archives in 1998 made this year special for the country’s archivists. Since this year was declared the Year of Unity of Peoples and National History, scientific and theoretical conferences, fundamental works on the history of the country, scientific articles based on archival materials have been widely published. The authors tried to study the results of comprehensive research conducted based on state programs adopted in 2000, such as “Cultural Heritage”, “People in the flow of history”, “Archive–2025”

Captured Courts and Legitimized Autocrats: Transforming Kazakhstan’s Constitutional Court

Contemporary dictators routinely co-opt institutions crucial for democratic governance. Although an extensive literature examines why and how aspiring autocrats bring elections and parties under their control, constitutions—and the judicial or quasi-judicial bodies charged with interpreting constitutions—are often assumed to reflect the existing balance of power. But following regime change, constitutional courts’ power of review makes them integral for establishing political supremacy. We detail how President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan captured the Constitutional Court via its transformation into the Constitutional Council. The uncertainty and upheaval of the post-Soviet collapse created opportunities for formal institutional changes that made the court susceptible to executive capture. Nazarbayev subsequently used the council rulings to lay claim to democratic and constitutional legitimacy in a clear example of authoritarian constitutionalism. To trace the process of capture and legitimation, we examine key court rulings throughout the president’s tenure using a database of Constitutional Council decisions.

The Implementation of State Investment Plans by the Chinese People’s Republic as a Way to Reduce the Russian Federation’s Influence in the Republic of Kazakhstan

The aim of this article is to examine the impact of the actions of Chinese capital on limiting the influence of the Russian Federation in Kazakhstan. The preliminary analysis allowed for the formulation of the research question: Does Kazakhstan still take political considerations into account when choosing between Russian and Chinese capital? It was possible to answer this question due to the analysis of the main investments implemented by the Pekin and Mosocow in terms of their compliance with the Kazakhstan2050 development plan, initiated by President Nursultan Nazarbayev in 2012. The main research methods used in the article included: the analysis of literature on the subject, comparison, inference and induction. Finding the relationship between the development plan and investments made it possible to formulate a research hypothesis that the evaluation was reversed in the Kazakh development strategy. The primary objective when choosing a strategic partner became the economic calculation and its benefits. Political considerations came only in second place.

The Kazakhstani Soviet not? Reading Nazarbayev’s Kazakhstani-ness through Brezhnev’s Soviet people

ABSTRACT Rather than interpreting President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s nation-building model of Kazakhstani-ness as a balance between civic and ethnic forms of nation-building, we show that Kazakhstani-ness was styled on Leonid Brezhnev’s supranational modern identity of the Soviet People. We explore three similarities by comparing rulers’ discursive aspirational statements (rather than historical policy trajectories) in a single case study of Kazakhstan. Both discursive models were based on teleological supranational state ideology, both were depicted as modern and advanced, and both modelled the new identity on the language and culture of ethnic majority. We used thematic discourse analysis in over 50 government documents and speeches of leaders to illustrate our argument. This case presents bigger lessons for regime’s power of defining the national membership in post-Soviet Kazakhstan and beyond.

PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION: NEWS AND MEDIA IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBALIZATION OF CULTURE

The only urgent task facing universities today is, of course, to ensure the highest quality of education. In his annual Address to the Nation, the First President Nursultan Nazarbayev said that, first of all, the education system should be raised to a new level. The proposed article considers the role of theoretical and methodological issues of education in the context of media culture in Kazakhstan. The impact of media education on the development of distance learning in the context of media culture is reflected.

Effect of regionalism on human security in Kazakhstan

In a rapidly changing world, human security is a very important issue. And locating between Russia and China, the impact of regionalism on Kazakhstan and the need to adapt national security to human security is a requirement of the modern world. That is why this article is very important. Examples of this are the policies of President Nursultan Nazarbayev since independence, as well as the current policy of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, in particular, the establishment of the Eurasian Economic Union, the leadership of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and Kazakhstan's multi-vector policy.

Political Transition on the Great Steppe: The Case of Kazakhstan

President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s successor may not have the experience or charisma necessary to ensure Kazakhstan’s continued stability.

Między pamięcią i polityką. Żeński obóz koncentracyjny „AŁŻIR” koło Astany w Kazachstanie

The article is dedicated to the analysis of ideas created and transmitted by the Museum and Memorial Complex of Political Repressions and Totalitarianism Victims on the former Akmolinsky Camp of Wives of the Traitors of the Motherland (Akmolinskij lagier zon izmiennikow Rodiny) “ALZhiR”. The author focuses on the functioning of the museum “ALZhIR” in the entire internal and external politics of the Kazakhstan state conducted by president Nursultan Nazarbayev and his allies. The museum deals with contents which not only introduce the camp reality, but shows the contents of the support given to the Kazakh state and Kazakh nation as well. The author present the analysis of the aspects of national ideology in the museum. The basic ideas are: glorification of Kazakh history, culture and humanitarism, absolutely requiring giving aid to the people in need.

Prawo prasowe i autorskie w systemie konstytucyjnym Kazachstanu

The main purpose of the article is to present the principles of functioning of the Republic of Kazakhstan together with descriptions of two branches of law – copyright law and mass media law in Kazakhstan. The beginning of the article is dedicated to the legislature, which is represented by bicameral parliament. Its seats, the legislative process as well as the current political situation are described. Followed by the executive power description together with its representative, the Government of Kazakhstan, which can be formed or dismissed by the president. The way the Government is formed and its authority are presented as well. In the next part of the article is the judiciary of Kazakhstan which is described together with the system of common and special courts followed by description the way the judges are appointed. A separate part in the article is dedicated to the President of Kazakhstan who plays an important role in the authority system and officially does not belong to any branch of the power. While describing the functions of the president, the characteristic title of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, “Elbasy” (the National Leader), which belongs to the current President Nursultan Nazarbayev, is also analyzed together with the features which make this title so special. The next part describes the ruling political party “Nur-Otan” (“the Luminosity of the Motherland”) which has been in charge since the year of 2004. The last part of the article is dedicated to the foundations of the copyright law in Kazakhstan and especially its basic legal acts, the bodies which are called to implement the copyright law and the copyright law specific features. The main legal acts and norms of Kazakhstani mass media law have been described as well, especially in the areas of advertising, print, radio and TV transmissions, rights and obligations of journalists.

Eurasian Economic Union: A Regional Economic Hegemony Initiative

It can be assumed that international relations terminology has not mentioned enough about the significance of the Eurasian Economic Union in territorial as well as in economic terms during a period of growing geopolitical risks and high interdependence between the member countries and the rest. According to Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev, it is truly difficult for states to overcome economic, political and security issues and therefore, states need to act together against the problems in a globalizing world by establishing regional and international organisations. This article thus examines the Eurasian Economic Union integration proces, which is driven by political and economic factors that consolidate regional security and create an effective economic system, whether it in the long term will become successful or not. The author also analyses the Kazakh economic and strategic interests in the region as well as the motivation, power and influence of other members in deepening the cooperation with international arena and the limits in the economic-security integration.

China's Silk Road and Kazakhstan's Bright Path: Linking Dreams of Prosperity

In 2013, President Xi Jinping announced China's Silk Road Economic Belt-the land-based component of the Belt and Road Initiative-during his visit to Astana. The choice of the venue did not seem accidental. Kazakhstan had already become a prime partner for China in Eurasia, with various connecting infrastructure projects completed or underway and with bilateral cooperation diversifying and blooming. The announced Silk Road Economic Belt Initiative promises better continental and intraregional connectivity and can only add wind into the sails of China-Kazakhstan cooperation.This essay will give a brief overview of energy and transportation infrastructure already connecting China and Kazakhstan to show that cooperation between the two countries considerably predates the Belt and Road Initiative. Then I will discuss the complementarity of their interests and current visions for development and prosperity: China's Silk Road Economic Belt and Kazakhstan's Bright Path (Nurly Zhol). It is important to address the gap in perceptions of Chinese investments by the Kazakhstani ruling elites and the public at large, which will be the subject of the next section. Finally, I will analyze the implications of growing cooperation between China and Kazakhstan for the latter's political and economic development. I will also reflect on the geopolitical aspect of the Belt and Road Initiative and raise concerns about its sustainability and potential impact on governance in Eurasia.China and Kazakhstan: Existing Energy and Transportation InfrastructureIn the energy sector, bilateral cooperation has been advancing since the 1990s due to the complementary objectives and geographic proximity of resource-rich Kazakhstan and energy-thirsty China. In 2009 the two countries launched a pipeline linking oil fields in western Kazakhstan with Xinjiang in China. The Central Asia-China gas pipeline, which supplies China with half of its natural gas imports, was first agreed upon by Beijing and Astana and later was negotiated with Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.1There have also been long-term efforts to build better transportation infrastructure connecting the two countries. Unlike Russia, China's traditional land gateway to Europe, Kazakhstan is unreservedly enthusiastic about serving as a transit area for trade between Europe and Asia.2 In fact, becoming the bridge between East and West has been its official strategic development project since the early years of independence. The first railway link from Dostyk in Kazakhstan to Alashankou in China was launched in 1991. The second link at Khorgos, where the two sides began building an ambitious multi-modal logistical hub, dry port, and special economic zone (SEZ), the Khorgos-Eastern Gate, was launched in 2012.In 2008, Kazakhstan began construction of the West Europe-West China Highway, which will stretch from the Lianyungang port on the Yellow Sea to St. Petersburg on the Baltic Sea. By 2016, China and Kazakhstan had completed their parts of the project, and Kazakhstani president Nursultan Nazarbayev had to call on Russia to finish its section.2 The highway is also connected to the Khorgos-Eastern Gate SEZ. In 2014 the parties also signed an agreement on building a joint logistics terminal at Lianyungang, giving landlocked Kazakhstan its window to the sea.From the Kazakhstani government's perspective, enhancing the country's transit potential should help develop the national transportation and communication infrastructure, which is not an easy task for a country the size of Western Europe. For example, Astana's key motivation for joining the Central Asia-China gas pipeline project was to satisfy domestic gas consumption needs by connecting the country's energy-rich west with the densely populated south.The Silk Road Economic Belt and the Bright Path: Complementary VisionsIn December 2015, Presidents Xi and Nazarbayev announced plans to link the Silk Road Economic Belt and Kazakhstan's Bright Path economic policy. …

Central Asia’s Globalized Despots

Central Asia’s Globalized Despots Marlene Laruelle (bio) Dictators Without Borders: Power and Money in Central Asia. By Alexander Cooley and John Heathershaw. Yale University Press, 2017, 312pp. Alexander Cooley and John Heathershaw’s new book marks a milestone in the study of Central Asia and of the post-Soviet space more broadly. Beyond area studies, Dictators Without Borders offers thought-provoking reflections on the mechanisms of political and financial globalization, and on the erasure of what distinguishes “the West” from “the rest.” Grounded in a pathbreaking examination of materials from U.S. and European judicial investigations into the offshoring mechanisms and extraterritorial activities of Central Asian presidential families, the book combines scholarly analysis, investigative journalism, and policy recommendations. It begins by arguing that, contrary to the conventional wisdom of Western pundits and international organizations, Central Asia is not a remote place that is detached from the rest of the world and in need of greater “connectivity.” On the contrary, it contends that Central Asian states—and in particular their elites—are in fact highly globalized and well integrated in the world economy. They have learned quickly and well how to use international mechanisms that serve their political, security, and financial interests. Cooley and Heathershaw’s case studies of Central Asia’s globalized elites include the fallen Kazakhstani oligarch Mukhtar Ablyazov, whose turn toward opposition helped to make him an “obsession” of long-ruling President Nursultan Nazarbayev; Maksim Bakiyev, son of [End Page 173] Kyrgyzstan’s former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev; Gulnara Karimova, daughter of Uzbekistan’s late president Islam Karimov; and the presidential Rahmon family of Tajikistan. Probably the most fascinating case is that of Ablyazov, whom Cooley and Heathershaw call “Kazakhstan’s most wanted.” Chair of Kazakhstan’s first bank (called BTA) from 2005 to 2009, Ablyazov was once one of Kazakhstan’s top oligarchs, but has also been a foe of President Nazarbayev since the early 2000s. After Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund, allegedly overseen by the president’s family, took control of BTA in 2009, the bank launched legal proceedings against Ablyazov. The toppled oligarch fled first to London and then to France, where he was arrested and nearly extradited. His supporters present him as Kazakhstan’s version of the formerly imprisoned Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, punished by an autocrat for funding his liberal opponents. Kazakhstan’s authorities call him an international criminal and fugitive, guilty of massive money-laundering. The presidential families in other Central Asian republics have themselves been the perpetrators of offshoring strategies, of which Cooley and Heathershaw offer detailed portraits. Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon, who built his power during his country’s civil war (1992–97), appears to have enabled the offshoring of profits from the state-owned Talco aluminum-smelting plant to the British Virgin Islands. The state that Rahmon heads is estimated to have lost US$1.1 billion in revenue to this trading scheme from 2005 to 2007, a stunning sum, as Cooley and Heathershaw point out, for a country whose GDP in that latter year was only $3.7 billion. These arrangements came to light in a London High Court dispute between Talco’s new controllers and a firm that Tajikistani authorities together with presidential associates had ousted from the smelting plant’s business in 2004. The case dragged on from 2005 until 2008, as each side charged the other with financial malfeasance. Total legal expenses may have run as high as $200 million, making it one of the costliest court battles ever waged. Tajikistan’s government paid most of the bill. In Uzbekistan, it is the eldest daughter of the former president Islam Karimov, Gulnara Karimova, who built a vast commercial empire with her homeland’s wealth before seeing that empire dismantled amid transnational legal troubles, public scandal, and elite infighting in late 2013 and early 2014, when Uzbekistani authorities reportedly put her under house arrest. Despite Uzbekistan’s political closure and isolationist economic policies, the country’s elites became actors in a global drama that involved luxury villas in France, Belgium, and California; a New York court hearing; Swiss bank accounts; and Swedish media investigations. Cooley and Heathershaw also profile Maksim Bakiyev, the son of Kyrgyzstan...

HOW KAZAKHSTAN IS PAYING FOR ITS LEADERS’ AMBITIONS

HOW KAZAKHSTAN IS PAYING FOR ITS LEADERS’ AMBITIONS

THREE SONGS - THREE VISITING CARDS OF THE MUSICAL STYLE OF THE COMPOSER YERKEGALI RAKHMADIYEV

The article Three songs - three visiting cards of the musical style of the composer Erkegali Rakhmadiyev is focused on three most popular songs by the famous Kazakh composer Yerkegali Rakhmadiyev. These are included into the golden fund of musical culture of the Republic: Tan samaly (Morning freshness), Almaty keshi (Evening Almaty) on the poems by N. Shakenova and Elim Menin (My nation), written on verses of the Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev. They are filled with the spirit of patriotism, a great love for the country, its nation. However every vocal miniature is filled with its own individual musical content. Superior quality of Yerkegali Rakhmadiyev’s style is lyrical-epic nature of his work. It includes the organic synthesis of the modern and deeply national. The. composer synthesizes traditional folkloric attributes with elements of modern European musical language. Melodic lyricism, combined with big leaps, simple tune-harmonic base, irregular, variable meter, rhythmic figures of triplets and syncope, intone-chorus form and piano-based instrumental accompaniment significantly distinguish these samples from folk prototypes and emphasize them into the category of urban lyrical songs-romances.

Geopolitics of Kazakhstan: Theory and Practice

Article analyzes geopolitics of Kazakhstan, examines how it should look like in accordance with classic geopolitical theory and how it does look in practice, in particular in case of Kazakhstan membership in the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which reflects Kazakh geostrategy in relations with Russia and China as the main factors of stability in Central Asia. Additional value of the article is that it is purely geopolitical while geopolitical method (theory) is usually misunderstood in the discipline of international relations, used rather freely often being confused with realistic paradigm. Also Central Asia as an object of analysis is not in the centre of global academic discourse and any additional study in the field of CA geopolitics broadens understanding of the external and internal political process in the region. The study showed that Kazakh geopolitics is predetermined to be continental, Heartland oriented, because Kazakhstan is located in the closest neighborhood of Russia and is a steppe land with the conservative identity totally different to the one of see powers. Therefore its geopolitical gravitation towards strategic alliance with Moscow is very strong and even more strengthened by its president Nursultan Nazarbayev as a consistent partisan of the Russian geopolitical theory called Eurasism. Kazakhstan membership in EEU, initially initiated by Nazarbayev, supports the idea that geopolitical union with Russia is the essence of Kazakh geostrategy. At the same time Kazakhstan has good relations with China, but they are of secondary importance for Astana in comparison to cooperation with Russia. SCO is a comfortable platform for Kazakhstan to find its place in geopolitical dialogue of Moscow and Beijing. The problem is that nobody knows how Kazakh foreign policy will look like after Nazarbayev leaves the office, but classic geopolitical theory says that geopolitical orientation of Kazakhstan will hardly change in the long run because its c onservative land identity is too strong.

An Importance of Mutual Assistance of School and Family in Development of a Gifted Child

Today the most important task is to clarify the national project of President Nursultan Nazarbayev “Intelligent Nation 2020”, which states: “The main purpose is an education of Kazakhs of new formations, turning Kazakhstan into a country with competitive human capital.” Socio-economic change in the current society requires educated and successful members of society using their knowledge in practice (teachers, parents, and others). Along with this, the development of human capital is an important process of strategic development program until 2020. Creation in Kazakhstan such capabilities required young talent, his freethinking. Improvement of his work is carried out by mutual assistance of teachers and family. This article depicts of the mutual assistance of parents and schools, creating groups of experimenters and teachers held their practical diagnostic work. During the experiment, the school with their parents conducted a survey. Questioning was conducted on the topics “Defining educational family activity”, “Life with children”, “creativity”, “How are the basis of the child and parent relationships (for two- parent families),” “School and Family”, “The test for determining giftedness the child.” After the survey, discussions were held on the organization of the child. Results of the survey are given below in the charts.

Kazakhstan's Nuclear Decision Making, 1991–92

This article examines Kazakhstani nuclear decision making from December 1991 to May 1992. The study is based on unique archival data and reveals how Kazakhstan's policy makers solved a nuclear dilemma that the nation faced in its first years of independence. The article reconstructs the internal policy-making process behind the decision made by President Nursultan Nazarbayev and his circle of advisors to accept non-nuclear status. The author argues that Almaty elaborated a deliberately ambivalent strategy toward the republic's nuclear status with the aim of maximizing the state's strategic interests. The article reviews external pressures affecting Nazarbayev's course of action and discusses policy options articulated during this period.

The Concept of ‘Eurasia’: Kazakhstan's Eurasian Policy and its Implications

The term Eurasia is a contentious and illusive one and there is no consensus or agreement among authors on its meanings, implications and ramifications. President Nursultan Nazarbayev of the Republic of Kazakhstan introduced and developed his own vision, policies, perceptions and values of Eurasianism which he has been propagating and practicing on a continuous and consistent basis. In fact, the concept of Eurasianism and Eurasian policies have turned into state ideologies which are reflected in domestic, regional and foreign policies as well as in the foundation of the recent regional integration process. The purpose of the article is: to study and review the genesis of the old, popular as well as contemporary schools and thoughts of Eurasianism, their underlying goals, objectives and purposes in order to locate and understand Kazakhstan's views and concepts of Eurasianism in a broad historical and comparative perspectives; to review and critically analyze how President Nazarbayev's visions and policies of Eurasianism are reflected in the country's domestic, regional and foreign policies and what are their implications.