The “First Modernization” in Kazakhstan: Ideology and Practice

Abstract

The new state formations of Eurasia at the turn of the millennium were faced with a number of problems, with the periodization of their recent history fi guring prominently among them. Political processes in the newly independent states played an important role in their transition to a market economy and the development of interstate contacts, primarily in foreign policy orientation. In the Republic of Kazakhstan, one of the largest Eurasian states, these problems developed in a particular way as the republic gradually moved from a parliamentary administration to a presidential one. The President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, has repeatedly published books in which he expresses his views on current changes in the political landscape. In his latest volume, The Age of Independence (2017), Nazarbayev proposed a new concept for the evolution of an independent republic, suggesting that it be viewed as a three-stage modernization. Scholars deemed the appearance of the book “a methodological breakthrough in modern Kazakhstani historical science.” This article examines the fi rst part of the work by comparing the proposed ideological bases of modernization and practical solutions adopted by Nazarbayev in the process of ensuring the sustainable development of independent Kazakhstan. The author of the article, emphasizing that the ideology of modernization helps in understanding the realities of Kazakhstan’s political life, maintains that it is necessary to use alternative methods of historical and political studies.

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