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Kazakhstanis will vote for a new president on June 9. The election was supposed to be a smooth transition to a handpicked, pliant successor, not an open contest. But things are not going as originally planned.
President Nursultan Nazarbayev has resigned after nearly three decades. But the succession process appears to have just started, and it won’t be the last we will see of his influence.
While Russia remains Astana’s closest political ally, China is gradually becoming the main economic partner of Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan’s president has fired the government over what he called its failure to shore up crumbling living standards. Will it be enough to satisfy his citizens’ demands?
A tragic house fire that killed five sisters in Astana epitomizes many of Kazakhstan’s social problems, as well as the widening gap between the government and the governed.
Brighter prospects for Central Asian integration come amid political and economic liberalization in Uzbekistan, hardening authoritarianism elsewhere in the region, widespread economic distress, and China’s growing influence—the five major trends that marked Central Asia in 2018.
The five states of Central Asia — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan — mark 27 years of independence in 2018.
Kazakhstan’s political system is quite opaque, so it is not clear what exactly is driving recent changes in the senior ranks of the government. What is clear, however, is that Kazakh society is growing restless, as socioeconomic problems in the country grow.
A conversation on lessons learned from the history of nuclear testing in the Soviet Union and the United States.
Kazakhstan’s weak political institutions, a failure to diversify the economy, and a changing geopolitical landscape have created uncertainties about what will happen to the country once President Nursultan Nazarbayev leaves the scene.
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