Kazakhstan's Foreign Policy ─ Regime Neo-eurasianism in the Nazarbaev Era

For much of the post-Soviet era, Kazakhstan's international relations developed against a specific backdrop: the Eurasian continent, a (vaguely defined) politico-cultural space with the modern Kazakhstani state at its centre. This book looks at the central role occupied by ‘regime neo-Eurasianism' in the foreign policy of post-Soviet Kazakhstan.

Using this analytical category to describe the version of neo-evraziistvo developed in Kazakhstan from 1994 onwards, the book considers regime neo-Eurasianism as a most defining example of the neo-Eurasianist trend. It looks at how Kazakhstani neo-evraziistvo emerged in an authoritarian context and was developed in a consistently regime-centric trajectory, and how it rapidly evolved into a force that unequivocally conformed to the interests of the Nazarbaev regime while wielding a decisive influence on the foreign policy of the Kazakhstani state. With case studies on identity and power, this book offers a ground-breaking analysis of Kazakhstani foreign policy, and is of interest to students and scholars of Central Asian Politics, International Relations and Security Studies.

Luca Anceschi is ARC DECRA Fellow in the School of Social Sciences at La Trobe University, Australia. He is the author ofTurkmenistan’s Foreign Policy, also published by Routledge (2009).