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182
Most importantly, there was a concern with the geographical position of Almaty in the corner of the country: it was too far from the rest of it and therefore not really suitable for effective governance.
242 Plus, close proximity to the Chinese border which was still in dispute at the time243 and the physical and cultural affinity with its tremulous Xinjiang province was another headache for the government of the newly independent state.244 The bottom line was that Almaty was no longer suitable as the capital and unable to provide guidance to the rest of the country because it was still under the influence of the old Soviet and Russian culture. It was deemed “geopolitically” backward for independent Kazakhstan because since the city and its residents were a product the colonial rule by the Soviet Union. (Nazarbayev N. A., 2005, pp. 46-45) In other words, the large of number of Soviet apparatchiks245 who lived in Almaty and worked for the government were no longer suitable for the job due to their background which conflicted with the path that independent Kazakhstan was taking.
But why was such an inhospitable place as Astana chosen as the new capital of the state that strives to impress the world with its achievements? The diplomatic corps were not amused when they have been introduced to the new capital: cold and windy
242 At least that is how it was justified by Nazarbayev, which is ironic given that in the last few years his government demonstratively employs advanced communication technologies such as teleconferencing with great effect to exert control over the entire country irrespective of the geographic location of the seat of power.
243 Only resolved in 2003 (Amanzholova, Atanov, & Turarbekov, 2006, p. 71)
244 The violence had actually spilled over from Xinjiang to Almaty at least once when in 2001 Kazakhstani SWAT police units resorted to force to subdue Xinjiang Uighur separatists at the center of the city – even armed personnel carriers were involved in the incident. (Author’s personal observation)
245 Officials, heavily influenced by the Soviet bureaucratic and ideological traditions
Object Description
| Title | Market reforms, foreign direct investment and national identity: Non-national identity of Kazakhstan |
| Author | Zhanalin, Azamat |
| Author email | janalin_a@yahoo.com; zhanalin@gmail.com |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | International Relations |
| School | College of Letters, Arts and Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2011-03-22 |
| Date submitted | 2011 |
| Restricted until | Unrestricted |
| Date published | 2011-04-29 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | English, Robert |
| Advisor (committee member) |
James, Patrick Rorlich, Azade-Ayse |
| Abstract | The present study offers an analysis of the concept of non-national identity in application to the Republic of Kazakhstan as the most likely case. The primary hypothesis is that newly independent states, which are undergoing a rapid transition to market economy and actively pursue integration in the world economy and foreign direct investment, will experience fragmentation of their national identity, defined as non-national identity.; Three sites in Kazakhstan, Almaty, Astana and Aktau, were chosen for the study as representative of the market reforms in the republic as well as the best examples of the country’s pursuit of foreign direct investment and integration into the global economy. The data collected indicates that while Kazakhstan does demonstrate fragmentation of its national identity, it is not necessarily caused by the market reforms and the participation in the global trade. Alternative causal variables such as the Soviet and Russian colonial legacy, intra-ethnic cleavages among the Kazakhs and the prevalence of multi-vector foreign policy were found to contribute to the development of non-national identity of Kazakhstan. The study’s results also suggest that in the last few years, Kazakh identity is experiencing a rather strong revival as well, which may yet counteract the existing factors leading to the emergence of the non-national identity of Kazakhstan. |
| Keyword | identity; nationalism; Kazakhstan; market reforms; globalization; foreign direct investment; national identity; countries in transition; foreign policy; culture; former Soviet Union; Central Asia; patronage networks; energy; oil; post-colonial legacy; nation-state |
| Geographic subject (city or populated place) | Almaty; Astana; Aktau |
| Geographic subject (country) | Kazakhstan |
| Coverage date | 1970/2010 |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m3812 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Zhanalin, Azamat |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Filename | etd-Zhanalin-4506 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume51/etd-Zhanalin-4506.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 188 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 182 Most importantly, there was a concern with the geographical position of Almaty in the corner of the country: it was too far from the rest of it and therefore not really suitable for effective governance. 242 Plus, close proximity to the Chinese border which was still in dispute at the time243 and the physical and cultural affinity with its tremulous Xinjiang province was another headache for the government of the newly independent state.244 The bottom line was that Almaty was no longer suitable as the capital and unable to provide guidance to the rest of the country because it was still under the influence of the old Soviet and Russian culture. It was deemed “geopolitically” backward for independent Kazakhstan because since the city and its residents were a product the colonial rule by the Soviet Union. (Nazarbayev N. A., 2005, pp. 46-45) In other words, the large of number of Soviet apparatchiks245 who lived in Almaty and worked for the government were no longer suitable for the job due to their background which conflicted with the path that independent Kazakhstan was taking. But why was such an inhospitable place as Astana chosen as the new capital of the state that strives to impress the world with its achievements? The diplomatic corps were not amused when they have been introduced to the new capital: cold and windy 242 At least that is how it was justified by Nazarbayev, which is ironic given that in the last few years his government demonstratively employs advanced communication technologies such as teleconferencing with great effect to exert control over the entire country irrespective of the geographic location of the seat of power. 243 Only resolved in 2003 (Amanzholova, Atanov, & Turarbekov, 2006, p. 71) 244 The violence had actually spilled over from Xinjiang to Almaty at least once when in 2001 Kazakhstani SWAT police units resorted to force to subdue Xinjiang Uighur separatists at the center of the city – even armed personnel carriers were involved in the incident. (Author’s personal observation) 245 Officials, heavily influenced by the Soviet bureaucratic and ideological traditions |
