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193
private ownership. The Kazakhs did not own the steppe, they travelled, fed their cattle in its vast expanses but they could not imagine trying to own it. Astana, however, became an ultimate expression of the territorial identity of the Kazakhs, their claim for sovereignty and collective ownership of the steppe.
It is, of course, expected of any sedentary culture but for the nomads it was something alien. No longer – the Kazakhs are now invested into their land and its riches, and the survey and many interviews266 confirm a strong interest in the territory of Kazakhstan as an ultimate expression of Kazakh identity. The citizens of the republic are increasingly upset about the fact that the land is being sold to foreign entities and businesses. 26.1% of all respondents, Kazakhs and non-Kazakhs alike, also worry about the lack of oversight over the sale of Kazakhstan’s natural resources and 13.9% of them do not welcome foreign direct investment at all.267
The significance of this concern over national wealth, natural resources and land, serve as the marker of functionalist identity construction similar to Gellner’s vision. (1983) In this approach, the economic reforms of the modern state of Kazakhstan serve as the foundation for constructing a new Kazakh nation which would maximize the use of the available resources. The old divisions of the Kazakhs onto the tribes and Hordes are no longer relevant; in fact, even the ethnic divisions no longer matter either. The
266 “The land problem became extremely acute now because of uncontrolled sell-out to foreigners” noted a Kazakh leader of political opposition group in an interview with the author on 8/15/2009 to highlight the issues of Kazakh national identity. In his opinion, land is now is one the constituent features of Kazakh identity, on the same level as livestock breeding is, and selling will severely undermine the efforts in reconstituting it.
267 2009-2010 survey by author, question “What is your assessment of the role FDI plays in Kazakhstan?”
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 199 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 193 private ownership. The Kazakhs did not own the steppe, they travelled, fed their cattle in its vast expanses but they could not imagine trying to own it. Astana, however, became an ultimate expression of the territorial identity of the Kazakhs, their claim for sovereignty and collective ownership of the steppe. It is, of course, expected of any sedentary culture but for the nomads it was something alien. No longer – the Kazakhs are now invested into their land and its riches, and the survey and many interviews266 confirm a strong interest in the territory of Kazakhstan as an ultimate expression of Kazakh identity. The citizens of the republic are increasingly upset about the fact that the land is being sold to foreign entities and businesses. 26.1% of all respondents, Kazakhs and non-Kazakhs alike, also worry about the lack of oversight over the sale of Kazakhstan’s natural resources and 13.9% of them do not welcome foreign direct investment at all.267 The significance of this concern over national wealth, natural resources and land, serve as the marker of functionalist identity construction similar to Gellner’s vision. (1983) In this approach, the economic reforms of the modern state of Kazakhstan serve as the foundation for constructing a new Kazakh nation which would maximize the use of the available resources. The old divisions of the Kazakhs onto the tribes and Hordes are no longer relevant; in fact, even the ethnic divisions no longer matter either. The 266 “The land problem became extremely acute now because of uncontrolled sell-out to foreigners” noted a Kazakh leader of political opposition group in an interview with the author on 8/15/2009 to highlight the issues of Kazakh national identity. In his opinion, land is now is one the constituent features of Kazakh identity, on the same level as livestock breeding is, and selling will severely undermine the efforts in reconstituting it. 267 2009-2010 survey by author, question “What is your assessment of the role FDI plays in Kazakhstan?” |
