Kazakh Identity: Challenges and Prospects in the Context of Globalization

Kazakhstan’s socio-political development unfolds under sustained global integration, which simultaneously expands opportunities for cooperation and tests the resilience of national identity. A critical challenge for the state is to preserve political stability and social cohesion while fostering openness to international exchanges and innovations. This article examines how globalization reconfigures identity in Kazakhstan through discursive, institutional, and socio-cultural mechanisms. Using critical discourse analysis of policy documents, elite speeches, media narratives, and educational materials (2010–2025), supplemented by a comparative perspective and secondary survey evidence, the study shows that civic identification has gradually strengthened, yet ethnocultural belonging remains highly salient. We conceptualize this duality as strategic hybridity: a state–societal strategy that combines civic integration with the preservation of ethnocultural continuity. Kazakhstan’s multicultural framework demonstrates that diversity, when grounded in civic values, can serve as a resource for resilience rather than fragmentation. The findings also highlight the growing role of youth, rural–urban differences, and the digital ecosystem as decisive arenas in shaping identity. By integrating global norms with national traditions, Kazakhstan illustrates how universal values—democracy, justice, scientific progress—can be assimilated without eroding cultural distinctiveness. The article refines constructivist approaches by identifying the institutional conditions under which global norms are localized and outlines policy implications for education, media, digital platforms, and diaspora engagement as crucial domains for sustaining stability and inclusive development.