Kazakhstan’s National Identity- Building Policy: Soviet Legacy, State Efforts, and Societal Reactions

The collapse of the Soviet Union led to profound changes in ethnicity and identity policies and practices in the newly independent countries, including Kazakhstan. The multiethnic population of Kazakhstan presented an immense challenge for the new regime and its approaches to the identity-building policies. This Article focuses on the identity-building policies of Kazakhstan and offers an overview of the legal framework regulating language use, education, media, citizenship, and official identity policy. This Article also focuses on the implementation of the officially stated policies and explores reasons behind inconsistencies and discrepancies between the declared policies and the de facto situation on the ground. Finally, this Article looks at the societal reactions towards the official identity and language policies expressed in the country’s public and media discourse. This Article argues that Kazakhstan’s post-independence identity- building process is affected by several important implications, including the legacy of Soviet nationality policy, significant continuity with late-Soviet policies and practices, the search for a new identity, and the regime’s aim to prevent political confrontation along ethnic lines by assuring Kazakh hegemony while allowing nominal minority representation.