Rerouting The Semi-Periphery: Kazakhstan’s Post-Ukraine War Realignment And Middle Corridor Geoeconomics

This study examines Kazakhstan’s external realignment after the Russia–Ukraine war through world-systems theory, focusing on the Trans-Caspian (Middle) Corridor. It analyzes shifts in trade, investment, logistics, and energy transit toward China, the EU, and the United States amid constraints from Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union. The findings show diversification that reduces dependence on Russian routes but faces capacity and coordination limits, highlighting how corridor politics reshape semi-peripheral agency and gradually adjust Kazakhstan’s position in the global system.