CIAO DATE: 10/2013
September 2013
Kazakhstan has long been viewed from the outside as the most prosperous and stable country in a region widely regarded as fr agile and dysfunctional. The appearance of wealth, based largely on the conspicuous consumption of Almaty and Astana, its main cities, and multi-billion-dollar energy contracts – increasingly with China – hides, however, a multitude of challenges. An ageing authoritarian leader with no des- ignated successor, labour unrest, growing Islamism, corruption, and a state apparatus that, when confronted even with limited security challenges, seems hard-pressed to respond, all indicate that the Kazakh state is not as robust as it first appears. Without a significant effort to push forward with repeatedly promised political, social and eco- nomic reforms, Kazakhstan risks becoming just another Central Asian authoritarian regime that squandered the advantages bestow ed on it by abundant natural resources.
Resource link: Kazakhstan: Waiting for Change [PDF] - 781K