Abstract
With the elimination of the Soviet Union the rulers of the suddenly independent Central Asian states urgently had to identify other ways and means of legitimizing their hold on power. This chapter is an analysis of how this quest has fared in the case of Kazakhstan.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Adams, Laura.2010. The Spectacular State. Culture and National Identity in Uzbekistan. Durham: Duke University Press.
Akbarzadeh, S.1996. Nation-Building in Uzbekistan. Central Asian Survey 15(1): 23–32.
———1999. National Identity and Political Legitimacy in Turkmenistan. Nationalities Papers 27(2): 271–290.
Akiner, S.1995. The Formation of Kazakh Identity: From Tribe to Nation-State. London: Royal Institute of International Affairs.
———1997. Melting Pot, Salad Bowl—Cauldron. Manipulation and Mobilization of Ethnic and Religious Identities in Central Asia. Ethnic and Racial Studies 20(2): 362–398.
Aydingün, A.2007. Islam as a Symbolic Element of National Identity Used by the Nationalist Ideology in the Nation and State Building Process in Post-Soviet Kazakhstan. Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies 6(17): 69–83.
Bar-Tal, D. 2000. Societal Beliefs. London: Sage.
Bell, D. 2003. ‘Mythscapes: memory, mythology and national identity’. British Journal of Sociology . 54(1): 63–81.
Bhavna, D.2007. Kazakhstan: Ethnicity, Language and Power. London: Routledge.
Billig, M.1995. Banal Nationalism. London: Sage.
Blustein, J.2008. The Moral Demands of Memory. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Boer, R.2009. Political Myth: On the Use and Abuse of Biblical Themes. Durham and London: Duke University Press.
Bottici, C.2010. A Philosophy of Political Myth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bottici, C., and B. Challand.2014. Imagining Europe: Myth, Memory, and Identity. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Brill Olcott, M.1982. Soviet Islam and World Revolution. World Politics 34(4): 487–504.
———1997. Kazakstan: Nursultan Nazarbaev as Strong President. In Postcommunist Presidents, ed. R. Taras, 106–129. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cohen, S.1999. Politics without a Past: The Absence of History in Post-communist Nationalism. Durham: Duke University Press.
Collins, K.2006. Clan Politics and Regime Transition in Central Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cummings, S.N.2006. Legitimation and Identification in Kazakhstan. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 12(2): 177–204.
della Sala, V.2010. Political Myth, Mythology and the European Union. Journal of Common Market Studies 48(1): 1–19.
Diener, A.C.2002. National Territory and the Reconstruction of History in Kazakhstan. Eurasian Geography and Economics 43(8): 632–650.
Franke, A., A. Gawrich, et al.2009. Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan as Post-Soviet Rentier States: Resources Income and Autocracy as a Double “Curse” in Post-Soviet States. Europe-Asia Studies 61(1): 109–140.
Galick, D. 2014. Responding to the Dual Threat to Kazakhness: The Rise of Alash Orda and its Uniquely Kazakh Path. Vestnik: The Journal of Russian and Asian Studies, 29 March. http://www.sras.org/alash_orda_kazakh. Accessed 1 June 2015.
Hann, C., and M. Pelkmans.2009. Realigning Religion and Power in Central Asia: Islam, Nation-State and (Post)Socialism. Europe-Asia Studies 61(9): 1517–1541.
Hobsbawm, E., and T. Ranger.1983. The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Huttenbach, H.R.1998. Whither Kazakstan? Changing Capitals: From Almaty to Aqmola/Astana. Nationalities Papers 26(3): 581–587.
Hylland Eriksen, T.2004. Rötter och fötter: Identitet i en föränderlig tid. Nora: Nya Doxa.
Isaacs, R.2010. Informal Politics and the Uncertain Context of Transition: Revisiting Early Stage Non-democratic Development in Kazakhstan. Democratization 17(1): 1–25.
Jones, N.P.2010. “Assembling” a Civic Nation in Kazakhstan: The Nation-Building Role of the Assembly of the Peoples of Kazakhstan. Caucasian Review of International Affairs 4(2): 159–168.
Kaneva, N.2011. Nation Branding: Towards an Agenda for Critical Research. International Journal of Communication 5: 117–141.
Koch, N.2010. The Monumental and the Miniature: Imagining “Modernity” in Astana. Social & Cultural Geography 11(8): 769–787.
Kulyk, V.2006. Constructing Common Sense: Language and Ethnicity in Ukrainian Public Discourse. Ethnic and Racial Studies 29(2): 281–314.
Laruelle, M.2008. Russian Eurasianism: An Ideology of Empire. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Lewis, D.2008. The Temptations of Tyranny in Central Asia. London: Hurst Publishers.
McDonald, M. 2010. ‘“Lest We Forget”: The Politics of Memory and Australian Military Intervention’. International Political Sociology 4(3): 287–302.
Mellon, J.2010. Myth, Legitimacy and Nationalism in Central Asia. Ethnopolitics 9(2): 137–150.
Murphy, J.2006. Illusory Transition? Elite Reconstitution in Kazakhstan, 1989–2002. Europe-Asia Studies 58(4): 523–554.
Nazarbayev, N. 2010. Address of Nursultan Nazarbayev, the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan at the III Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions. http://www.religions-congress.org/content/view/211/31/lang,english/. Accessed 29 May 2015.
——— 2011. The President of the Republic of Kazakhstan–Speech by Nursultan Nazarbayev at the Inauguration as President of the Republic of Kazakhstan The Palace of Independence, Astana April 8, 2011. http://www.kazembqatar.com/cvpresident/1303026618/. Accessed 29 May 2015.
OSCE/ODIHR. 2011. International Election Observation: Republic of Kazakhstan –Early Presidential Election, 3 April 2011: Statement of Preliminary Findings and Conclusions. Astana: OSCE/ODIHR.
Persson, E., and B. Petersson.2014. Political Myth Making and the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi: Olympism and the Russian Great Power Myth. East European Politics 30(2): 192–209.
Petersson, B.2001. National Self-images and Regional Identities in Russia. Aldershot: Ashgate.
———2006. Stories About Strangers: Swedish Media Constructions of Socio-Cultural Risk. Lanham: University Press of America.
———2009. Hot Conflict and Everyday Banality: Enemy Images, Scapegoats and Stereotypes. Development 52(4): 460–466.
———2014. Still Embodying the Myth? Problems of Post-Communism 61(1): 30–40.
Pohl, O.J.2008. Suffering in a Province of Asia: The Russian-German Diaspora in Kazakhstan. In German Diasporic Experiences: Identity, Migration, and Loss, ed. M. Schulze. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press and Waterloo Centre for German Studies.
Privratsky, B.G.2001. Muslim Turkestan: Kazak Religion and Collective Memory. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon.
Ro’i, Y., and A. Wainer.2009. Muslim Identity and Islamic Practice in Post-Soviet Central Asia. Central Asian Survey 28(3): 303–322.
Rorlich, A.-A.2003. Islam, Identity and Politics: Kazakhstan, 1990–2000. Nationalities Papers 31(2): 157–176.
Roy, O.2000. The New Central Asia: The Creation of Nations. London: I.B. Tauris.
Schatz, E.2004. Modern Clan Politics: The Power of “Blood” in Kazakhstan and Beyond. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Shayakhmetov, M.2006. The Silent Steppe. London: Stacey Internat.
Slavomir, H.2005. The Ideology of the Turkmenbashy Regime. Perspectives on European Politics and Society 6(2): 305–320.
The World Factbook. 2015. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/kz.html. Accessed 29 May 2015.
Vertkin, D.2007. Kazakhstan and Islam. Defense & Security Analysis 23(4): 439–440.
List of Interviewees
Abdilachayeva, Medeurova Gulzhan, Principal, Ush Konyr School, Ush Konyr, 18/3/2011.
Baimenov, Alikhan, Chairman of the Ak Zhol Party, Ak Zhol Party Office, Astana, 9/2/2011.
Karin, Yerlan, Party Secretary, Nur Otan Party, Nur Otan Party Office, Astana, 28/3/2011.
Kim, Vladimir, Chairman of KazakMys, Nur Otan Party Congress, Astana, 11/2/2011.
Koslov, Vladimir, DVK/ALGA Party Office, Almaty, 7/7/2010.
Mambetalin, Serikzhan, Chairman of Rukhaniyat Green Party, Office of Rukhaniyat Party, Almaty, 9/6/2011.
Nehoroshev, Vladimir, MP for Nur Otan, Nur Otan Party Congress, Astana, 11/2/2011.
Rysambetov, Rassul, Coffedelia Café, Almaty, 13/6/2010.
Satpayev, Dosym, Political Analyst, Café, Almaty, 21/7/2010.
Shanakov, Mukhtar, Former MP for Nur Otan Party, Former Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, private office, Almaty, 20/7/2010.
Soloyeva, Aigul, MP for Nur Otan, Coffeedelia Café, Almaty, 5/2/2011.
Uteshev, Nurlan, Nur Otan Party Office, Astana, 17/2/2011.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Orange, M., Petersson, B. (2017). ‘There Can Be No Other Sun in the Sky’: Political Myth, Spirituality and Legitimacy in Contemporary Kazakhstan. In: Raudvere, C. (eds) Contested Memories and the Demands of the Past. Islam and Nationalism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39001-7_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39001-7_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-39000-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-39001-7
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)