Abstract
Former Kazakhstani president Nazarbayev started the construction of a new state quite smoothly due to the smooth transition of state power after the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the social and economic foundation Kazakhstan inherited from it. He used instruments such as elections and referendums to successfully weaken opposition parties and expand presidential power. In addition, he moved the state capital and redrew the country’s administrative divisions, developing and consolidating the demographic majority of Kazakhs at the national and local levels. Nazarbayev emphasized the cultural and traditional foundation of Kazakhstan’s power politics and developed the idea of “grassland democracy”. Upholding the secularization of the country, he valued Kazakhstan’s special characteristics and rejected the interference of Western democracy and Islamism, achieved rapid social and economic development in Kazakhstan, significantly improved people’s wellbeing, and developed stable relations with other countries.
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Notes
Население СССР по данным всесоюзной переписи населения 1989 г.Издательство «финансы и статистика», Москва.1990.стр.9.
Kazakhstan’s second constitution later changed this body into a bicameral parliament on August 30, 1995.
Asar merged with Nur Otan in 2006.
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Yang, S. Nazarbayev: the road to power and success. China Int Strategy Rev. 2, 120–137 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42533-020-00046-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42533-020-00046-8