Ethnicity and Elections under Authoritarianism: The Case of Kazakhstan

Natsuko Oka

No 194, IDE Discussion Papers from Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO)

Abstract: Despite the ethnicisation of power since independence in 1991, Kazakhstan has managed tomaintain political stability without experiencing large-scale mobilisation to oppose Kazakhdomination. This paper examines government strategy to avoid ethnic voting in an attempt toexplain why ethnic divisions were rarely reflected in the struggle for power in the republic.While the arbitrary use of legal provisions considerably limited participation in elections byethnic leaders, powerful pro-president parties that exhibited a cross-ethnic character were createdto curtail ethnically based movements. The control strategy in elections aimed not simply atethnicising the parliament in favour of Kazakhs, but at having loyal Russians and otherminorities represented in the legislature through nomination by the president and catch-allpro-regime parties, or through the presidential consultative body—Assembly of the People ofKazakhstan. This well-controlled representation of minorities served not only to placatenon-Kazakhs but also to provide legitimacy for the Kazakh-dominated leadership by projectingthe image of cross-ethnic support for the president and some degree of power-sharing.

Keywords: Ethnic minority; Election; Kazakhstan; Minority Ethnic group; Politics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-03-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-cwa, nep-dev and nep-pol
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (50)

Published in IDE Discussion Paper = IDE Discussion Paper, No. 194. 2009-03-01

Downloads: (external link)
https://ir.ide.go.jp/record/37973/files/IDP000194_001.pdf First version, 2009 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper194

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
Publication Office, IDE 3-2-2 Wakaba, Mihama-ku, Chiba-shi, Chiba 261-8545 JAPAN
http://www.ide.go.jp/English/Publish/Order

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IDE Discussion Papers from Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michitaka Imamitsu ().