Kazakhstan Adoption

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Modern History

The first half of the 20th century was a period of utter chaos. Intellectuals searched for a new philosophy to replace Confucianism, while warlords attempted to grab imperial power. Sun Yatsen's Kuomintang (KMT, or Nationalist Party) established a base in southern China and began training a National Revolutionary Army (NRA). Meanwhile, talks between the Soviet Comintern and prominent Chinese Marxists resulted in the formation of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1921. Hopes of the CCP aligning with the KMT were dashed by Sun Yatsen's death and the rise from the KMT of Chiang Kaishek in Beijing , who favored a capitalist state supported by a military dictatorship.

Enter the Bolsheviks (stage Left), who quickly liberated the Central Asians from any ideas of self determination. Although there were frequent demonstrations of discontent, these were quickly and soundly defeated by the communists. Meanwhile a charismatic young Turk named Enver Pasha had bent Lenin's ear and convinced the Soviet leader he could deliver him all of Central Asia and British India . In reality Pasha had decided to ditch Lenin and win himself a Pan Turkic state with Central Asia as its core. A large army and some clever concessions to the Islamic religion saw Pasha's support wane and Moscow 's reign prevail.

Kazakhstan 's traditional tribal divisions - the Great Horde in the south, the Middle Horde in the centre and northeast, and the Little Horde in the west - were pasted over by the Russians and simply ignored by the Soviets, but remained important as social and ethnic identifiers. In fact, nationalist confusion is one of the major legacies of Soviet rule. Since the republics of Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen and Uzbek began to be created in the 1920s each was carefully shaped to contain pockets of differing nationalities with long-standing claims to the land. The present face of Central Asia is a product of this 'divide and rule' policy.

Soviet rule in Central Asia was a parade of ridiculous ideas: assimilating the region's ethnic groups, converting the steppe into a giant cotton plantation, using Kazakhstan as a 'secret' nuclear testing zone, etc. The political, social, economic and ecological disasters resulting from these experiments meant all five republics had little to lose by declaring their sovereignty when glasnost and perestroika led to the disintegration of the USSR in 1991. Later that year they joined with 11 other former Soviet states to form the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

In the same year Nursultan Nazarbayev, head of the Kazakh Communist Party since 1989, was elected president uncontested. He began imposing his peculiar ideas about democracy (weakened parliament, handy constitutional changes) on the country he hoped to turn into Central Asia 's economic tiger. In keeping with the ad hoc nature of the new republic, the nation's capital was moved from Almaty in the south to Akmola in the north and then re-named Astana in 1998. Nazarbayev's easy re-election in 1999 was aided by the banning of major opponents on frivolous grounds.

Current History

Intimidation of political opponents remains common, and in late 2004 the president's Otan party won control over parliament in elections that were independently deemed to be unfair. In December 2005, Nazarbayev again cruised to victory in a presidential election, setting the stage for another seven years in office. At 66 years of age, the president still has a few more years of political life in him, although observers suggest that questionable health could eventually put power in the hands of his daughter, Dariga, currently head of the official state news agency. Meanwhile, the Kazakh economy continues to grow at a rate of over 9% a year on the back of its oil and gas reserves, largely concentrated in the Caspian Sea region. Oil exports are increasingly headed for China , thanks to a new 962km (597mi) pipeline running the entire width of the country.