The Dilemma in the Nation-Building Process : The Kazakh or Kazakhstani Nation?

Abstract

This article analyses the nation-building strategy that Kazakhstan’s government has implemented since independence. It examines why the nation builders have taken the decision to create two nations, the ethnic Kazakh nation and the civic Kazakhstani nation in a multiethnic society. In its analysis the article adopts a constructivist approach.

Keywords

• Kazakhstan
• nation-building
• nationalism theories
• Central Asia