Revolution: Will Asia Be Next?

Kazakhstan : Why it Could

By Joshua Kucera

Kazakhstan shares several salient characteristics with many Arab states. The current president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, has ruled since the Soviet era and shows no sign of giving up power any time soon. Nearly all media is controlled by the state, and 100 percent of current members of parliament are in Nazarbayev's party. State control over the country's enormous oil and natural gas wealth has engendered a corrupt elite that live lavishly while much of the country is still poor and underdeveloped. A growing middle class, however, is getting exposed to the outside world and Western education and could as a result be developing aspirations of a more open political system. Nazarbayev's rhetoric places Kazakhstan among European states, while its political system is obviously more restrictive, perhaps creating expectations of liberalization that he will be unable or unwilling to fulfill.

Photo: Julio Aprea