Kazakhstan's Posture in the Eurasian Union: In Search of Serene Sovereignty

Author(s): Marlene Laruelle
Editor(s): Stephen Aris, Matthias Neumann, Robert Orttung, Jeronim Perovic, Heiko Pleines, Hans-Henning Schröder, Aglaya Snetkov
Series: Russian Analytical Digest (RAD)
Issue: 165
Pages: 7-10
Publisher(s): Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich; Research Centre for East European Studies, University of Bremen; Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, George Washington University
Publication Year: 2015

Among all post-Soviet states, the position of Kazakhstan towards the Eurasian Union project is likely the most complex. The country has managed to keep a good dose of pragmatism within its approach, subtly fluctuating between a façade of serenity, active corridor diplomacy, and reinforcing its sovereignty via its symbolic attributes. Nazarbayev has formulated Kazakhstan's posture on the Eurasian Union project unambiguously and repeatedly. Yet many other symbolic aspects are discreetly at play, and the Kazakh authorities have received and responded to them well, as can be seen from Nazarbayev's announcement that 2015 would be the 550th anniversary of the birth of the Kazakh state.

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