ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 addresses the variance between the empirical results of Chapters 3 and 4 in view of the central objective of the research project at hand: to investigate whether, and how, the Kazakh democratization and socialization pathways have been influenced by the institutionalization of relations with the People’s Republic of China through the SCO. To this end, the analysis introduces two ‘SCO-manufactured’ mechanisms – the securitization of political competition and ideational neutralization – which, since 2001, have been exerting influence on Kazakhstan’s relationship with the OSCE and the West in general. It will illustrate how these two mechanisms have effectively aided the revival of Kazakhstan’s already present local barriers to democratization, facilitating the post-Soviet nation’s anti-democratic reversal. However, it will also illustrate that, rather than aiming at deliberate autocracy promotion, Beijing has been using these mechanisms to pursue its broader anti-hegemonic agenda on the global level – while starting from the local one.
