ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses nation-building projects and processes in contemporary Kazakhstan from the dual perspective of the state and national minorities, which have both sought to maintain the inter-ethnic status quo. Nation-building in contemporary Kazakhstan can be described as a complex process encompassing: first, the promotion of an inclusive civic state at least in official discourses, granting all citizens equal rights, while postponing real democratic reforms until after economic development. Second, the implementation of nationalising policies, officially through the promotion of Kazakh language, culture and historiography and unofficially through discrimination towards non-Kazakhs on the basis of Kazakh language proficiency. Third, the monopolisation of the political field by the Kazakh elite comprising different, concurrent factions and the exclusion of both non-Kazakh minorities and ordinary members of the titular nation from political circles. In the case of the Tatars, the situation is complicated by the fact that they are few in number, like their Kazakh counterparts, Muslims and a Turkish-speaking people.
