ABSTRACT
In the second half of 1991, Kazakhstan suffered a huge and unexpected political and economic shock. With very little warning, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) dissolved and Kazakhstan became an independent country in December 1991. With no previous history of statehood and a precarious ethnic composition, the country faced huge challenges in state-and institution-building. The Soviet economy was without regard for internal borders, and Kazakhstan’s role had been mainly that of a primary product supplier, mainly oil, minerals, grain and cotton. Within the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan had an open economy, but it had almost no direct contact with the global economy.
