ABSTRACT
Usually in any geographic or temporal case, studying party development would entail utilizing various aspects of the diverse array of theories and concepts related to parties and party systems (Ostrogorski, 1902; Michels, 1915; Durverger, 1954; Neumann, 1956; La Palombara and Weiner, 1966; Lipset and Rokkan, 1967; Sartori, 1976; Panebianco, 1988). Party development in Kazakhstan, and its relationship with informal political relations and behaviour, however, cannot be viewed through such a straightforward theoretical prism. A majority of theoretical works related to party and party system development are induced from studies concerned with the progress of parties in Western advanced industrial societies. Not privy to the historical and geographical context of advanced party systems of Western Europe, party development in Kazakhstan is instead interrelated to the neopatrimonial nature of its political system. The emergence of political parties in the post-Soviet era is connected to patrimonial forms of political behaviour and relations evident in the polity. Therefore, a theoretical approach to analysing and understanding party development in Kazakhstan requires a framework offering insight and assistance in both the informal and formal aspects of this phenomenon.
