ABSTRACT
In chapters 3 and 4, I argued that the regime, in order to keep the NOC and major engineering companies under its control, primarily used two mechanisms: clientelism and Kazakhization. In this chapter, I argue that in the case of the local groups in the oil-rich regions, the picture becomes somewhat more complex as the equation of the oil industry-regime is complicated by an additional actor: the foreign oil companies. The involvement of outside actors in controlling oil-rich areas in Kazakhstan is not unprecedented. In the previous chapter, I demonstrated that the regime, in cooperation with foreign oil companies, managed to ‘address’ grievances among the local population.
