ABSTRACT
In dealing with the “appearance” of a post-Soviet set-up, the notion is about new forms rather than old forms: there is an overall tendency to believe that there has been a sudden break from past political and social traditions. The polarised views of the ethno-nationalists and the cosmopolitans emanate from this fixed notion of binary social relationships. The feel-good approach towards the Kazakh repatriation programme seems to have ebbed in the 2000s. Experiences of repatriation have been far from satisfactory for many non-titular groups who have tried to return from their diaspora venues in the early 1990s. Kazakhstan has had to take a call on her domestic priorities without however loosening her alliance with the former Soviet bloc. In fact, one needs to appreciate Kazakhstan’s stance in Commonwealth of Independent States affairs— especially in the context of events in Ukraine since when a new geopolitical drama unfolded in the entire region that lay between European Union and Russia.
