Atomic steppe: how Kazakhstan gave up the bomb

Akhtar, Rabia

doi:10.1093/ia/iiac067

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…The pursuit of this was motivated by domestic and external reasons. On the internal front, policymakers expected to bargain the dismantlement of the nuclear arsenal for outside assistance to alleviate the dire economic situation; on the international one, the country was entangled between the United States' push for denuclearization and the great power neighbors' , notably Russia and China, threat to its security (Kassenova, 2014(Kassenova, , 2022 9 In even more contrast with global focus of the nuclear policy of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan proposals present a narrow scope, as they address only the nuclear weapons free zone in Central Asia.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A New Eurasian Bloc? Characterizing the Activity of Former Soviet and Turkic Countries at the Un General Assembly

Monteiro,

Santana,

Mesquita

2023

REI

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Soviet countries were the most cohesive bloc in the UN General Assembly (UNGA) during the bipolar era, after which the East-West cleavage was replaced by a North-South division. Hence, the Soviet space fell out of the attention of UN research in the post-Cold War era. However, this North-South polarization arises mainly from voting analyses that ignore other interstate activities at the UN. An analysis of sponsorship patterns of draft resolutions from the last decade, in contrast, reveals alternative groups, including a cluster with former Soviet, Eastern European, and Turkish-speaking countries, suggesting some unity among Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. In light of such evidence, this exploratory paper uses data on UNGA sponsorship between 2009 and 2019 to descriptively characterize this newfound coalition of Eurasian countries, probing what their pattern of UNGA activity is and what topics bind them together as a group.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A New Eurasian Bloc? Characterizing the Activity of Former Soviet and Turkic Countries at the Un General Assembly

Monteiro,

Santana,

Mesquita

2023

REI

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“…As a new state suffering an economic crisis, Kazakhstan also wished to quickly become a part of the international system; in other words, it needed to establish itself as a sovereign state that was a part of international organizations and, especially, the global economy. In addition, there was a strong grass roots, anti-nuclear movement in Kazakhstan related to decades of Soviet testing there (Kassenova, 2021). In some ways, therefore, the outcome seemed preordained.…”

Section: International Security and Nuclear Weaponsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Kazakhstan’s Quest for Status: A Secondary State’s Strategy to Shape Its International Image

O’Neill

Primiano

2023

Journal of Eurasian Studies

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Since becoming an independent country in 1991, Kazakhstan has demonstrated a strong desire for international status and recognition by, for example, hosting numerous international events, such as chairing the OSCE and hosting EXPO 2017; creating the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia; and, most notably, presenting the abandonment of its nuclear weapons as a model for other states to emulate. Surprisingly, Kazakhstan has received scant attention by scholars regarding its desire for status, especially considering how the government has framed its decision to relinquish its nuclear weapons in terms of advancing international peace at the expense of its own security self-interest. Kazakhstan’s status-seeking raises two questions. First, how can a mid-level power strategically frame its foreign and domestic policies in order to improve its global status? And second, how can it improve its international status when domestic priorities (such as economic development and political stability) lead to policies that meet disapproval abroad? In this article, we answer these questions by examining issue areas (security, democratization, and the environment) that contain variation in our dependent variable, Kazakhstan’s quest for status. In doing so, we reveal patterns of how a secondary or mid-level state lacking substantial material capabilities can, through its words and actions, construct an image that may enhance its international status. We also show variation by issue area in the reception of these efforts by developed and developing countries. Lastly, we reveal in what issue areas Kazakhstan’s desire for status internationally is constrained by the government’s desire to maintain power domestically.

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Atomic steppe: how Kazakhstan gave up the bomb

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

A New Eurasian Bloc? Characterizing the Activity of Former Soviet and Turkic Countries at the Un General Assembly

A New Eurasian Bloc? Characterizing the Activity of Former Soviet and Turkic Countries at the Un General Assembly

Kazakhstan’s Quest for Status: A Secondary State’s Strategy to Shape Its International Image

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