Tag: Kazakhstan

Fresh hope for Ukraine on Maidan, Holodomor anniversaries?

     

Do new faces in politics in Ukraine, Moldova, Kazakhstan, and Slovakia mean real change, New Eastern Europe asks. ‘Is this part of a wider trend that indicates deeper social transformation’,… Read more »

‘Democratic Spring’ stirring in Eurasia?

     

Meduza journalist Ivan Golunov’s release from house arrest does not imply a softening of the Kremlin’s stance toward civil society or a strengthening of its fight against corruption, Russia analysts… Read more »

How Kazakhstan’s transition is playing out

     

Kazakhstan’s dictatorship appears to have all of the necessary institutions in place to facilitate a smooth transition after Nursultan Nazarbayev. The regime is set up to benefit from the presence of… Read more »

‘A Case of Irresponsible Asset Return’ benefits Kazakhstan kleptocracy

     

Following a year-long investigation, the Corruption and Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) have published their full findings on Kazakhstan II, produced in collaboration with the Eurasia Democracy Initiative. Kazakhstan II is… Read more »

‘Rogue actors’ making digital technology incompatible with democracy

     

  The internet is the technology paradox writ more monstrous than ever. It’s a nonpareil tool for learning, roving and constructive community-building. But it’s unrivaled, too, in the spread of… Read more »

Spies, lies and the oligarch: inside the kleptocrats’ booming secrets industry

     

In 2009, a fugitive Kazakh oligarch arranged a meeting in London with the head of an international private intelligence agency. Mukhtar Ablyazov (left), a slim man in his mid-forties with receding… Read more »

Shrinking space for Kazakhstan’s civil society

     

First, there was a media report hinting at shadowy links between foreign-funded charities and terrorism in Kazakhstan. Then, the taxman came knocking, notes analyst Joanna Lillis. The tax inspections served as… Read more »

Kazakhstan’s ‘authoritarian lite’ regime hints at cosmetic change

     

Kazakhstan’s leader, Nursultan Nazarbayev, is the country’s only president since independence — elected five times with 97.5 percent of the vote. Nazarbayev has created a kind of “authoritarian lite” system… Read more »