INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL THEORY THEORIZING CENTRAL ASIAN POLITICS The State, Ideology and Power EDITED BY RICO ISAACS AND ALESSANDRO FRIGERIO International Political Theory Series Editor Gary Browning Oxford Brookes University Oxford, UK The Palgrave International Political Theory Series provides students and scholars with cutting-edge scholarship that explores the ways in which we theorise the international. Political theory has by tradition implicitly accepted the bounds of the state, and this series of intellectually rigorous and innovative monographs and edited volumes takes the discipline for- ward, reflecting both the burgeoning of IR as a discipline and the con- current internationalisation of traditional political theory issues and concepts. Offering a wide-ranging examination of how International Politics is to be interpreted, the titles in the series thus bridge the IR-political theory divide. The aim of the series is to explore interna- tional issues in analytic, historical and radical ways that complement and extend common forms of conceiving international relations such as real- ism, liberalism and constructivism. More information about this series at http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14842 Rico Isaacs • Alessandro Frigerio Editors Theorizing Central Asian Politics The State, Ideology and Power Editors Rico Isaacs Alessandro Frigerio Department of Social Sciences Almaty Management University Oxford Brookes University Almaty, Kazakhstan Oxford, UK International Political Theory ISBN 978-3-319-97354-8 ISBN 978-3-319-97355-5 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97355-5 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018955462 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the pub- lisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institu- tional affiliations. Cover illustration: Zharmukhamed Zardykhan Cover Design By: Laura de Grasse This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS No book or research project is ever a solitary endeavour. We began the journey for this collection with a conversation over lunch in Almaty in 2012 and it has seen fruition because of the collective assistance of many people, friends and colleagues. Firstly, our deepest gratitude and respect go to all the contributors to this volume. In many ways, their talent, enthusiasm, commitment and scholarly disposition have made our jobs as editors easy. We feel lucky and privileged that they chose to work with us on this book and we thank them for all their efforts at meeting deadlines and taking seriously our comments, however, left field our remarks may have been from time to time. This book is ultimately their book. We were also fortunate enough to benefit from some financial support from both Oxford Brookes University and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung office in Almaty that enabled us to host a workshop with many of the con- tributors of this volume. Special thanks go to Yevgeniya Plakhina and Henriette Kiefer for helping us secure support from Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and to Artyom Korchagin for assisting in the organisation of the workshop and all the logistics and travel arrangements. The workshop took place on the 18–19 May 2017 and was hosted by the Central Asian Studies Centre (CASC) at KIMEP University in Almaty. We are indebted to Nargis Kasenova, the director of CASC, for sponsoring and helping organise the workshop, and also to Zharmukhamed Zardykhan who helped with the design of the programme and marketing materials and who we are also deeply grateful for the wonderful design which graces the cover of this book. v vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Rico Isaacs would like to thank colleagues at the Centre for Global Politics, Economy and Society for the lively, encouraging and critically rigorous research environment they provide which allows ideas for vol- umes like this to flourish. Alessandro Frigerio would like to thank the drivers of Almaty for welcoming him as a fellow scholar to the streets of this beautiful city. Particular thanks go to Gary Browning for agreeing to take a punt with this book in the Palgrave International Theory Series. At Palgrave, we would owe a special debt of gratitude to Imogen Gordon Clark for her assistance in developing the book and getting it ready for publication. And we would like to thank John Stegner who kindly shep- herded us through to the final product that you have in your hands now. Finally, we are grateful to Central Asia, and Kazakhstan in particular, which gave us much and then some more: for the past ten years a home for Alessandro and a home away from home for Rico. Almaty and Oxford, April 2018. CONTENTS 1 Political Theory and Central Asia: An Introduction 1 Rico Isaacs and Alessandro Frigerio Section I Exploring Models of Governance 15 2 Legitimacy and Legitimation in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan 17 Sofya du Boulay and Rico Isaacs 3 Governmentalization of the Kazakhstani State: Between Governmentality and Neopatrimonial Capitalism 43 Assel Tutumlu 4 Theorizing the Managerialism-Neoliberalism- Development Nexus: Changing Donor Landscapes and Persistence of Practices in Kyrgyzstan 65 Liga Rudzite 5 Rawlsian Liberalism and Rationalistic Maturidi Islam in Central Asia 95 Galym Zhussipbek and Kairat Moldashev vii viii CONTENTS Section II Revealing Ideological Justifications 119 6 In Search of ‘National Purpose’: In Theory and Practice. Formation and Main Features of National Ideologies in Post-Soviet Central Asia 121 Parviz Mullojanov 7 Compartmentalized Ideology: Presidential Addresses and Legitimation in Kazakhstan 145 Diana T. Kudaibergenova 8 Beyond ‘Personality Cults’: Sacralization of Power in Kazakhstan and the Concept of Monarchy 167 Adrien Fauve 9 Eternal Futurostan: Myths, Fantasies and the Making of Astana in Post-Soviet Kazakhstan 189 Mikhail Akulov Section III Reframing State and Order 211 10 State Identities in Post-Soviet Foreign Policy: Theories and Cases in Central Asia 213 Selbi Hanova 11 The Heartland of IR Theory? Central Asia as an ‘International Society’ Between Realism and Liberalism 237 Filippo Costa Buranelli 12 The Incomplete State: Re-conceptualizing State and Society Relations in Central Asia 263 Viktoria Akchurina CONTENTS ix 13 Driving in Almaty: Ironic Perspectives on Domestic Anarchical Society 285 Alessandro Frigerio 14 Postscript: Dude Where’s My Theory? 309 Rico Isaacs and Alessandro Frigerio Index 313 NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS Viktoria Akchurina works as a Researcher at the TRENDS Research & Advisory, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. She received her PhD in International Studies from the University of Trento in January 2016. Her doctoral dissertation—titled ‘State as Social Practice: Sources, Resources, and Forces in Central Asia’—examines state-building processes compara- tively in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Viktoria conducted inde- pendent field research on Islamic resistance movements in Central Asia in 2012 and 2014. Previously, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher in Paris, an assistant professor at the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek, as researcher for the OSCE Office in Dushanbe, at the International Women’s Media Foundation in Washington, and at the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF). Her main research interests include state-building, global governance, social radicalisation and social engineering. Viktoria speaks fluently English, German, Italian, French and Russian (mother tongue). Mikhail Akulov was born in Kazakhstan and spent 15 years of his life in the United States and Europe. In 2013, he defended his PhD thesis at Harvard University on the subject of revolutionary warlordism during the Russian Civil war. Having returned to Kazakhstan that same year, he became the Dean of the General Education Faculty at the Kazakh-British Technical University and in 2018 he moved to Nazarbayev University as Assistant Professor at the Department of History, Philosophy and Religious Studies. As a scholar and a manager, he hopes to contribute to the xi xii NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS emergence of the modern system of higher education—one attuned both to the needs of the local society and the global community at large. Filippo Costa Buranelli is Lecturer in International Relations at the University of St Andrews, UK. His interests