TThhee LLaaww ooff FFuuttuurree GGeenneerraattiioonnss What do school graduates think about the legal system of Kazakhstan? Almaty , 2020 Narxoz Law and Public Policy “Justice is the mother of all good deeds. The concepts of conscience and honor come from justice. A fair person will certainly think and ask himself: “Why do I approve of the good deeds of others, but I myself do not hasten to take part in them?” Is this not evidence of his justice and honesty? Is this not the beginning of good deeds? ... Do not lose your sense of justice, do not get tired of doing good ”, - Abai Kunanbaev,“ Words of edification ” 2 Narxoz Law and Public Policy Authors: Andrei Shenin, Olena Bondarenko, Sabit Mukhamedzhanuly Translated into English by: Miriam Hinthorn CCoonntteenntt 4 13 Introduction Legal documents 5 15 Research Personalities methodology 6 18 Results of Events and content-analysis cases 8 20 Theoretical Conclusion concepts 3 Narxoz Law and Public Policy IInnttrroodduuccttiioonn In any society, a variety of mechanisms ducted a study "The Right of Future Gen - are used to regulate life and relations erations", in which the researchers ana - within the system. Law, rights, govern - lyzed the knowledge of law of more than ment, and traditions – each has its place 150 school students of Kazakhstan. The and role, while common rules of conduct research was based on the essays of and dispute resolution are clearly spelled students submitted to the International out in a number of relevant regulations Law Competition organized by the from the Constitution to the codes of School of Law and Public Policy in Jan - ethics for individual professions. As a uary - March 2020. The students were rule, legal evolution is a continuing social asked to write an essay analyzing a process during which laws and the rule quote by a French writer Victor Hugo of law are enriched and supplemented “Right is just and true”. by necessary provisions for ensuring sus - Since the students discussed the top - tainable development of society and ics of law, justice, human rights, and the maintaining a sense of justice. duties of the state in their coursework, In the near future, the young genera - the team of the Eurasian Center for Eco - tion of Kazakhstanis, (i.e. graduate stu - nomic and Legal Studies of the School dents entering higher education institu - of Law and Public Administration of the tions,) will become the key force behind University of Narxoz proposed studying the evolution of the legal system in the how the next generation understands country. In secondary education pro - and connects such categories important grams, the issues of law are referenced for the development of the individual and in “Self-awareness” courses in 5 - 7th the state. This study presents an analysis grades, and the “People. Society. Law” of how this generation - secondary stu - course in the 9th grade. The selection of dents from all over the country - under - learning trajectory depending on the fu - stands the issues of law, justice, and the ture professional course takes place in role and place of the state in ensuring 9-10th grades; and the “Fundamentals the rights and freedoms of citizens. of Law” class is an elective course in 10- We are pleased to share the results 11th grades. with everyone who cares about the de - To assess the understanding of the le - velopment of education, compliance with gal system operation from the point of the law, the upbringing of the young gen - view of high school graduates, the eration of citizens of the Republic of Eurasian Center for Economics and Law Kazakhstan and the future of the country Research of the Narxoz University as a whole. School of Law and Public Policy con - 4 Narxoz Law and Public Policy RReesseeaarrcchh MMeetthhooddoollooggyy Research methodology comprises the related to law and the state, the second tools for interpretation of narrative, such - awareness of regulatory documents, as content analysis, structuring and com - and the third includes references to both parative analysis. specific individuals and groups of people At the first stage, researchers con - whom students consider necessary to ducted content analysis to identify the mention in the context of law and justice. key categories of legal discourse in the The last category - “Events and Phenom - school environment and determine the ena” - reveals a subjective opinion on connotation of concepts in each category the observance of law, human rights, and (positive or negative). At the second the state of the legal system in the Re - stage, the Center’s experts determined public of Kazakhstan. During the third the structure of the study that best stage, comparative analysis, the re - demonstrates the views of students re - searchers conducted a detailed interpre - garding law and justice. Based on the tation of narrative following preliminary content analysis, the following key cate - categorization. The research team has gories for the study include “Theoretical intended to adhere to the principles of concepts”, “Legal documents”, “Per - unbiased, comprehensive, and fair de - sons”, as well as “Events and phenom - scription of the views and legal thinking ena”. The first category demonstrates of students. an understanding of the basic concepts 5 Narxoz Law and Public Policy RReessuullttss ooff CCoonntteenntt--aannaallyyssiiss The content analysis allowed re - their observance and protection. searchers not only to identify the basic The role and influence of each cate - research categories but also to deter - gory on the sustainability of the legal sys - mine the perception of each category on tem of the Republic of Kazakhstan was the "negative-positive" scale, where determined: large size circumference "negative" refers to the implementation around category reflects the high role of categories in practice with the purpose and influence, and small size – low im - of violating the law, the rights and free - pact. doms of citizens, and "positive" refers to 6 Narxoz Law and Public Policy The authors found that students per - rights, freedoms and laws, but also in re - ceive the triad of “law-right-justice” as the lation to violations; unlimited “freedom” bases of the legal system of the Republic can lead to chaos; “the state” may not of Kazakhstan. The“right” (‘ius’) category always act in the interests of citizens; appears as a very broad concept used and “responsibilities”, if neglected, de - by different students to elaborate on both prive the legal system of meaning. For their understanding of the entire legal these reasons, although each of these system of the country, and also of human terms is important in the expression of rights and other ideas. On the contrary, opinions, they do not carry a definite pos - there were no such dichotomies in the itive or negative connotation. However, definition of “law” and “justice”. Justice, we should mention that the term “state”, in turn, stands as the highest value for a while in the center of the scale, is men - legal system with a 100 percent rate of tioned by a majority of students as the positive perception by students which most important element in the functioning has a great influence on the stability of of the legal system, the guarantor of ob - the legal system. However, it was often servance of the law, the rights and free - noted that justice is not always tri - doms of citizens. umphant, and the perpetrator is not al - Three concepts – “money”, “power” ways punished, but there was no doubt and “corruption” - received a clearly neg - that justice remains the highest value to ative assessment. While “money” and the country. “Law”, along with "justice”, “power” are not negative categories per constitutes a pillar of a stable legal sys - se, according to the essays, they are tem. However, since students encounter more often used to the detriment than to violations of the law in everyday life and a benefit. Still, they are not interpreted media reports, they do not evaluate it as as threatening the stability of the legal a 100-percent positive category. system of Kazakhstan to the same de - The “definite positive” category also gree as corruption. The students have includes the terms “Constitution”, “re - emphasized the strong influence of cor - sponsibility” and “equality”. Virtually every ruption. essay includes multiple mentions of the Constitution, as well as of “responsibility” (personal and legal). At the same time, equality is mentioned once in each essay in the context of “equality of all before the law.” A cluster of terms “freedom - force - state - responsibility” is in the center of the perception scale, which could be in - dicative of the ambiguity of these notions in daily life. For example, “force” is ap - plied both to ensure the respect for the 7 Narxoz Law and Public Policy TThheeoorreettiiccaall CCoonncceeppttss In response to the essay prompt, “Con - At the same time, the authors assigned duct a well-reasoned analysis of Victor different priorities to each term differently. Hugo’s quotation“ Law is all that is true Someone called laws the foundation of and fair,” the participants of the Olympiad the state, while others said that the foun - overwhelmingly attempted to describe dation of the state is justice. Some es - the division between law and justice. says looked for answers in the past, re - Many of their essays answer the ques - ferring to the historical Kazakh “biy” (a tions “is the law always fair?”, “Are all system of judges and administrators) equal before the law?”, “What is the and Middle Ages documents, while oth - power of law?” and other similar ques - ers argued that everything necessary tions. was already written down in the Consti - Using content analysis of the essays, tution and regulatory documents of the basic terms were identified, - such as Republic of Kazakhstan, and citizens law, justice, values, responsibility, free - could only comply with the prescribed dom, human life, human rights, equality provisions.