Paper short abstract:

Schedule on Oct 11, 12 or 12 i.e. not on Oct 10.

Paper long abstract:

In the aftermath of the collapse of the USSR, the successor states faced two profound tensions: the need to adapt to general rules of Globalization and Westernization and at the same time to preserve and develop their Nation's originality. It is under these circumstances that some former Soviet citizens started to form a stronger belief in their National Identity, whereas others began to engage themselves more with Western patterns and values (Berg 2002; Blum 2008; Danilova 2009; Gudkov 2000, 2017: 280; Hedetoft & Blum 2008; Panov 2010: 92; Ismailzade 2005; Kerimova 2009;Nuruzadeh 2017; Solovyev 2008; Surucu 2002). The results from the quantitative component of the author's PhD project have reaffirmed that globalization seems to have a countervailing influence on post-Soviet citizens' identification with their nation (Baldwin 2016; Bremmer 2018; Castell 2010; Connor 1972; Kriesi et al. 2006; Nodia 2017; Smith 2007). Some form er Soviet people, through contact with the processes of globalization, become more aware of their nation's distinctiveness and, as a result, may develop a stronger belief in their Nation's identity, while others become happier to identify themselves as citizens of the world. In the wake of the breakup of the Soviet Union, the regime under Nursultan Nazarbayev, due to the multi-ethnic composition of its population, adopted a dual approach to nation-building, by simultaneously promoting an exclusive ethnic Kazakh and an inclusive civic Kazakhstani identity (Isaacs 2015, 2018). Nevertheless, there may exist large gaps between how nations are imagined by state's elites and how they are embraced and internalized by its citizens (Barrington et al. 2003; Castells 2011; Kim 2011; Isaacs & Polese 2015, 2016b; Isaacs 2015, 2018). This paper seeks to discuss to what extent citizens in Kazakhstan continue to believe in their government's institutionalized National Narratives in todays' globalized world.