Paper long abstract:

What are the long-term impacts of colonial policies on social trust? Could colonial policies differentially affect vertical trust in government and horizontal trust in friends and neighbors? Two regions in Kazakhstan, Almaty and Jambyl oblasts, allow for a test of the lingering impacts of Russian colonialism. In Almaty, where there were higher rates of Russian settlement and higher rates of Kazakh land displacement relative to Jambyl, I expect to find lower rates of vertical trust, lower rates of horizontal inter-ethnic trust, and higher rates of horizontal intra-ethnic trust. Social trust measures from survey data and indicators derived from images shared on social media provide mixed evidence for the theory and expectations. Survey respondents in Jambyl oblast do report higher levels of trust across the board relative to Almaty, and official government Twitter accounts from Jambyl are more likely to show civilians and state personnel together. However, the differences in horizontal trust between oblasts are less clear, with results varying depending on the specific survey question or the specific image indicator.