Abstract

The paper examines the re-establishment of the Constitutional Court in Kazakhstan as a part of broader constitutional reforms initiated after the January 2022 events. Institutional changes in the constitutional control body are aimed toward democratization and the transparency of judiciary institutions, as well as the protection of fundamental human rights. As a result of reforms, the Constitutional Court declared that more than 5000 appeals were received by the Court annually. Currently, over 70 decisions have been issued by the Court regarding the constitutionality of enacted legislation.

The research explores whether the re-establishment of the Constitutional Court in Kazakhstan marks a genuine reform toward democratization or serves merely as a tool for autocratic survival. It will also assess whether constitutional review in Kazakhstan is consistently effective across all legal issues or if effectiveness varies by category.

Following this, the research design will follow a qualitative case study approach with a constructivist philosophy. The data collection techniques involve content analysis, document and statistical analysis, semi-structured interviews, and process tracing of the judicial review process to understand causal mechanisms and test hypotheses about constitutional reforms in Kazakhstan.

The study will contribute to scholarship on courts in hybrid regimes and develop new measurements for the Court's functions across three dimensions: independence, power, and efficiency. It also offers policy-relevant recommendations to strengthen constitutional review and improve legislative accountability in Kazakhstan and the broader Central Asian region.