This paper explores a tension in the Eurasian context between the public’s desire for a care-taking state and the rejection of that care once offered, using the politics of vaccine distribution and the public’s vaccine hesitancy as its empirical focus.
Paper long abstract
This paper explores a tension in the Eurasian context between the public’s desire for a care-taking state and the rejection of that care once offered, using the politics of vaccine distribution and the public’s vaccine hesitancy as its empirical focus. The paper develops three models of care that are available in an authoritarian context: patrimonial, empathetic, and empowering care. It demonstrates that the Kazakhstani government has shifted between different models of care over the pandemic, from an empathetic-oriented ethos to a patrimonially driven model, while eschewing empowerment in a way that might increase public confidence in vaccination.