March 19, 2024 marks five years since Nursultan Nazarbayev abdicated the presidential position and Kassym-Jomart Tokayev came to power. Since then, the presidential mandate of the current head of state has already been confirmed twice in the framework of national elections. Political scientist Gaziz Abashev listed the changes that occurred during this time, Liter.kz reports.
According to the expert, with the change of head of state in Kazakhstan, some things remained unchanged, but some things underwent significant changes.
Firstly, having an experienced diplomat at the helm of the state has become a great advantage for Kazakhstan in the current geopolitical conditions. The global confrontation between the collective West and the Eastern Bloc, with the tacit approval of the Global South, could not but affect Central Asia. Everything is important here: the surgical formulation of the foreign policy position, negotiations at the highest level and personal relationships with the leaders of other states, carefully maintaining a balance of interests. Kazakh statehood as a whole has always been distinguished by such flexibility, President Tokayev has realized this potential to the fullest, says Gaziz Abishev.
Gaziz Abishev. Photo: Telegram/gaziz1984
Secondly, according to the political scientist, a gradual reform of the political system has begun. Step by step, the politically narrowing reforms of previous decades are being rolled back. The work is being carried out carefully: deliberative institutions are being developed, designed to revive civilized political discussion, and parliamentary multi-party system has been restored. Direct elections of deputies of the Mazhilis, maslikhats, and akims of various levels have been introduced.
The state uses less and less command and administrative brute force in pushing through its ideas, and listens more and more to the expert community. There are many command-bureaucratic instincts of the past era left in the state apparatus, but they are steadily being transformed into the need for smart work with public demands, the expert noted.
He noted that a new political landscape is being formed with the leveling of family-clan oligarchic elites in favor of new political-bureaucratic state elites, formed on the basis of meritocracy and public positioning.
Thirdly, the idea of real industrialization of the economy has been revived. President Tokayev is obviously critical of attempts at “cavalry attacks” and demands from his advisers and assistants a clear, meaningful and implementable economic program. Reliance on diversified investments from different sources, and on state interest, is placed above oligarchic interests, the expert continues.
The fourth change is the proclamation of a course towards reasonable social justice. That is, not socialist leveling, but not predatory capitalism either.
The “National Fund for Children” program is of great socio-political importance: the country’s population gains access to the distribution of oil rent not only through a complex budget system, but also directly, through transfers to specific accounts of individuals. The ideological component here is more than financial: the people own the mineral resources, receive a portion of their sales, and make sure that the national wealth is used correctly. In the long term, the project should invest in the growth of adequate civic consciousness,” the political scientist concluded.
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2024-03-22 22:19:04