Diana T. KUDAIBERGEN, The Kazakh Spring: Digital Activism and the Challenge to Dictatorship

Year 2025, , 1 - 3

Bilal Alper Torun

https://doi.org/10.33458/uidergisi.1740233

Abstract

Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev’s Kazakhstan is considered one of the most stable countries in the region as a result of Nazarbayev’s multi-vector foreign policy (p. 6). This stability, described by Diana Kudaibergen as an “illusion”, has been perceived in the collective mindset of society as a consequence of the status quo established by Nazarbayev (p.20). However, the January 2022 protests, which began in the Zhanaozen region and spread nationwide, particularly to Almaty, have exposed the deep contradictions that undermine this illusion. As extensively emphasized by foreign media, the primary cause of the protests was often depicted as the sudden increase in liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) prices; however, this was merely a trigger. The real cause lay in the long-standing low living standards endured by the people of Kazakhstan, a country rich in oil and gas, and the arbitrary practices of the autocratic government that contributed to these conditions.

Keywords

Kazakh , Kazakh Spring , Digital Activism , Dictatorship