Features of modern political protest in the western regions of Kazakhstan .

Annotation

In the western regions of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which are of geopolitical importance for the Russian Federation, the format of political protest is changing. Therefore, the article analytically examines the expression of mass civil discontent in these territories, and determines its specificity. The materials for the study were 70 cases of political protests in the west of Kazakhstan for the last ten years (obtained from the catalog of mass protest events with the use of violence, compiled by ACLED experts), data from an anonymous survey of 138 Kazakh citizens in Russia about their perceptions of political protests in their country, as well as about the experience of their participation in such, 123 publications of the media of Kazakhstan ("Caravan", "Tengrinews", "Newtimes", "Fergana.ru", "Сentrasia.ru", "Paruskg.info" and others), processed with the help of event analysis, content analysis, system of comparative and neoinstitutional analysis. Conclusions are drawn that the specific features of modern protest in the western regions of Kazakhstan are: initiation on economic and labor grounds with further political motives, strong pressure on protesters and intolerance to alternative voices from the government system, bloodshed, criminalization, radicalization based on Islamic fundamentalism, decentralization and digitalization.

Keywords

• autocracy
• authoritarian regime
• western regions of Kazakhstan
• Islamic fundamentalism
• Caspian region
• Kazakhstan
• undemocratic system
• national security
• political protest
• radicalization of protest
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