Tokayev’s Perestroika. Kazakhstan in the face of internal and external challenges
Tokayev’s Perestroika. Kazakhstan in the face of internal and external challenges

Author(s): Wojciech Górecki
Subject(s): Government/Political systems, Political behavior, Politics and society, Comparative politics, Peace and Conflict Studies, Russian Aggression against Ukraine
Published by: OSW Ośrodek Studiów Wschodnich im. Marka Karpia
Keywords: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev; perestroika; The constitutional reforms in Kazakhstan; unrest in January; Russia’s aggression against Ukraine;
Summary/Abstract: On 5 June Kazakhstan held a constitutional referendum. Almost 80% of the voters (on a turnout of 68%) supported the adoption of a package of amendments that covered more than a third of the articles of the Basic Law (a total of 56 amendments were introduced). The declared goal of these reforms is to move the country from a ‘super-presidential’ system to a presidential republic in which the dominant position of the head of state is curbed by a strong parliament. The aim is to improve the management of the country and, in the strategic perspective, to strengthen Kazakh statehood. The fact that a new constitution was not adopted, but the existing one was modified, indicates that despite the wide range of changes, the intention of its creator – President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev – is not to build a new system, but to try to rebuild the existing one – a form of ‘perestroika’.

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