A Bumpy Ride for China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Kazakhstan: Findings from a University Survey
Primiano C.B. Kudebayeva A.
August 2025SAGE Publications Inc.
Journal of Current Chinese Affairs
2025#54Issue 2 Special Issue: Belt and Road Initiative – 10 Years On183 - 211 pp.
Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been a polarising issue throughout the world, with analysts viewing it as either advancing Chinas desire to remake the world according to its plans, having the potential for, or indeed about, mutual benefit, or too ad-hoc and thus impossible to predict how it will develop. In this article, we present our findings from a survey that we conducted with university students in Almaty, Kazakhstan on views towards BRI. There are two main findings. First, the majority of our participants view BRI as bad for Kazakhstan. Second, ones political views, specifically whether one embraces authoritarian or conservative views (on the one hand) or democratic views (on the other), correlate with the way that person views BRI. In particular, we found that those who espouse authoritarian or conservative views consistently and with statistical significance view the initiative in higher regard than those who embrace democratic political views. To explain this pattern, we draw from social identity theory.
authoritarian , Belt and Road Initiative , China , conservative , democratic , Kazakhstan
Text of the article Перейти на текст статьи
Department of Political Science, Huntingdon College, Montgomery, AL, United States
Department of Economics, KIMEP University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Department of Political Science
Department of Economics
10 лет помогаем публиковать статьи Международный издатель
Книга Публикация научной статьи Волощук 2026 Book Publication of a scientific article 2026