Building a Nation: Exploring Ethnic Minorities’ Perceptions and Attitudes in Kazakhstan

Sadvokassova A. Sharipova D. Burkhanov A.
2026 Cambridge University Press

Nationalities Papers
2026

This article focuses on perceptions and attitudes of ethnic minorities toward nation-building processes in Kazakhstan. It provides important insights on how ethnic minorities position and perceive themselves after more than thirty years of nation-building. The article draws on a survey (N=4,000) and semi-structured interviews conducted in 17 regions of Kazakhstan. It concludes that despite some variations in perceptions toward civic and ethnic identities, in general, ethnic minorities positively evaluate the nation-building processes in Kazakhstan. The evidence suggests that ethnic identity continues to play an important role in self-identification of ethnic minorities, while civic identity is important to a limited degree. The study also shows that there is variation across different ethnicities in terms of salience of ethnic and civic identities.

ethnic minorities , ethnicity , Kazakhstan , Kazakhstani , nation building

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Institute of Applied Ethno-political Research, Kazakhstan
Graduate School of Public Policy, Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan

Institute of Applied Ethno-political Research
Graduate School of Public Policy

10 лет помогаем публиковать статьи Международный издатель

Книга Публикация научной статьи Волощук 2026 Book Publication of a scientific article 2026