The Role of Religion in Shaping Perceived Security in Central Asia


Sharipova D. Kudebayeva A.
February 2026SAGE Publications Inc.

Journal of Eurasian Studies
2026#17Issue 1183 - 201 pp.

This article focuses on people’s perceptions of security in three Central Asian states—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Using the data from WVS (wave 7, 2017–2022), we sought to find how being religious is linked to people’s perceived security. First, our OLS model showed that being religious is differently linked to perceived security across the three states. Religious people feel more secure in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and not in Kazakhstan. In addition, the Oaxaca Blinder decomposition shows a statistically significant difference between religious and non-religious citizens in all three states.

Islam , Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan , religion , security , Tajikistan

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Graduate School of Public Policy, Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan
Department of Economics, KIMEP University, Almaty, Kazakhstan

Graduate School of Public Policy
Department of Economics

10 лет помогаем публиковать статьи Международный издатель

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