Religious Pluralism and State Paternalism in Kazakhstan

Abstract

Kazakhstan's government is proud of the existing model of interfaith relations and uses it for claiming legitimacy at home and shaping the country's image abroad. To compare it with the covenantal pluralism ideal as outlined by W. Christopher Stewart, Chris Seiple, and Dennis R. Hoover, we consider both top-down dimensions (legal regulations of the religious sphere) and bottom-up dimensions (focusing on relational dynamics and interfaith dialogues). We find major discrepancies and argue that state paternalism, in-built hierarchies, and widespread suspicions and prejudices against religious minorities, inherited from the Soviet times, remain key features of the Kazakhstan model.

Keywords:

• Kazakhstan
• inter-faith dialogue
• covenantal pluralism
• state paternalism
• Soviet policies
• religious minorities

Acknowledgements

This article is part of this journal's Covenantal Pluralism Series, a project generously supported via a grant to the Institute for Global Engagement from the Templeton Religion Trust.

Notes

1 According to the 2009 census, the ethnic composition of Kazakhstan also included Germans—1.1 percent, Tatars—1.3 percent, Uzbeks—2.9 percent, Uighurs—1.4 percent, and Ukrainians—2.1 percent. As for religious composition, apart from Muslims and Christians (both groups calculated in bulk, without making distinction of traditions and schools, the census enlisted 0.1 percent Buddhists, 0.2 percent other, and 2.8 percent nonbelievers).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Roman Podoprigora

Roman Podoprigora is Professor of Law at Caspian Public University, Almaty, Kazakhstan, and Director of the Public Law Research Center. He is a member of the Advisory Council under the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan. He served on the Advisory Council of the ODIHR/OSCE Panel of Experts on Freedom of Religion or Belief (2000–2010). He is also a legal consultant for numerous religious associations in Kazakhstan.

Nargis Kassenova

Nargis Kassenova is Senior Fellow at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies (Harvard University), leading its Program on Central Asia. She is also Associate Professor at the Department of International Relations and Regional Studies of KIMEP University (Almaty, Kazakhstan). She holds a PhD in International Cooperation Studies from the Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya University (Japan). Her areas of research include Central Asian politics and security, Eurasian geopolitics, China's Belt and Road Initiative and governance, religion and politics, and the history of state-making in Central Asia.