%0 Journal Article
%T ¡°Assembling¡± a Civic Nation in Kazakhstan: The Nation-Building Role of the Assembly of the Peoples of Kazakhstan
%A Nathan Paul Jones
%J Caucasian Review of International Affairs
%D 2010
%I 
%X The countries of the former Soviet Union inherited a unique system for managing the needs of ethnic minorities. The question is how these countries utilize Soviet constructs to develop policies suitable for their distinct political contexts. Kazakhstan¡¯s leaders have chosen to fashion a multiethnic civic nation and established the Assembly of the Peoples of Kazakhstan to oversee the work of creating a uniform national identity. This paper discusses major theories pertaining to civic nation-building, highlights the Soviet approach to building a civic nation, and describes how the ideology, form, and activities of the Assembly contribute to civic nation-building in Kazakhstan. Finally, it describes the author¡¯s own ethnographic research demonstrating how people react to Kazakhstan¡¯s civic nation-building efforts. The paper argues that Kazakhstan¡¯s attempts to create a civic national identity are failing because it has not yet provided a consolidating national discourse as strong as socialism was during the Soviet period
%K Kazakhstan
%K ethnicity
%K civic nation-building
%K korenizatsiia
%K Assembly of the Peoples of Kazakhstan
%K Soviet minorities¡¯ policies
%K identity
%U http://cria-online.org/11_6.html