Kleptocracy in Kazakhstan : Understanding Kleptocratic Activity of President Nazarbayev’s Inner Circle

This thesis examines kleptocracy in Kazakhstan, in particular why President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s inner circle engaged in kleptocratic activity aboard despite Nazarbayev’s perceived dislike of capital outflow. The aim is to investigate drivers and non-drivers of kleptocracy. This thesis considers mostly kleptocratic activity in Kazakhstan and the United Kingdom. This thesis takes on a narrative and explanatory case-study approach. The literature review notes that kleptocracy is an emerging area of research. While a lot has been written about kleptocracy in Russia, Central Asia is not a frequent topic. This thesis attempts to fill in that gap. In addition, this thesis differentiates between kleptocracy as a theory and a process. Both are presented as a background for the analysis of drivers of kleptocracy. To provide a complete background, this thesis shows how Kazakhstan represents a kleptocratic regime. Following the background, this thesis offers an explanatory preposition with proposed drivers of kleptocracy, a proposed timeline, and evidence from the case study. In short, the proposition states that due to the uncertainty of a kleptocratic regime, the inner circle has an incentive to engage in kleptocratic activity abroad. This thesis finds that the proposition has evidentiary support from the case study on President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s inner circle. Equally, the facts of the case study support the proposed drivers of kleptocracy. The identified and evidenced drivers are weak property rights, security of assets on relationship with the leader and the incumbency advantage, lack of long-term security and stability, and reputation laundering. In addition, the thesis identifies two non-drivers – reputation risks and actions taken by foreign agents. Furthermore, this thesis supports the drivers with the facts of the case study, the kleptocracy theory, and comparative cases. This thesis concludes with the identification of drivers of kleptocracy, thus contributing to the study of kleptocracy and understanding of the rule of President Nazarbayev in Kazakhstan. Future research could consider whether similar processes are taking place under the new leadership in Kazakhstan.

Grantor dc:publisher

Helsingin yliopisto

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Bednarska, Lila

• case study
• Kazakhstan
• kleptocracy
• Neopatrimonialism
• Political Economy

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright 1.0

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10138/601087

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:helda.helsinki.fi:10138/601087