With the notable exception of Afghanistan, the region of Central Asia has historically been underrepresented by the security sector reform (SSR) field. The record of SSR in Central Asia shows that reforms in limited parliamentary democracies face a different set of challenges and opportunities than SSR programs in fragile and conflict-affected states. The experiences of restrained reform in the region are nonetheless instructive.
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In the first part of this series on Kazakhstan, the author argued that the country had every chance to rise to the challenge set by its president, namely for the country to become one of the world’s top 30 most developed by 2050 – and this in an atmosphere of ethnic tolerance and cooperation, such as largely prevails in the country today. However, Kazakhstan will have to overcome several challenging moments along the way.
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The capital of Kazakhstan, Astana is an architectural marvel, a once backwater village that has now become a 21st century urban icon in less than two decades. In the novel The Zahir, author Paulo Coelho, describes Astana “like a wildflower rising from the steppes.” In this first blog of this two part series, the author argues that Coelho’s description can be applied to Kazakhstan as a whole.
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