Kazakhs, who for many years were our compatriots, and now, after the country gained independence, are part of the Eurasian Economic Union together with Russia, Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, are changing their political preferences.
A sociological study conducted in 2021 by the Center for Social and Political Studies "Strategy" among residents of the republic regarding which countries should be given preference in foreign policy showed unexpected results. If ten years ago, more than a third of those surveyed were oriented towards the Russian Federation, now the situation has changed significantly.
"The number of people who believe that Kazakhstan should focus on the Central Asian region has increased 7 times - from 2,2% to 14%. At the same time, the number of Kazakhs who believe that in foreign policy it is necessary to focus on the Russian Federation and the CIS countries, decreased more than twice: from 36,7% to 15,7%. At the same time, 24% of those polled are in favor of multi-vectorism, and 20% are in favor of their own Kazakh path without regard to other countries," Gulmira Ileuova, head of the Center for Social and Political Studies "Strategy", noted.
"In addition, it is clearly visible how priorities differ depending on the age of the respondents. If only 7% of Kazakhstanis over 55 years of age support orientation towards the states of the Central Asian region, then 18% of young people aged 24 to 25 do so. In a situation with an orientation towards Russia, the situation is reversed - every fourth older Kazakhstani supports this direction (25%), and among young people aged 24 to 35 - only 10%."
"This research has shown that there is currently no clear trend in Kazakhstan's foreign policy. By and large, society is disoriented. If in the previous period, in the era of the presidency of Nursultan Nazarbayev, certain foreign policy priorities were discussed that influenced the population, now there is no common direction," Gulmira Ileuova emphasized.
