Suchergebnisse

In late 1997 Kazakhstan -- at tremendous expense -- shifted its capital city from scenic Almaty to windswept Akmola (later renamed Astana). Why would an elite undertake to move its capital city from one location to another? I will suggest that it is fruitful to view capital relocation -- that is, the physical move of the central state apparatus -- as a response to the challenges posed by a state's cultural geography. Capital relocation is an attractive strategy for postcolonial elites who face particularly acute state & nation-building dilemmas. The capital shift in Kazakhstan was unique in post-Soviet space, & this uniqueness tells us much about the different nature of post-Soviet space vs other postcolonial contexts. In turn, this allows us to characterize the terrain on which identity politics occurs. 2 Tables. Adapted from the source document.