Following externals or leading internals? Kazakhstan as the non-follower with leadership ambitions of its own

This chapter analyzes how different domestic actors in Kazakhstan relate to leadership claims of the three external actors: Russia, China and the EU. The theoretical premise of the chapter is that leadership is a social role, which needs to be recognized by potential followers. In that sense, no external player can unilaterally claim leadership in Central Asia as such a claim is subject to the acceptance of Central Asians. The chapter focuses on how the potential leadership of Russia, China and the EU is accepted by the official, expert and public discourses in Kazakhstan. Such an approach will reveal the complexity of the domestic dynamics of recognizing or rejecting leadership claims of external powers. The chapter argues that acceptance/rejection of external powers’ leadership claims in Kazakhstan is actor- and issue-specific. In other words, the acceptance/rejection of leadership may vary across different domestic actors, as well as across issue-areas at stake. But in general terms, Kazakhstan should be classified rather as a non-follower of external actors, which has its own ambitions to lead the other countries of Central Asia.