CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS AS A STRATEGY OF REGIME STABILITY: ADAPTIVE AUTHORITARIAN CONSTITUTIONALISM IN KAZAKHSTAN

Sandeep Singh; Riya; Nitish Kumar Ahlawat

doi:10.61841/pcvpkp92

Authors

Dr. Sandeep Singh Dept. of South and Central Asian Studies, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda. Author https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4685-0655
Riya Dept. of South and Central Asian Studies, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda. Author https://orcid.org/0009-0007-3182-3332
Nitish Kumar Ahlawat Dept. of South and Central Asian Studies, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda. Author https://orcid.org/0009-0006-8078-9372

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.61841/pcvpkp92

Keywords:

Constitutional Reforms, Democratization, Kazakhstan, Elite Dynamics, Regime Stability, Constitutionalism

Abstract

Constitutional reform in democratic systems is normally associated with institutional
balancing and political liberalization. But in Kazakhstan, constitutional change has mostly
served as a tool of the regime's stability and elite control. The Constitution of 1993 has been
subject to successive changes, based not on any real movement towards democracy, but on
the shifting political needs. The reforms of 1998, 2007 and 2011 have consolidated the super
presidential system under Nursultan Nazarbayev, giving more power to the executive branch,
changing the electoral system and institutionalizing party dominance in the constitution. The
changes in 2017 thus began to be more oriented toward succession engineering, to the
detriment of the centralized control, with a calibrated reallocation of powers that allows for
the management of leadership transition. In the wake of the events in January 2022, a new
wave of constitutional changes under Kassym-Jomart Tokayev appeared. The 2022-2023
changes removed the special constitutional position of the First President; clarified the
executive/legislative dynamics; and added a non-renewable 7-year presidential term. These
reforms were touted as measures in the spirit of “New Kazakhstan”, but they actually did
more to reconfigure rather than reduce the powers of the president, shifting patrimonial
personalism to a more technocratic, but still concentrated, executive system. Based on the
literature on authoritarian resilience and elite dynamics, this study asserts that the
constitutional development of Kazakhstan has been an example of adaptive authoritarian
constitutionalism and that constitutional change became a flexible tool for maintaining
political control. The results indicate a general trend to regime stability that has been achieved
through strategic adaptation rather than substantial liberal change during the eras of
consolidation, leadership transition, and unrest.

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Author Biographies

Dr. Sandeep Singh, Dept. of South and Central Asian Studies, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda.

Assistant Professor at the Dept. of South and Central Asian Studies, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda.
Riya, Dept. of South and Central Asian Studies, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda.

Postgraduate Student at the Dept. of South and Central Asian Studies, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda.
Nitish Kumar Ahlawat, Dept. of South and Central Asian Studies, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda.

Research Scholar at the Dept. of South and Central Asian Studies, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda

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