러시아ㆍ유라시아

This article examines the various motives for the move in 1997 of the Kazakhstani capital from Almaty to Astana. In December 1997Kazakhstan moved its capital city from scenic Almaty in the southeast region to Akmola (later renamed Astana) in the north-central steppe. The physical appearance of Astana is probably changing more rapidly than that of any other city in the former Soviet Union. And the demographic changes taking place there are even more dramatic. Accompanying this absolute population growth have been radical shifts in the ethnic and socio-economic character of the city. The impact of these transformations reaches far beyond the municipal boundaries of Astana. For Kazakhstanis, the capital move has been among the most visible of the initiatives of the government of Nursultan Nazarbayev;for the national press it has been one of the most important stories of the past decade. In Kazakhstan, “Astana” is a word that is on the lips of everyone. Despite all this, the development of the city has attracted surprisingly little attention from non-Kazakh scholars. Many of those few who write on Astana restrict their analysis to the implications of the capital move for future Kazakh-Russian relations. Journalistic accounts of the new capital, meanwhile, tend to take on a bemused,slightly mocking tone, focusing much attention on the more absurd aspects of the project. As bizarre as the relocation to Astana seemed,it was not totally unique. From 1950 to 1990, thirteen countries including ones in Latin America and Africa moved their capitals. From a nation-building perspective, the move of Kazakhstani capital has two implications. First, the movement of the capital is likely to be a motivating force for Kazakhs to move to the northern regions of the country. Second, the movement of the capital serves as a means of controlling any potential irredentist and separatist sentiment in the north. In this paper, I will suggest a connection between capital relocation, and state unity and nation building efforts. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is not to address the theoretical significance of capitals in a general sense, but rather to examine the specific role of Astana in the nationalist project of Kazakhstan.