Non-aligned good power? Status enhancement of early post-independence Kazakhstan

Drawing on the rigorous reading of Social Identity Theory (SIT), this paper reconstructs the ideational sources of Kazakhstan’s status seeking by identifying the Kazakhstani perception of the (un)fairness of the international system, and the nature of the existing hierarchies in world society. By using the fine-tuned ideal types of status enhancement strategies as the basis of the coding scheme, a qualitative content analysis of Kazakhstan’s first president’s speeches and texts reveals that Nursultan Nazarbayev adopted a social cooperation strategy. He perceived the international system as permeable, although rather unfair, but nevertheless open for improvement through multilateral cooperation. Nazarbayev accepted the negative results of comparison and responded with an adequate agency. He cultivated a special niche of foreign policy as a champion of nuclear non-proliferation, and a place for open and constructive dialogue. Therefore, Kazakhstan projected itself as a doctrineless good power, without an alignment to a particular great power.