Understanding Kazakhstan: A Conversation on Politics, Economics and Culture
Marcin Kusztal and Dr Kuat Akizhanov in conversation, moderated by James Sharp. 23 July 2026 14:00 BST Online
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The Tiramisu Mountains: When Seas Vanish and Landscapes Are Born
Daniel Kordan is an internationally renowned photographer who runs photography workshops, tours and expeditions around the world Around four billion years ago, Earth’s oceans formed – born from frozen water delivered by cosmic bodies and from condensed steam that fell as endless rain. From that moment, nothing on this planet has stood still. Today, oceans…
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Kazakhstan’s New “Middle Power” Myth
Charles J Sullivan, PhD is a scholar on Central Asia and the author of Leaders of the Nation: Kazakhstan during the Twilight of the Nazarbayev Era and the Russo-Ukrainian War Kazakhstan is a developing country with substantial promise. It is a major oil exporter and its territory holds important rare earth deposits. Kazakhstan’s population of…
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Kazakh-Afghan Relations: The Competition for Trade and Connectivity in Central Asia
Eldaniz Gusseinov is a Non-Resident Research Fellow at the Haydar Aliyev Center for Eurasian Studies and a Columnist for Daryo In recent years, the relationship between Kazakhstan and Afghanistan has been changing significantly, driven by stronger economic and diplomatic ties. A major turning point came in December 2023 when Kazakhstan decided to remove the Taliban from…
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Kazakhstan’s Anti-Corruption Efforts: progress, but for how long?
Photo credit: Kazakh journalist Samat Iskakov. The Light Rail Transit System aimed at promoting urban mobility has been under construction in the Kazakh capital, Astana, for a decade. Every new mayor of the capital has promised to complete the project and has received adequate funding to do so, yet it still lies unfinished. It is…
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Damage Control: Kazakhstan after the January 2022 Crisis
Professor Charles J Sullivan, Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan In early January 2022, the Republic of Kazakhstan (once regarded for its political stability and economic development in a conflict-prone and impoverished region) suffered an unexpected and unprecedented bout of political violence. Based upon my initial analysis elsewhere, it appears that “an elite faction within the government seized…
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What is Happening to Kazakhstan?
A panel discussion with Peter Frankopan, hosted jointly with The Oxus Society, 14 January 2022, 14.00
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Sufism and the State: Saints’ Shrines in Central Asia
Fitzroy Morrissey is an Oriental Studies Graduate of Oxford University. He has travelled extensively in the Islamic world, and is the author of A Sufi for a week. He is currently studying Persian as a graduate student. Here, he discusses the relationship between Sufism in Central Asia and the post-Soviet states. For over half a…
