Leiden University Student Repository

Boekhorst, Rafael te (2018)

Path dependence in repressive law-formation in Kazakhstan

Master thesis | Russian and Eurasian Studies (MA)

Kazakhstan is a consolidated authoritarian regime that introduced in 2017 a new set of amendments titled “On Changes and Amendments to Some Legal Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan On Countering Extremism and Terrorism”. The amendments concern migration, freedom of religion, communication and circulation of weapons and thereby increase restrictions on human rights. They functioned as a reaction to three events that took place in 2016: an amok-run in Almaty, a serious act of terrorism in Aktobe and nation-wide protests. All of these events were untypical for the otherwise stable situation in Kazakhstan. This master thesis analyses whether the amendments content reflects their creators rational (event-specific) decision-making or whether it represents the next step of a developmental trajectory that is locked-in by long established legal provisions (path dependence)and maintained by irrational decision-making (e.g. habits).

Path Dependence

Law

Repression

Kazakhstan

Central Asia

Author

Boekhorst, Rafael te

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Russian and Eurasian Studies

Supervisors

Frear, M.J.

ECTS Credits

20

Language

en