Online published on 23 July, 2025.
The twentieth and twenty-first centuries have seen the revival of a civil society with two unique features, i.e., non-Euro-centrism and inclusiveness. The history of the growth and development of civil society in Kazakhstan is part of that global process. This paper investigates the relationship between civil society and state in Kazakhstan through non-Western lens. The aim here is to study the compatibility of civil society which is regarded as of Western origin, with the state in Kazakhstan and to ascertain whether the nature of civil society is different or if Kazakhstan adopts the American concept of without any changes. The authors argue that there is a need to go beyond the Western notion of civil society. An alternative approach should take care of Kazakhstan’s indigenous culture, tradition, society, and way of life and so on. Above all, the article claims that the uniqueness of civil society in Kazakhstan is manifest in the relationship of clans and traditional institutions with civil society organisations.
