National identity in Kazakhstan: an examination of the effects of everyday nationalism, banal nationalism, and regionalism

Abstract

This thesis analyzes national identity in Kazakhstan via micro-level analysis employing the concepts of banal nationalism, everyday nationalism, and regionalism. The first section of this thesis introduces the related literature and the conceptual background on which this research is posited. Literature on the causes and effects of nationalism are thoroughly examined to demonstrate a research gap on the effects of nationalism on an individual level. Within this section the concepts of everyday nationalism, banal nationalism, and regionalism are operationalized for analysis. These three concepts are tested on preference towards domestic or international news, belief if country is headed in right direction, and level of favorability towards Russia. At the end of this section three hypotheses are proposed that each of which tests one of the theorized predictive factors. The second section of this thesis discusses the methodology used and descriptions of all variables used. This study examines a single case study using large-n logistic and linear regression analysis. Quantitative analysis was chosen to examine trends across a large sample size that was approximately representative of Kazakhstan’s population. Kazakhstan was chosen as the case of analysis due to its unique linguistic and ethnic background that gives insight into nationalism in states with sizable ethnic minority groups. A single case study was chosen due to the lack of comparable cases to Kazakhstan. This section also includes four univariate graphs to show the overall spread of key variables. The third section discusses the results of the logistic and linear regression analysis. The results tested the significance of the three independent variables on observable behaviors related to national identity. The results found that regional identity variable is the strongest predictive factor of national identity in Kazakhstan. The measures of banal and everyday nationalism were significant in only two of the three tested models. The findings demonstrate the need for examining the effects of nationalism, on both a macro and micro level. They reveal the need for a reconceptualization of traditional approaches to nationalism, especially in very ethnically and linguistically diverse cases.