Denuclearisation practices of Kazakhstan: Performing sovereign identity, preserving national security

Abzhaparova, Aida

Abstract

In this article, I investigate the processes of the discursive construction of the identity of Kazakhstan as a sovereign and non-nuclear state, and show how the construction and performance of these identities are both productive and the product of Nuclear Weapons Technology (NWT) as a threat to the national security of Kazakhstan. I argue that both practices - the production of the state identity and the abolition of the ex-Soviet nuclear arsenal from the territory of Kazakhstan - are instrumental ways to secure the values of Kazakhstan, in this case the existence of Kazakhstan as a sovereign state. © 2010 British International Studies Association.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2011
• Journal: Review of International Studies
• Print ISSN: 0260-2105
• Electronic ISSN: 1469-9044
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 37
• Issue: 04
• Pages: 1537-1553
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210510001270
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/973395
• Publisher URL: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=8384898