Development of the Legal Basis of Kazakh Statehood: From the Khanate to the Presidency

Abstract

This essay examines the historical development of the legal basis of Kazakh statehood from the era of the Kazakh Khanate to the contemporary presidential republic. It begins with the nomadic legal order of the fifteenth–eighteenth centuries, focusing on adat (customary law), the role of biys and the codifications known as Qasqa Zholy and Zheti Zhargy. It then analyses how Russian imperial reforms dismantled the khanate system, restricted the jurisdiction of customary courts and imposed new administrative and legal structures, while at the same time fostering a Kazakh intelligentsia that later led the Alash movement. The essay goes on to discuss the Alash Autonomy as the first modern constitutional project of Kazakh statehood, followed by an overview of Soviet Kazakhstan, where formal republican institutions coexisted with party domination and limited sovereignty. Finally, it explores the post-1991 constitutional evolution, including the 1993 and 1995 constitutions, the emergence of a super-presidential model under Nursultan Nazarbayev, and the recent reforms under Kassym Jomart Tokayev aimed at rebalancing powers and strengthening parliament. The essay argues that, despite radical changes in form and ideology, there is a long-term continuity in Kazakh legal culture, particularly in the search for a balance between strong authority, social order and the rule of law.