The seminary was a joint undertaking of the two committees of the Senate of the Republic of Poland and the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Warsaw. It was held by the Senate Legislation Committee, Senate Territorial Self-Government and State Administration Committee and a team of the Embassy of Kazakhstan led by Ambassador Dr Yerik Utembaev. The seminary’s guests were Members of the Mazylis, Kazakhstan’s lower chamber of parliament chaired by Mazylis Deputy Chair – Mr Sergey A. Dyachenko. Besides, the seminary was participated by deputies, senators as well as representatives of business, academic and political communities, interested in and taking action for the development of the relations between Poland and post-Soviet states of Central Asia, including President of Adam Marszałek Publishing House, Dr Adam Marszałek, Doctor of Honoris Causa, Kyrgyz Russian Slavic University in in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The organization of the seminary had several aims. The main aim of the event was the exchange of experiences between Poland and Kazakhstan in the scope of legislation concerning the activity of both countries’ territorial self-governments as well as in the scope of safeguarding freedoms and rights of national minorities. Of no less importance was enabling the Polish participants to learn the specific characteristics of the functioning of Kazak administration, which comes to pursue its tasks within a very extensive area inhabited by approximately 140 nations.

This article reveals the main reasons, stages and consequences of the Central Asian peoples revolt against the Russian authorities during the World War I.

Since gaining independence, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan gradually opened their markets to foreign investors. Before Poland’s accession to the European Union, the activities of Polish investors in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan were based on bilateral treaties concluded by Poland with those countries. Later, except Turkmenistan, they were governed by the partnership and cooperation agreements between the European Communities and their Member States. Despite the ample investment opportunities and favourable conditions for access to the market, the activity of Polish companies in these markets has not produced a significant effect. Poland invested with more considerable success on the markets in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. It made investment attempts in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, leaving out Turkmenistan. The reason why Poland has a weak position in these markets is the distance between the partners and inability of Polish companies to effectively compete with large multinational companies which have been operating there for years. In the Kazakh market, good investment prospects are available for waste management, petrochemical, mining and road construction companies. In Kyrgyzstan, there are cooperation possibilities in the area of modern agricultural and processing technologies and establishment of fruit and vegetable processing enterprises. In Tajikistan, enterprises can invest in petroleum and natural gas extraction and exploitation, the fuel market, processing of precious metals and construction of conventional and hydroelectric power plants. In Turkmenistan, Polish companies can compete for road, railway and housing construction contracts, whereas in Uzbekistan they can invest in businesses covered by government tax reductions.

The European Union supported Kazakhstan in carrying out political, economic and social reform twice. For the first time EU did so within the framework of the TACIS program in the years 1991–2006 when Kazakhstan has received $ 166 million mainly for the restructuring of state-owned enterprises, agriculture, infrastructure, energy, telecommunications, transport, environmental protection, administrative reform and health care and education. Again, the European Union has granted funds to Kazakhstan in the framework of the Strategy for Central Asia in 2007–2013. The main burden of support has been designed to prepare for institutional reforms for good governance and human rights protection. There were implemented 17 projects within four sectors: legal services and the judiciary; human rights, economic policy and development, strengthening civil society. In assessing the changes in some regions of the country reported good practices in the field of dialogue between local authorities and non-governmental organizations, increase the efficiency of public services and the transparency of budgetary expenditure. It was emphasized, however, that the authorities of Kazakhstan do not show understanding for the concept of good governance and democratization processes.

In the paper, the chosen aspects of Kazakhstan’s contemporary cultural policy were examined, i.e., the new shape of the Silk Road, and the concept of Tengriism. Tengriism, being and open ideological and world-view shaping system, had an enormous influence on forming, developing and functioning of the unique and fundamental principles of peace and concord, which were recognized by the people of Kazakhstan as their political, economic, and cultural guidance. The nature of Tengriism, perceived in Central Asia, and in Kazakhstan in particular, not as a religion, but as an idiosyncratic worldview, was solidified due to tolerance principles, on which the Great Silk Road, among others factors, had a great influence throughout the years. Nowadays, the current contexts of Tengriism and the Silk Road have become essential components for the process of ethnic and cultural memory regeneration in modern Kazakhstan, thus fostering the national identity consolidation. The presented research focuses on three basic aspects: the specificity of cultural and historic landscape of the Great Steppe, conditioned by the historic presence and influence of the Silk Road; the various traces of Tengriism in modern Kazakhstan; and the potential of both Tengriism and the Silk Road evidenced in the present-day cultural policy of Kazakhstan.

The article describes the politics of memory of the Soviet Union in post-soviet Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan (1991–2016). The analysis is based on the following documents: Presidents N. Nazarbaev and I. Karimov statements, their publications, the politics of commemoration and historical education in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan after 1991. Author tries to compare two national historical narrations over the Soviet regime and argues that Uzbeks and Kazakhs were used two different approach of criticism of soviet colonialism, related to their foreign policy towards Russia

Leadership in the Eurasian Economic Union

Paper Leadership in the Eurasian Economic Union is an attempt to analyse and discuss the subject of leadership in a given organization. The author, initially, thinks about the definition of leadership, then characterizes organization. Subsequently, there is an analysis of who may have a real impact on the shape and policy of EAEU – the structure of the union, presidents of member countries, prime ministers or also the so-called gray eminences such as Professor Dugin.

Tourist market in Kazakhstan – selected issues

This article concerns the modern tourist market in Kazakhstan. I focused to a large extent on the indications of the tourist industry’s characteristics in this country as well as the potential chances and threats that may be encountered in this area of the economy. The conclusions contained in the publication were based not only on source materials, but also on the author’s personal observations and memories of friends of the traveler. The aim of the article was to draw attention to the unusual tourism richness that can be observed by traveling through this country of Central Asia, as well as changing the stereotypical view of Kazakhstan.

Przedmiotem mojego zainteresowania jest przedstawienie najważniejszych uwarunkowań polityczno-ekonomicznych relacji pomiędzy Federacją Rosyjską a Kazachstanem. Głównym celem niniejszej pracy jest opisanie obecnego stanu rzeczy we wzajemnych kontaktach i ich znaczenie dla bezpieczeństwa na terenie byłego ZSRR. Ponadto istotna będzie próba odpowiedzi na pytanie, czy w najbliższym czasie Rosja będzie odgrywała dalej istotną rolę jako partner gospodarczy i polityczny Kazachstanu po ustąpieniu w marcu 2019 r. prezydenta Nursułtana Nazarbajewa. Na wstępie zamierzam odnieść się do historii relacji obu krajów, datowanej na czasy istnienia Związku Socjalistycznych Republik Radzieckich i kontroli Kazachskiej Socjalistycznej Republiki Radzieckiej przez władze komunistyczne na Kremlu. W dalszej części rozważań przedstawiam stosunki obu podmiotów bezpośrednio po upadku sowieckiego imperium i dojściu do władzy Nazarbajewa, który mimo chęci prowadzenia niezależnej polityki zagranicznej, utrzymywał ścisłe polityczne i gospodarcze więzi z Rosją, a także więzi wojskowe. Następnie poruszam problem kontaktów Moskwa–Nursułtan po aneksji Krymu, oraz więzi Kazachstanu ze Stanami Zjednoczonymi oraz Chinami. Chciałbym też odnieść się do implikacji wyboru na prezydenta Kasyma Tokajewa dla relacji z Rosją, Chinami oraz światem zachodnim. Dodatkowo prześledzę zależności ekonomiczne i kulturalne, występujące pomiędzy Rosją a Kazachstanem. W podsumowaniu uwypuklam perspektywy na przyszłość i staram się odpowiedzieć na pytanie, czy obecne relacje obu krajów ulegną intensyfi kacji w obliczu objęcia urzędu prezydenta przez Tokajewa, a także w jaki sposób wpływają one na bezpieczeństwo na obszarze postradzieckim.

The article presents the goals, tasks, organization and major stages of implementation of the international programme of research on transformation in the countries Central Asia. The research has been conducted since 1997 by a team of political scientists from the University of Warsaw in cooperation with representatives of other Polish and foreign universities.

The article is devoted to the geoeconomic goals and prospects of implementing the Chinese initiative „One Belt, One Road”. The author explores the benefits, problems and future opportunities that open up to the Republic of Kazakhstan as a participant in this initiative. The analysis carried out in the article showed that there are still many problems in the implementation of the Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB) project taking into account the state program of Kazakhstan “Nurly Zhol”, and difficulties arise in the practical implementation of various cooperation areas. At the same time, Kazakhstan should be guided exclusively by its national interests in cooperation with China in the framework of the “One Belt, One Way” initiative.

Normative Guarantees of the Freedom of Association in Political Parties in Kazakhstan

The subject of the study is the problem of freedom of association in political parties in Kazakhstan from the normative perspective. The analysis of national regulations concerning the guarantee of political pluralism and determining the principles for the creation and operation of political parties in Kazakhstan indicates for series transgressions and contradictions with international obligations accepted by them at the area freedom of association. The current law on political parties in this country contains very restrictive provisions. It lacks provisions that would guarantee the access of political parties to the mass media and the free organization of meetings and demonstrations. The law also prohibits the creation of religious, national and ethnic political parties.

Political and economic activation of the Republic of Poland in selected Central Asian countries as a response to the beginning of the next stage of transformation

The main objective of the article is to present the political-economic relations between the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Republic of Uzbekistan in 1991-2021. Fundamental research problems concern the issue of increasing partnership intensity. Ther main research questions are as follows: Is there a correlation between the transformation and reform measures undertaken by the authorities of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and the growing interest in deepening relations by the Republic of Poland?; Has the announcement of further liberalisation measures in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan influenced the intensification of cooperation in political and economic aspects?; How has the perception of Poland by political dissidents in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan changed over three decades? The primary research tools used in the paper were source and quantitative analysis. Statistical data, official announcements of state institutions and press articles were used as the material for the source analysis. Sorting them out, then analyzing them, allowed drawing conclusions. The quantitative analysis was used to assess the frequency of meetings of state leaders or parliamentary groups, changes in the volume of Polish exports and imports with the countries in question, and the increase in the number of Polish companies operating in the Kazakh and Uzbek markets.

After the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Kazakhstan’s policymakers recognised that the existing model of state governance had proved ineffective and needed to be changed. One of the necessary solutions was to carry out decentralisation. The main purpose of the following article is to outline the barriers that Kazakhstan must remove if it is serious about building local self-government independence. Confronting these with the President’s vision of the transformation of local self-government led to the following research questions: what organisational and legal issues remain unresolved or constitute a barrier to the construction of independent local government structures in the Republic of Kazakhstan after the collapse of the Soviet Union?; to what extent do the changes proposed by President Kasym Tokayev meet the real challenges in the context of expanding the autonomy of local power structures? Finding answers to the questions posed was possible by analysing legal acts, literature, and press materials.

Energy Security Policy of the People’s Republic of China towards the Caspian States of Central Asia

In contemporary international relations, the issue of energy security is becoming fundamental. Access to energy resources is an existential need of every country, conditioning its economic and social development. In such a situation, states try to construct long-term energy security policies to ensure smooth supplies of raw materials. The research problem is the analysis of the energy security policy of the People’s Republic of China towards the Caspian states of Central Asia: Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. In the research process, a hypothesis was verified, assuming that China’s energy security policy in the Caspian region of Central Asia is determined by the increased demand of this superpower for energy resources and geographical proximity to oil and gas deposits located in Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) became interested in the hydrocarbon resources of the Central Asian region right after the collapse of the USSR. At that time, the energy security policy of this superpower was implemented in several stages: from gaining access to the oil and gas reserves of the countries of the region to the construction of export pipelines supplying the absorptive Chinese market. Thus, the analysis presents the conditions of the PRC’s energy security policy, its institutional dimension and actions towards Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, both in upstream and midstream terms.

The European Union and the Eurasian Union: legal mechanism of cooperation and the problems of establishing

The paper takes a close look at the concept of establishing the Eurasian Union – a political and economic community modeled after the European Union. The author of the article shows the impact of Kazakhstan on the integration process of other countries participating in the establishment of this community: Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and Tacgicastan. The author also describes institutionalized forms of cooperation on which the functioning of the Eurasian Union is to be based.

Chechens in Kazakhstan after the deportation of Stalin in the years 1944-1957

This topic is a representation of the most important aspects of life on the deportation of Chechens in Kazakhstan in the period from 1944 to 1957. The author also discusses the number of deported Chechens to Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries.

The main purpose of the article is to present the principles of functioning of the Republic of Kazakhstan together with descriptions of two branches of law – copyright law and mass media law in Kazakhstan. The beginning of the article is dedicated to the legislature, which is represented by bicameral parliament. Its seats, the legislative process as well as the current political situation are described. Followed by the executive power description together with its representative, the Government of Kazakhstan, which can be formed or dismissed by the president. The way the Government is formed and its authority are presented as well. In the next part of the article is the judiciary of Kazakhstan which is described together with the system of common and special courts followed by description the way the judges are appointed. A separate part in the article is dedicated to the President of Kazakhstan who plays an important role in the authority system and officially does not belong to any branch of the power. While describing the functions of the president, the characteristic title of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, “Elbasy” (the National Leader), which belongs to the current President Nursultan Nazarbayev, is also analyzed together with the features which make this title so special. The next part describes the ruling political party “Nur-Otan” (“the Luminosity of the Motherland”) which has been in charge since the year of 2004. The last part of the article is dedicated to the foundations of the copyright law in Kazakhstan and especially its basic legal acts, the bodies which are called to implement the copyright law and the copyright law specific features. The main legal acts and norms of Kazakhstani mass media law have been described as well, especially in the areas of advertising, print, radio and TV transmissions, rights and obligations of journalists.

After the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Kazakhstan’s policymakers recognized that the existing model of state governance had proved ineffective and needed to be changed. One of the necessary solutions was to carry out decentralization. The primary purpose of the following article is to outline the barriers that Kazakhstan needs to remove if it is serious about building local self-government independence. Confronting these with the President’s vision of the transformation of local self-government led to the following research questions: What organizational and legal issues remain unresolved or constitute a barrier to the construction of independent local government structures in the Republic of Kazakhstan after the collapse of the Soviet Union?; to what extent do the changes proposed by President Kasym Tokayev meet the real challenges in the context of expanding the autonomy of local power structures? Answering the questions posed was possible by analyzing legal acts and finding literature and press materials.

This study’s research problem is the determinants, evolution and implementation of cooperation in the energy dimension between the Caspian states of Central Asia (Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan) and the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Pipeline routes are determined considering economic conditions, but are also the result of geopolitical actions of the states. The study aims to verify the research hypothesis that the specificity of cooperation in the energy field between the Caspian states and China is conditioned by objective economic interdependencies, but also results from geopolitical conditions. A predictive approach, related to the future role of the Caspian region in the energy market, was taken into account. A factor method was used in the analysis to identify the determinants of cooperation in the energy dimension between the Caspian states and China. A theoretical approach useful in solving the research problem is the geopolitical (geo-energy) approach and the theory of complex interdependence.