Creating Sociability after Socialism: Zero Tolerance Policing and Hooliganism in Kazakhstan

• In Event: IASOC Presents: Evolving forms of Policing and Social Control in the Post-Soviet Region

Abstract

This paper explores the introduction and initial implementation of ‘zero tolerance’ policing (ZTP) in Kazakhstan between 2013 and 2015. While utilizing the discourse of a policing strategy developed in the United States, we argue that the legal framework and implementation of ZTP in Kazakhstan shows a distinct legacy of Soviet policies aimed at addressing the problem of anti-social behavior, known as ‘hooliganism,’ among Soviet citizens. Through a legal analysis and interviews with police actors, we show that ZTP in Kazakhstan is primarily concerned with mobilizing public activism and community self-policing in order to reset and police the boundaries of public order more effectively. As with Soviet policing of hooliganism, the introduction of ZTP in Kazakhstan is important for defining what anti-social activity is, the limits of police intervention in regulating public behavior, and the norms of sociability in a post-Soviet context. We argue that such legal developments and policing strategies are indicative of shifting state-society relations throughout the post-Soviet region in ‘competitive authoritarian’ regimes where governments are reimposing and remaking the boundaries of acceptable behavior both in society and in the police force.

Author

• Gavin Slade, University of Glasgow