Why Not Dariga?: Failed Hereditary Succession in Kazakhstan

• In Event: The Transition of Power in the Soviet Post-Imperial Space: Problems and Challenges after the Liberation

Abstract

This paper focuses on the 2019 presidential succession orchestrated by the outgoing Kazakh autocrat Nursultan Nazarbayev. The author analyzes Nazarbayev perceptions of risks, as related to successions in personalist autocracies, and his eventual decision to opt for his trusted loyalist instead of his daughter, Dariga Nazarbayeva.

Author

• Dariga Abilova, University of North Texas