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Saltanat Ermakhanova, candidate of sociological sciences MODERNIZATION OF KAZAKHSTAN: IN SEARCH OF ITS OWN MODEL OF SOCIAL-CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
The scientists of Kazakhstan concentrate their attention on a wide sphere of problems, connected particularly with periodicity and historic stages of modernization of Kazakhstan, the social-economic conditions, ensuring its success (characteristic of the resources' basis, revelation and appraisal of social-cultural peculiarities of the population, the search for the national idea, mobilizing vital forces and integrating different interests of all ethnic and social groups, identification of civilization's belonging of society in the continental space of Europe-Asia, finally, appraisal of the actual process of contemporary stage of modernization etc.
The present process of modernization, endured by the Central-Asian states, is not the first one in their history, since it is possible to mention three stages of modernization: 1) modernization, realized by the Russian Empire on the basis of colonization; 2) the Soviet model of modernization, which had not been completed; 3) modernization after achievement of independence, realized on the basis of adaptation to western technologies and imposition of the system, which was forming in the West for many centuries, notes political scientist M.T. Laumulin.
At present, the process of distinctive return to the source, seen in "renaissance" of ethnic culture on the basis of historical traditions, goes on in Kazakhstan, like in many transit societies. In particular, it is displayed in rebirth of national cultural traditions, in greater interest to the national history, in aspiration for restoration of historic-ethnic symbols, in the rise of popularity of education in the state language, in the revival of interest in religious values, in greater demand for ethnic
style in music, literature, arts, cloths etc. Simultaneously, many scientists note the lack of perspective in contemporary globalizing world of isolationism combined with the urge towards preservation of culture.
M.M. Taj in, chairman of the Association of Sociologists of Kazakhstan, stresses that the social-cultural aspects are wrongly forgotten by the attention of expertise, while just they represent the growing field for research. It is difficult to ignore the assertion that, if culture is unable to support the social-political system, the stability of the latter may be questioned. The practice shows that exactly the social-cultural factors shape the so-called corridor of development's chances, since this fact has been admitted by the increasing number of experts. As M.A. Kul-Muhammed says, Kazakhstan constructs its future under conditions of mighty globalization's flows, coming both from the West and the East. The future will be bright, if the country stays on the solid foundation. This foundation of national and ethnic riches is rooted in national culture. The better will be knowledge of the culture, the greater will be the people's confidence in future.
The different views on civilization's belonging of the contemporary society in Kazakhstan are subject to discussions. Some scientists and public figures stress the trend and participation at the same time in two world civilization centers - Europe and Asia and, consequently, they stress its complicated Eurasian nature, its role as a self-dependent subject in the balance system of civilizations, cultures, peoples, religions and states. The others pay attention to the fact that in the foreshortened interpretation of civilization the Kazakh society in ancient times was and at present is a typical Eastern society, which represents "a split part of the Russian Soviet Empire and a lost child of Muslim civilization", according to sociologist Jarmakina. The members of the third group of experts underline that the contemporary Kazakh
people primarily are rather Europeans by education and culture, than Asians.
Kazakh political scientist A. Gali considers that three worlds exist in the poly-ethnic society of Kazakhstan: the Kazakh language world (the Kazakhs and the other nationalities, speaking the Kazakh language); the Russian speaking world (Russians and the Russian language population); the Turkic language non-Kazakh population. For the Soviet period, the ethnic composition of the population of Kazakhstan became more complicated. Since the period of the 1970s , catch-words "planet of hundred languages", "laboratory of peoples' friendship" were incorporated in Kazakhstan. This process started before the revolution but intensified since the 1930s. According to the population census of 1920, in the steppe regions of Kazakhstan 38 nationalities were registered, the census of 1970 registered 114 nationalities, while in 1986 there lived people of 130 nationalities in the country.
Many Kazakh scientists are worried by the loss of national originality, and their views are based on perception that cultural diversity inevitably leads to conflicts or failures in the field of development. The historic experience of the countries, which endured the "over-taking" modernization, shows that the greatest successes were achieved by the countries, which succeeded to find out their own specific "image of contemporary time", connecting original culture and mentality of modernization. The contemporary development showed many examples when the lack of wish to take into account the cultural tradition resulted in grave social troubles in time of advantageous economic circumstances. The most significant example of this type was presented by failure of "white revolution" in Iran, caused primarily by the great contradiction between the western political course of the shah regime and the traditions and mentality of the people. One of the
conclusions of the modernization theories is approval of the fact that culture, original values represent the sustainable significance for development of society.
Great differences in the views on the type of society in Kazakhstan in the continuum "contemporary - traditional" are subject to scientific and political discussions on the status of contemporary Kazakhstan. N. Nazarbayev considers that Kazakstan is in need of elaboration of its own conception not so much of "over-taking" as surpassing modernization, - in other words, of its own model of national development. Evidently, the experience of the developed countries, which have completed these processes, should be taken into account but should not become subject to blind imitation. Kazakhstan has its peculiarities of development. The people of Kazakhstan may claim for their own unique Kazakh way.
U.S. Sarsenov notes that for the 1990s "submitting to the western influence, bringing knowledge about the new democratic order, to a large extent innovations resembled blind imitation of western values and sometimes turned out to be the unnatural intrusion of these values in Kazakh society with the other Eurasian mentality, which differed from mentality and type of actions of Europeans and Americans. The other mistake was as follows: in spite of imitation of alien ideas, it was impossible to copy the level of living in democratic states of the West. It sounds like a miracle: citizens do not get additional money thanks to democracy and meetings. But in 1993 people did not think a lot about it. It was the epoch of political copying".
Different points of view exist on the type of modernization in Kazakhstan. Some experts think that the contemporary elite in Kazakhstan gradually becomes more westbound and that this trend will further go on, since the training program "Bolashak" till recent time was oriented to formation of cadres in developed western countries,
despite its extension in terms of geography. The westbound elite, the deep stratification of society and widely spread corruption are the display of non-original modernization.
Kazakh sociologist S.E. Zhusupov regards that the ruling elites are weakly oriented to modernization process: "We see the Eastern-European analogues of superstructure, a kind of basis, while some countries acquired the status of market countries, but actually we possess the Soviet superstructure. In some or other way, we need time. They say often that the population is not ready for it and that its mentality is inadequate to market. To my mind, the issue is, nevertheless, quite different: exactly the ruling elites have quasi-market mentality. Therefore they will need, probably, an essential period of time to shape the perception of the type of superstructure and to comprehend the essence of the needed process of efficient governance etc." He added further: "Appearance of "color" revolutions is not accidental at all. The process of stagnation (we see either the stagnation or "the swamp" situation) sooner or later results in disaster". Kazakh scientist A.N. Nysynbayev regards that a huge strata of laymen with low cultural (including political) level with passive attitude to the coming events, closed in the interests of individual survival under conditions of market economy, represent the breaking factor.
Some Kazakh scientists regard modernization of society in the light of imperative to create a national idea. At the same time, they note that, if it is difficult to formulate it for any mono-national society, it is more difficult to accomplish this task for such poly-ethnic society, which exists in Kazakhstan, since there appears the need of simultaneous synthesis of chances, wishes and aspirations of all ethnic groups of society in Kazakhstan and of transformation of the wide specter of perceptions in common united phenomenon - the all-national idea. The urge of the nation towards preservation of its specific
characteristics under conditions of globalization, which erodes national identity, the protest against it emerges and achieves the level of conflict resulting in acts of extremism and terrorism. It seems that a destructive protest is the failure of the nation to formulate its national idea with positive and creative capacity, able at the same time to keep originality of the nation and to integrate it in the contemporary world.
The national idea should promote entry of Kazakhstan in the global world in the way of dignity, its maximum participation in complicated global processes. The realization of national idea should become an adequate answer to contemporary challenges of globalization for the sake of ensuring further development of Kazakhstan forward for the benefit of the society and each citizen of the country. Globalization levels the specific content of actually any phenomenon of the contemporary world, tends to dissolve national identity. However, at the same time, globalization produces in national consciousness the protest against the loss by the nation of its specificity. It is impossible to say that globalization precludes formation of the national idea, since it only raises additional conditions for the substance and form of the national idea. The essence of these additional demands is reduced as follows: the national idea should not lead to isolation of the nation and the state, but it should "be open" to the world, should logically combine the specific national substance and general human values and aspirations.
The consolidation of society in Kazakstan should be realized in the form of united nation, which is perceived as a civil and not as an ethnic community. At present, such united nation as a common entity does not yet exist in Kazakhstan. Ashimbayev and other researchers came to the following conclusion, described below. Some circumstances promote and engender vagueness of life's orientations of citizens. The ethnic, political, religious consciousness of citizens in
Kazakhstan are dissolved and not firmly consolidated. Since the values at the development stages are embodied in models of social behavior, the social aspirations of the citizens are not united. Under present conditions, the ethnic self-identification does not render assistance to the consolidation. In many respects, it appeals to the past, but, given the past values, this identification turns out to be unable to withstand the challenges of the contemporary world, if it does not identifies itself in the present situation, based on new realities and new tasks. Thus, the national idea is able to achieve the multilateral task of consolidation of the nation, since it removes the uncertainty of aims and values, promotes formation of common public consciousness.
For the last time, the idea of steppe civilization and the role of nomads in the process of Kazakh modernization became actualized. Academician A.N. Nysynbayev puts the question: in what way should be correlated the values, connected with the passage to market economy and legal, democratic state (right for property, sense of proprietor, individualism, rationalism, personal responsibility and initiative) with traditional values of collectivism and social solidarity, rooted in national mentality of ethnic groups in Kazakhstan.
Since modernization supposes that Kazakhstan should take into account its cultural traditions and original values, in which way is it possible to combine the incompatible on the face of it basic values: individualism and collectivism, freedom and adherence to paternalism? He thinks that the answer is contained in the peculiarities of the Kazakh common law, steppe democracy and the corresponding mentality. It seems that there is no need to oppose the above said notions, since the historic past of the Kazakh people shows good social models, which demonstrated the way to make compatible individual freedom with the principle of collectivism and tribe outlook. The steppe civilization has absorbed the features of the East and the West. The phenomenon of
nomadism in an original way combines collectivism and individualism, etatisme and liberalism. The political culture of nomads does not accept full domination either of corporate order or individualism. As a result, the nomad transforms into a kind of centaur - interconnection of individualism and corporate order, originated in the individual-tribe consciousness, making substance of civilization's mentality of nomadism.
A.N. Nysynbayev stresses that realization of key reforms of Kazakh society should go on not as a senseless copying of western experience of modernization and transformation, but as a process on the basis of specific historic conditions for development of Kazakhstan under conditions of globalization. Therefore for formation of civil society in Kazakhstan, showing creative personal qualities, it is significant to use the positive potential of the past, both of the Soviet and traditional experience, the values, shaped by them, which make it possible to achieve consensus, formation and development of institutions of civil society.
As a whole, it may be said that development of public thinking in post-Soviet Kazakhstan repeats the main ideas of modernization's theories. Both in science and in publications, in mass consciousness the aggressive westbound critics of national culture gradually are being replaced by appraisal of its great significance for civil society's development without conflicts. Kazakstan in the process of political modernization made a significant step in the passage directed to the presidential-parliamentary form of governance, extending rights of the parliament. At the same time, there were made the decisions to give the first president the rights to participate in the presidential elections after termination of his current term. The deviations from the principles of democracy are justified by the fact that Kazakhstan goes its own way of
development, comes forward against accelerated introduction of democracy, the more so as from outside.
The modernization processes in the post-Soviet space have similar features, determined by common historic past (before the revolution and in Soviet times), with the impact on formation of close peculiarities of national identity, social-cultural intention and mentality of the peoples.
"Fenomen modernizatsii i ego otrazhenie v soznanii grupp:sotsiokulturnyi aspekt", Novosibirsk, 2009, p. 85-98.
