Analysis of the national security of the republic of Kazakhstan in mutual relations with the united states

The article examines the national security of Kazakhstan in its relations with the United States. The strategic interests of the United States in Kazakhstan, namely in the economic and political-military spheres, as well as the positive and negative aspects of cooperation have been revealed.

In the modern world, the maintenance of its national security is an important aspect for the stability and development of any independent state. In order to realize a promising future, countries need to have a clear idea of what benevolent and threatening phenomena they face, how to behave in a critical situation and in which direction to turn their foreign policy, to meet all conditions regarding their security. In this situation, the actors of domestic and foreign policy face such tasks as choosing the right approach on the issue of cooperation in the international arena. Indeed, in the modern world, the process of cooperation is a necessary point for preventing armed conflicts as well as for joint searches for the implementation of common interests.

The period after the collapse of the USSR was an absolutely new stage of historical development for the states of the post-Soviet space which needed to develop strategies for ensuring conditions for maintaining and preserving independence, for which it was necessary to take a course for the prosperity of national security. National security is the creation of such internal and external conditions of existence of the country that guarantee the possibility of stable progress of society and its citizens. In other words, this is the security of the nation against such threats as terrorism, war or espionage [1]. The objects of security are the state, society and individuals, for the protection of which foreign policy develops.

Throughout all the years of independence, the Republic of Kazakhstan has been characterized by a dynamic policy based on a balance between domestic and foreign practice which is expressed in the concept of a multivector foreign policy. In one of the interviews, the director of the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan says: “Multi-vector policy does not mean equidistant politics from all... If one of our neighbors spoils relations with someone, it does not mean that we should be automatically harnessed to the struggle for their interests” [2].

Multi-vector foreign policy of Kazakhstan could contribute to strengthening of sovereignty and statehood, the country’s entry into the system of international relations and world economic relations. Over the years, the republic has become a full member of the international community. Consequently, the initiatives almost always received international support and were implemented in practice, established stable and predictable relations with all neighbors. There is an international image of the republic as a serious and reliable partner. The geopolitical position of Kazakhstan objectively forces the country’s leadership to seek every possible solution in ensuring national security. Using contradictions between various world powers, Kazakhstan in such an environment seeks to find reliable partners and allies that would guarantee a minimum of security.

Under these conditions, one of the main directions in Kazakhstan’s foreign policy is relations with the US which were among the first to recognize the sovereignty of our state. It was the US that began to actively express interest in the countries of Central Asia, as exemplified by the many analytical centers. But does not this say that the state, which is still considered the only superpower, studying the situation in states far from them, pursues its own intersections? Therefore, we need to consider the main prospects in these relations.

Table 1 SWOT-analysis of the cooperation between Kazakhstan and the USA

Today, the United States of America is one of the main global centers of power as the most powerful in the economic and political-military sensewhose positions have been significantly strengthened over the past decades. The US seeks to influence the region with the help of «soft power». Various American funds and non-governmental organizations are actively operating in Central Asia, through which grants are realized and «soft power» is being implemented. To provide «soft impact», the USA actively uses its resource centers (embassy centers, small library centers, etc.) to implement this policy in the region [3, p.51].

In the post-Soviet space, America has clearly lined up certain interests in the military, economic and energy spheres, and most importantly there is a geostrategic interest in ensuring that no single state can control this region alone.

In addition, the situation worsens because the United States fears Russia’s growing strategic interests in the region, especially in the sphere of cooperation and military sphere, and it is possible that under the cover of spreading democracy and economic cooperation, America is making attempts to build a kind of «blockade circle» around Russia.

To implement these plans, the United States hinders the integration processes in the region, actively uses economic levers of influence, under the pretext of promoting and developing a market economy, the development of market reforms, which is generally designed to create favorable conditions for the penetration of US capital, and the United States in every way encourages the integration of Central Asian states in the world community, international political and financial organizations, participation in the dialogue on security and cooperation with the aim of opposing Russia geopolitical interests in the region [4, p.311].

Another major problem for the United States is China, which pursues its own foreign policy, which helps to strengthen its role in world politics, expanding its zones of influence with regard to the countries of Central Asia. According to the American political scientist J. Mearsheimer, today China acts within the framework of «offensive realism» [5], which has already pushed the US into the economy and foreign trade, and most importantly, China seeks cooperation between countries that oppose the US.

In this regard, we can refer to Z. Brzezinski who distinguished the following: «America’s primary interest is to help ensure that no state controls this geopolitical space, and the world community would have unhindered financial and economic access to it» [6, p.178]. The author points out that Kazakhstan, given its scale, economic potential and geographically important location, deserves US support and long-term assistance [6, p.180].

Thus, the beginning of relations between the two countries was laid by the Alma-Ata meeting of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan N.Nazarbayev with US Secretary of State James Baker on December 17, 1991. A range of issues related to the proclamation of state independence of Kazakhstan was discussed. Particular attention was paid to options for possible developments and prospects for bilateral economic cooperation. On December 25, 1991, the United States recognized the sovereignty of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and on December 26 President George W. Bush sent a message to President Nursultan Nazarbayev on the recognition of the independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan [7].

On May 18-20, 1992, the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan made his first official visit to the United States. During the visit, N.Nazarbayev met with J. Bush, Secretary of State J. Baker, and number of ministers, senators and businessmen.

The visit laid the foundation for bilateral cooperation. The heads of the two states announced the establishment of «new relations», proceeding from the fact that the security of Kazakhstan is one of the most «important conditions for stability in Europe and Asia».

At the moment, Kazakhstan’s cooperation with the United States has become of great importance, since America has a geopolitical weight in the modern world. Cooperation takes place in many areas of international politics.

The US, for its part, in its interests in Kazakhstan, relies on socioeconomic and political stability, as well as on the democratization of Kazakhstan’s society. According to the American political scientist J.Critchlow, the threat to the region of Central Asia, primarily to Kazakhstan, comes from the northern neighbor rather than from the southern Islamic countries. Therefore, the US and other democratic Western states, having their own interests in this region, intend to support the ongoing economic and political reforms [8, p.29].

At the very beginning of the relationship, the United States provided tremendous support to Kazakhstan in its desire to abandon nuclear weapons, the huge potential of which was given to Kazakhstan after the collapse of the USSR. The President of Kazakhstan decided to abandon the nuclear warheads by signing the Lisbon Protocol on May 22, 1992 [9]. And today, two states continue to actively cooperate in the process of dismantling and utilizing nuclear technologies from the territory of Kazakhstan.

But the United States is a nuclear power and a leader in the number of nuclear warheads, so it’s unclear why such attention and interest in Kazakhstan’s nuclear weapons, maybe the United States wants to be the only nuclear tycoon in the future? In addition, we all know a well-known sad example in history when the United States used nuclear weapons during the Second World War. This was a terrible example of the deterrence of the conflict by a third party, and this should not be allowed and one should never forget about it. Therefore, the policy of Kazakhstan regarding the nuclear issue must be very thinly built; the US for Kazakhstan is not an enemy, but not agood friend.

On the other hand, the more positive side, the two states actively cooperate in the field of security. An important moment in this area can be considered the joint work of Kazakhstan with NATO in the framework of the Partnership for Peace program, established in 1994. Kazakhstan joined the program on May 27, 1994.

This cooperation is aimed at developing national peacekeeping capabilities, participating in joint exercises and sharing experience in the planning, implementation and full provision of peacekeeping operations. Annually in the territory of the country, with the participation of Kazakh servicemen and representatives of foreign states, the peacekeeping exercise «Steppe Eagle» is conducted within the framework of the individual plan of action of partnership between Kazakhstan and NATO. To train Kazakh servicemen in the methods and standards of NATO, the training center of the military institute of land forces KAZENT was established [10].

Kazakhstan has its geopolitical interests in the complex of established relations both in objectively-geographical and subjectively-state relations. In moving towards the goal of a prosperous state and taking a firm place in the world community, Kazakhstan is guided by the following geopolitical factors:

1. Kazakhstan is defined as entering the core of the Eurasian
2. Kazakhstan is a bridge between the West and the East, as well as between the North and the South, because there is a historical intertwining of national and world values, eastern and western cultures, which in no way contributes to the economic development of the
3. Kazakhstan, without having a natural outlet to the world ocean, can not be viable without oil exports, to which there is a huge demand in the world. In world politics, playing with oil is like playing with fire. The main oil deposits are at the bottom and the coast of the Caspian
4. Kazakhstan should naturally belong to the regional unions the CIS and ECO, through which the country is able to conduct foreign trade, business and cultural
5. Kazakhstan is among the states participating in the use of the Caspian Sea, which is attracted by the attention of the entire world community, primarily developed countries.
6. Kazakhstan as the initiator of the organization of the Asian security system (CICA). Regional and continental security is the guarantor of free economic, trade and business policy [11, 49].

Expansion of mutually beneficial cooperation with the United States is one of the priorities of Kazakhstan’s foreign policy for several reasons:

• The development of trade and economic cooperation with the United States is one of the factors contributing to the stable and progressive development of the republic. The interaction of the RK with the United States in the economic sphere acquires even greater importance in the solution of the strategic task facing the country today, to become one of the world’s most competitive countries. In fact, we are talking about Kazakhstan’s implementation of the largest modernization project, and in this respect, interaction with the US can be extremely useful. To date, the US is the clearest evidence of how much economic growth depends on the introduction of innovation and scientific and technological
• Kazakhstan-US cooperation in the field of national and regional security is today an important factor in the stability of Central Asia. 

Back in September 2003, a five-year plan for cooperation between the defense ministries of Kazakhstan and the United States was concluded. This document, first signed by Washington with the Central Asian state, covers such spheres of cooperation as combating international terrorism, developing peacekeeping forces, strengthening the combat capability of air defense forces, military infrastructure of the Caspian region, including the development of naval forces, the establishment of the Military Institute of Language Training, etc. [12,13].

One of the main areas of cooperation between the two states is the fight against terrorism. Kazakhstan, which is not only at the junction of continents, civilizations and religions, has faced previously unknown global challenges international terrorism and religious extremism.

In conclusion Kazakhstan’s participation in various security programs is not dictated by the desire to oppose itself to confrontation with other states, but for close equal cooperation with them. The geopolitical position of Kazakhstan, in its struggle for survival and throughout the contradictory process of development of interstate, regional and world relations, requires precisely the observance of the principles of peaceful coexistence. Although the relationship between Kazakhstan and the US is important for maintaining the stability of our state, the government of the country needs to clearly, deliberately and subtly build relations with America, in order to prevent hegemonic pressure on the Republic of Kazakhstan by the United States.

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