Description
This paper analyses how a small state like Kazakhstan can behave as order make. This is a critical question since order maker behaviour applies to great powers only, leaving small states to order taker position. Such attitude had contributed to neglecting Kazakhstan’s pattern of behaviour towards the re-integration of the post-soviet states into a new regional grouping. The literature claims ‘failed’ attempts in 1990s and sudden integration since 2000 without an understanding of Kazakhstan’s Eurasian integration input since 1994. This aspect of Kazakhstan’s behaviour has been understudied. However, from the small state’s perspective, a small state like Kazakhstan can behave as an order maker but in a specific issue area and, in the form of an issue corrector. This will be demonstrated with a particular focus on Kazakhstan’s Eurasian Union (EAU) project proposed in 1994. Reviewing the post-independence regional re-integration move of Kazakhstan through the analysis of the formation, implementation and control of the EAU I hope to suggest that the EAU project was to correct the course of the post-soviet regional integration towards a new organizational structure and not to balance against its initial formation in the framework of the CIS.
