A Comparative Study of Kazakhstan and Estonia During and After the Nation-Building Process

History

The Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991 and fifteen independent states were created. As the Union hadn’t got any harmonic nationality within the states, after the independence most of the independent states faced serious nationality problems. These problems were just a side of the coin since there were also economic and political problems as well. According to the different sources, retrogressive process started during the Brezhnev era (Guriev & Tsyvinski, n. d., p. 10). After Brezhnev died there were old Communist Party Secretaries that could serve one year or less in Moscow. It can be compared with the Ottoman Empire’s decline years, unsuccessful and inexperienced sultans led Ottoman Empire to destruction. However Gorbachev’s Glasnost and Perestroika policies had an aim of rescuing Soviet Union and tried to prevent nationalist movements in Soviet states, this attempt was unsuccessful.

I would prefer starting my paper with an introduction to Kazakhstan and Estonia histories because both states had different experiences during the independence period. I am going to discuss deeply under the Estonian history part, Molotov- Ribbentrop Pact’s secret article about Baltic States which had a significant impact on enhancing Baltic nations and gaining independence from Moscow (Suprenat, 2004). 1991 was a milestone firstly for post- Soviet states and then for world politics. Since that year there have been lots of theories such as F. Fukuyama’s The End of the History and S. Huntington’s response Clash of Civilizations.