Ethical Norms of Traditional Nomadic Culture as Bases for Political Behavior

This paper examines ethical bases for the national political behavior in the context of Kazakhstan. The author contends that in contrast to the Western emphasis on compliance with specified rules, the local culture outlines acceptable standards of behavior as defined by the tribe and demonstrated by its leader. The notion of freedom in Kazakh culture is not perceived as a symbol of progress neither for the individual nor the society as a whole.
Only by cultivating a sense of community, leader's actions would be viewed as standards to follow. So the collective nature of Kazakh nomadic-age ethics was congruent with Soviet interpretation of Marxism, which accounted for their convergence in the Soviet age. However, as the paper argues these moral bases ceased to reflect the reality of present-day Kazakhstan, which urges reconsidering its ethical norms for political behavior to be grounded on the new societal organization, national character, pursuit of individual wealth as a factor of progress, and the global information age.

Kazakhstan, political behavior, values, ethic