Current Research

This thesis is a study of non-elite perceptions of China’s major geopolitical project, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), in Kazakhstan. It will research whether public opinion considers the BRI beneficial to Kazakhstan and/or Kazakhstani citizens. It will be a mixed-methods study utilising qualitative interviews and focus groups, quantitative population surveys and blog/social media analysis, with critical geopolitics as a theoretical lens. Its aim is, by analysing attitudes to the BRI, to add to the discourse of China’s rise and its perception in Kazakhstan.