Retrospective Analysis of Protest Activity in the Republic of Kazakhstan

The article provides a retrospective analysis of protest activity in the Republic of Kazakhstan in the period from 2010 to 2022. The main objective of the paper is to describe five main manifestations of protest activity (protests in Mangystau region in 2011, «land protests» in 2016, anti-Chinese protests in 2015, 2016 and 2019, and protests timed to coincide with the elections in 2019 and 2022 in Kazakhstan) and to show the patterns of their manifestations. The concept of protest activity in the paper is considered from theoretical positions of the theories of relative deprivation, resource mobilization and social construction. Analyzing the retrospective of protest actions in the Republic of Kazakhstan, the author notes several key aspects. Firstly, the officially stated reasons for protest activity are presented mainly as economic reasons. Secondly, against the background of the economic agenda, political and ethnic issues are also promoted in this protest activity. Moreover, finally, the scheme of protest actions, the places of their origin and distribution, the features of information coverage, the Internet/social groups involved – all this indicates a high probability of artificially creating of these protest actions, despite the existence of valid reasons for the feeling of social deprivation that can turn into a natural protest.