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Kazakstan's Political Transformation since 1991

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Zhanylzhan Dzhunusova
Zhanylzhan Dzhunusova*
Affiliation:
Academy of Sciences, Kazakstan
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Extract

According to the 1993 Constitution, the Republic of Kazakstan was proclaimed as a democratic, secular, and unitary state. Human beings, their life, freedom, and inherent rights were granted the status of supreme value. A presidential republic as a form of government arose from the functions of the head of state and executive. The supreme legislative body, a one-chamber parliament (Supreme Soviet), preserved remnants of the old Soviet state system in name and function, denying the principle of the division of power. The Supreme Soviet was the only legislative and higher representative body that did not correspond to its legislative function, since that implied a hierarchical power structure. As the only legislative body, parliament could not have subordinate structures. According to the Constitution, the Supreme Soviet issued laws, controlled the observance of laws, and made formal interpretations of laws. This contradicted the power-division principle, according to which it should be the legislative body only. Judicial power in the republic in accordance with the 1993 Constitution belonged to the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court of Arbitration, which was to be elected by the Supreme Soviet. But this also contradicted the power-division principle.

Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 26 , Issue 3 , September 1998 , pp. 545 - 555
Copyright
Copyright © 1998 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

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References

Notes

1. “Constitution of the Republic of Kazakstan,” (Almaty, 1993).Google Scholar

2. “Constitution of the Republic of Kazakstan,” (Almaty, 1995).Google Scholar

3. Nazarbaev, Nursultan, “Doklad na vtoroi sessii Assamblei narodovKazakhstana,” Kazakhstanskaia Pravda, 1 July 1995, pp. 1–3.Google Scholar

4. Beisenova, Ainhan, “Novaia konstitutsiia dolzhna byt luchsheprezhnei,” Kazakhstanskaia Pravda, 15 July 1995, p. 2.Google Scholar

5. Panorama, No. 28, July 1995, p. 3.Google Scholar

6. Panorama, No. 27, July 1995, p. 6.Google Scholar

7. On this subject see my book: Respublika Kazakhstan: Prezident. Instituty Demokratii (Almaty: Zhety Zhargy, 1996).Google Scholar

8. “Doklad predsedatelia mandatnoi komissii Verkhovnogo SovetaRazSSR deputata V. A. Brinkina,” Kazakhstanskaia Pravda, 25 April 1990, p. 3.Google Scholar

9. “Soobshenie Tsentral'noi izbiratelnoi komissii ob itogakhvyborov deputatov Verkhovnogo Soveta Respubliki Razakhstan,” Kazakhstanskaia Pravda, 17 March 1994, p. 1.Google Scholar

10. For further information see: Zhanylzhan Dzhunusova and RustemSartaev, “Kazakhstan,” in Szajkowski, Bogdan, ed., Political Parties of Eastern Europe, Russia & The Successor States (Essex: Longman Information & Reference, 1994), pp. 247–259.Google Scholar

11. Kazakhstanskaia Pravda, 26 August 1995, p. 2.Google Scholar