Kazakhstan is a country located in Central Asia and Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the east. It is the world’s ninth largest country by land area, covering an area of 2.7 million square kilometers, and is rich in natural resources such as oil, gas, and minerals. Kazakhstan gained independence in 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and has since undergone significant economic and political reforms to become one of the world’s fastest growing economies. Despite its vast territory and abundance of resources, Kazakhstan has a relatively small population of just over 18 million people, with Kazakhs being the largest ethnic group followed by Russians and Uzbeks. The country has a diverse landscape ranging from the mountainous regions in the east to the flat, arid plains in the west. The capital city, Nur-Sultan (formerly Astana), is located in the northern part of the country and is known for its futuristic architecture. Kazakhstan’s national language is Kazakh, which is also the official language of the country, although Russian is widely spoken and understood. The country has a unique cultural heritage that has been shaped by its nomadic history and Islamic traditions. Modern Kazakhstan is known for its advancements in technology and space exploration, as well as its efforts to promote regional stability and economic development.

This book is the first-ever comprehensive overview of the legal system of Kazakhstan in English. It offers a compact, coherent, systematic and reliable overview of the major legal concepts, principles and developments of the legal system of Kazakhstan. Sixteen chapters, each written by an expert in the respective field, cover the following specific areas of the Kazakhstani legal system: History of Kazakhstan; Basic Features of the Legal System (Comparative Perspective and Sources of Law); Legal Education and Science in Kazakhstan; Constitutional Law; Administrative Law; Law of Persons; Property Law; Law of Obligations; Family and Inheritance Law; Labor Law; Private International Law; Civil Procedure; Criminal Law; Criminal Procedure; Investment and Energy Law; Tax Law.

Central Asia is a large and understudied region of varied geography, ranging from the high passes and mountains of Tian Shan, to the vast deserts of Kyzyl Kum, Taklamakan to the grassy treeles steppes. This region is faced with adverse conditions, as much of the land is too dry or rugged for farming. Additionally, the rich specific and intraspecific diversity of fruit trees and medicinal plants is threatened by overgrazing, oil and mineral extraction, and poaching. Countless species from the approximately 20 ecosystems and 6000 plant taxa are now rare and endangered. Traditional vegetation studies in this region are far from adequate to handle complex issues such as soil mass movement, soil sodicity and salinity, biodiversity conservation, and grazing management. However, data analysis using a Geographical Information System (GIS) tool provides new insights into the vegetation of this region and opens up new opportunities for long-term sustainable management. While vegetation planning can occur at a property scale, it is often necessary for certain factors, such as salinity, to be dealt with on a regional scale to ensure their effective management. GIS increases the effectiveness and accuracy of vegetation planning in a region. Such regional planning will also greatly increases biodiversity values. This book systematically explores these issues and discuses new applications and approaches for overcoming these issues, including the application of GIS techniques for sustainable management and planning. Professional researchers as well as students and teachers of agriculture and ecology will find this volume to be an integral resource for studying the vegetation of Central Asia.

Understanding the problems, challenges, and continued failings of the defense leadership in Kazakhstan involves first appreciating how limited its military reforms have proven in practical terms. Akhmetov was reportedly shocked in the early part of his tenure to discover how poorly trained, disciplined, and often corrupt Kazakhstan's armed forces remain, despite several years of the state talking up "military reform." Although corruption is something of a sine qua non in the region, it is particularly crucial to recognize its debilitating effect on efforts to reform the armed forces. This will persist as an obstacle to achieving progress in successfully implementing military reform for the foreseeable future.Also, despite Kazakhstan's closer relations with Western militaries, it has in real terms deepened and strengthened its ties with Russia.

This book explores opportunities for diversifying modern Kazakhstan's economy, which is still heavily dependent on its natural resources, as well as looking at economic opportunities for the whole Central Asian region arising from the Chinese government's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The book is comprised of four parts. Part 1 explores the first main theme of the book: development of the economy based on the resource sector with the example of Kazakhstan. Part 2 examines opportunities for diversification arising from BRI: a rise of transport and communication industries alongside the new Belt and Road economic route. Part 3 explores the view from China on the perspectives of regional development, not least the economic reasons for the launch of this programme, investments and planned effects. Part 4 discusses other internal sources for diversification of the economy in Kazakhstan based on development of local industry in the oil and gas sector, small- and medium-sized enterprises and tertiary sector of the economy. This book will be of value for students, academics, policy-makers, and practitioners focused on economic development and business in the Central Asian region, as well as those who are working on the design of instruments for economic development in their own countries.

This book investigates the roles that ideas and constructs associated with Eurasia have played in the making of Kazakhstan’s foreign policy during the Nazarbaev era. This book delves into the specific Eurasia-centric narratives through which the regime, headed by Nursultan Nazarbaev, imagined the role of post-Soviet Kazakhstan in the wider Eurasian geopolitical space. Based on substantive fieldwork and sustained engagement with primary sources, the book unveils the power implications of Kazakhstani neo-Eurasianism, arguing that the strengthening of the regime’s domestic power ranked highly in the list of objectives pursued by Kazakhstani foreign policy between the collapse of the Soviet Union and Nazarbaev’s apparent withdrawal from the Kazakhstani political scene (19 March 2019). This book, ultimately, is a study of inter-state integration, which makes use of a rigorous methodological approach to assess different incarnations of post-Soviet multilateralism, from the Commonwealth of Independent States to the more recent, and highly controversial, Eurasian Economic Union. This book offers a ground-breaking analysis of Kazakhstani foreign policy in the Nazarbaev era. It will be of interest to students and scholars of Central Asian Politics, International Relations and Security Studies.

This book features selected papers presented at the 5th International Conference on Recent Innovations in Computing (ICRIC 2022), held on August 13–14, 2022, organized by the ELTE, Hungary in association with Knowledge University, Erbil and many academic and industry partners which includes; European Institute of Data Analytics (EiDA), Dublin, Ireland and CSRL Lab, India . The book is second part of the two volumes, and it includes the latest research in the areas of software engineering, cloud computing, computer networks and Internet technologies, artificial intelligence, information security, database and distributed computing, and digital India.

Winner in the Scholarly Reference section of the 2004 Australian Awards for Excellence in Educational Publishing. Introduced Mammals of the World provides a concise and extensive source of information on the range of introductions of mammals conducted by humans, and an indication as to which have resulted in adverse outcomes. It provides a very valuable tool by which scientists can assess future potential introductions (or re-introductions) to avoid costly mistakes. It also provides tangible proof of the need for political decision makers to consider good advice and make wise and cautious decisions. Introduced Mammals of the World also provides a comprehensive reference to students of ecological systems management and biological conservation. This book is a companion volume to Introduced Birds of the World, by the same author, published in 1981, and which remains the premier text of its kind in the world more than twenty years after it was published. Introduced Mammals of the World provides the most comprehensive account of the movement of mammals around the world providing details on the date(s) of introduction, the person/agency responsible, the source populations, the location(s) of release, the fate of the introductions, and the impact if known, for over 300 species of mammal.