Modern Clan Politics: The Power of "Blood" in Kazakhstan and Beyond

<P>Edward Schatz explores the politics of kinbased clan divisions in the postSoviet state of Kazakhstan.

Drawing from extensive ethnographic and archival research, interviews, and wideranging secondary sources, he highlights a politics that poses a twotiered challenge to current thinking about modernity and Central Asia.

First, asking why kinship divisions do not fade from political life with modernization, he shows that the state actually constructs clan relationships by infusing them with practical political and social meaning.

By activating the most important quality of clans their "concealability" the state is itself responsible for the vibrant politics of these subethnic divisions which has emerged and flourished in postSoviet Kazakhstan.</P><P>Subethnic divisions are crucial to understanding how group solidarities and power relations coexist and where they intersect.

But, in a second challenge to current thinking, Schatz argues that clan politics should not be understood simply as competition among primordial groups.

Rather, the meanings attributed to clan relationships both the public stigmas and the publicly proclaimed pride in clans are part and parcel of this contest.</P><P>Drawing parallels with relevant cases from the Middle East, East and North Africa, and other parts of the former USSR, Schatz concludes that a more appropriate policy may be achieved by making clans a legitimate part of political and social life, rendering them less powerful or corrupt by increasing their transparency.</P><P>Political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, policy makers, and others who study state power and identity groups will find a wealth of empirical material and conceptual innovation for discussion and debate.</P>