10. Critical Discussion: Neoliberalism, Social Suffering and Resistance

This chapter consists of six thematic sections, each of which offers a critical discussion on issues arising from the case studies. The first section examines the nature and force of the neoliberal movement in Central Asia. It reveals the key economic and political powers, mechanisms, countervailing forces and outcomes in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The growth and diversity of rent-seeking practices are examined in the second section, moving beyond the usual analysis of natural resources and public corruption in the region. In the third section, the nature of the state’s strategic selectivity in Central Asia is explored. It emphasises capital’s privileged access and control over state institutions and capacities. Section ‘The Moral and Political Significance of Class’ discusses the significance of class in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. It reveals how middle and working class groups often had different interpretations and responses to social inequalities and suffering. The fifth section discusses how Kazakhstan’s and Kyrgyzstan’s countermovements were responses to harms generated by the neoliberal commodification of money, land and labour. It also examines anti-plutocratic uprisings in Kyrgyzstan. Section ‘Moral Evaluations of Rentierism and Its Outcomes’ evaluates the effects of rentierism in terms of justice and flourishing. It shows that movement leaders and activists posed fundamental moral economic questions.