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-seekingrent-seeking practices are examined in the second section, moving beyond the usual analysis of natural resourcesnatural resources and public corruptioncorruption in the region. In the third section, the nature of the state’s strategic selectivitystrategic selectivity in Central Asia is explored. It emphasises capital’s privileged access and control over state institutionsthe state and capacities. Section ‘The Moral and Political Significance of Class’ discusses the significance of class in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. It reveals how middlemiddle class and working classworking class groups often had different interpretations and responses to social inequalitiesinequality(ies) and sufferingsuffering. The fifth section discusses how Kazakhstan’s and Kyrgyzstan’s countermovementscountermovement were responses to harmsharms generated by the neoliberal commodificationcommodification of money, land and labour. It also examines anti-plutocratic uprisingsuprising in Kyrgyzstan. Section ‘Moral Evaluations of Rentierism and Its Outcomes’ evaluates the effects of rentierismrentierism in terms of justice and flourishing. It shows that movement leaders and activists posed fundamental moralmoral economic questions.