Yelena Nikolayevna Zabortseva is Lecturer and Researcher in the Department of Government and International Relations at Sydney University, Australia.

1. Introduction: Central Asia: Great Game or Graveyard? 2. Rethinking the stages of Russia-Kazakhstan relations 3. Historical foundations and political significance of security and migration trends in Russia-Kazakhstan relations 4. Stage 1.1991-1994: Strategic military arsenal and - the 'fifth column'? 5. Stage 2.1995-1999: Economic interests and state-building 6. Stage 3.2000-2004: Increased security concerns and the thaw in the bilateral relationship 7. Stage 4. 2005-2012. Intensification of bilateral cooperation 8. Stage 5. 2013-2015 Bilateral relations in the era of new international challenges and controversies 9. Conclusion: W(h)ither regionalism in a new international system?

Recent political developments in post-Soviet countries have raised novel issues regarding the stability of the post-Cold War world order. A new direction in policy has been exemplified by the recent bolstering of a number of post-Soviet political and economic institutions - such as CSTO, SCO and the Eurasian Economic Union - in which the role of Kazakhstan is considerable. In addition to its unique geopolitical location, Kazakhstan's importance in regional integration structures and international relations more broadly is reinforced by its rich oil and uranium deposits.
This book centres on an exploration of the changing relations between Russia and Kazakhstan and their impact on post-Soviet interactions with the rest of the world. The role of specific factors in the formation of the post-Soviet regional system will be explored in historical perspective. The multifaceted relations between Kazakhstan and Russia from 1991 to the contemporary period will be analysed in terms of relations in several spheres: political, military and security, Kazakhstan's nuclear withdrawal, ethnicity and national identity, economic, foreign policies, regionalism and international trends and the impact of historic trends.
An important analysis of Kazakhstan, the second largest country in the post-Soviet world, this book is of interest to researchers of International Relations, Post-Soviet Studies and Central Asia Studies.