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?

This book analyses the changing relations between Russia and Kazakhstan and their impact on post-Soviet interactions with the rest of the world. Areas explored are political relationships, relationships in the military and security areas, the issue of Kazakhstan's nuclear withdrawal, ethnicity and national identity, economic relationships, foreign policies, regionalism and international trends such as fluctuation of prices on global markets, GFC, or 9/11. This book is of interest to researchers of International Relations, Post-Soviet Studies and Central Asia Studies.