Digital Roads of Kazakhstan: Technological Lock-ins and Local Agency

On 6 December 2023, IKD (Information Knowledge and Development) had the honour to host Elisa Oreglia (minutes 03:25-08:40), and Oyuna Baldakova (minutes 08:41-49:40), who discussed realities and opportunities within Kazakhstan for agency to shape its own digital development. The two presentations were followed by Q&A (minute 49:41 till end).
Speakers:
Oyuna Baldakova - Lead Researcher for Kazakhstan at the ERC-funded DIGISILK project
Elisa Oreglia - Reader in the Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London. She is the principal investigator for the European Research Council-funded project DIGISILK.
Full description:
Much of the discourse on US-China tech decoupling has centered on trade and geostrategic analysis, while often overlooking ground-level realities of countries in the Global South, their positioning within the global technological landscape, and their strategic digital choices. To bridge this gap, in this presentation we discuss how Kazakhstan is (re)shaping its own digital eco-system while balancing historical legacies and challenging geopolitical constraints. Drawing from primary sources, secondary literature, and eight months of fieldwork in Almaty and Astana conducted in 2022 and 2023, we focus on decision-making in three key areas (networks, data storage, and applications), and identify four constraints that influence decision-making related to them: historical legacies, geopolitical considerations, financial factors, and institutional frameworks. Within these constraints, we uncover pockets of local agency and contingency, and highlight the ability of different actors - from state officers to tech companies - to carve their own independent path in a tech field seemingly dominated by US and Chinese companies. We argue that in a digital world predominantly shaped by the competition between US and Chinese tech giants, Kazakhstan's unique digital ecosystem showcases the potential for the Global South countries to craft their own trajectories. By understanding and harnessing their unique historical, geopolitical, financial, and institutional contexts, these nations can assert their agency and shape their digital futures.