Niccolo Machiavelli’s Concepts and Their Relevance to the Analysis of The Recent Politics: Case of Kazakhstan

Abstract

This study tries to investigate if the concepts from 15th – 16th centuries are still relevant to the political science as a source of the analysis. Comparative analysis of Niccolo Machiavelli’s concepts with Kazakhstan’s recent political activities tries to find out any similar patterns, which occur in different times and geographies. Focusing on the central ideas of republicanism, fortune, virtue and free will this study tries to investigate This study shows that Niccolo Machiavelli’s political thought still is a useful instrument to analyze young states. Comparing it to the rule of Nursultan Nazarbayev in Kazakhstan helps to understand the flexibility of the existing theories. Inevitable changes, which the current politics adopted due to the shifts in a paradigm of international relations (IR), helped the concepts to adjust into the times. The unchanging nature of human beings explains the relevancy of the Machiavelli’s political thought. Their desire for freedom, stability and safety repeat the history of human beings, relocating the actors to new times and places.