Religion - politics interplay: the case of kazakhstan and uzbekistan

The article covers the problems of religion–state interaction in two Central Asian countries – Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan - and analyses how they influence each other. The methodology is based on the integral approach in the sociology of religion that presumes that the religion and the state are the social system's vital elements influencing each other as well as the system at whole. The article argues that in spite of the general similarities in the state's approach towards religion in the pre-Soviet and Soviet periods there are still different outputs in contemporary Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan deriving from many factors - among which are the basic difference between Kazakh and Uzbek religious identity as well as the performance and general politics of the state.

Kazakhstan ,

Uzbekistan ,

Politics ,

Religion ,

Central Asia ,