Kazakhstan is one of the least densely populated countries in the world. It has an area roughly equal to that of all of Western Europe and a population of 19 million – around that of the Netherlands. Kazakhstan became Independent in 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union and shortly thereafter experienced an oil boom. The global commodity super-cycle ended in 2014, and oil prices fell. Kazakhstan’s unique socioeconomic history and its vulnerability to commodity price shocks...