Is there any problem with Military education in Kazakhstan?

Aigerim Suleimenova

The military education in Kazakhstan starts from the school when students are taught the basics of military equipment, this is called Basic military training. This is a required subject for all schools in Kazakhstan, however there are also special Military boarding schools in Almaty, Shymkent, Karaganda,”Zhasulan” military school for gifted boys, cadet corps named after Chokan Valikhanov where students live and military education, physical training, patriotism development, military –progess orientation are taught.

After school, there several higher education institutions Kazakhstan National Defense university, Military institute of air defense forces and so on where students get a higher military education and after a graduation can get an officer rank. Also there is ab obligatory military service for citizens from 18- 27 for one year. However now there is an existence of one month short military service which is accounted as a obligatory military service that was mentioned before, the payment for this is about 300.000 tenge.
From the first sight it can be seen that military education in Kazakhstan is developed, however the quality not quantity matters. Which kind and quality of military officers do it produce? As Karen Guttieri suggested (Bruneau and Tollefson)  education is a “central function of military organization”. Here it is important to highlight thay military education is not only about knowledge about military, equipment, training, specific skills but also is about values and behavior, morale and – obedience to authority. Also this is  supported by Huntington's characteristics of professional officer.  However as we can see from the examples like in Aktau the soldier was jailed because of the disobedience to higher rank officer because this soldier “ did not want to do the actions, because of many younger soldiers around, and he is an older time soldier” the military education of Kazakhstan gave not what is needed.

The need of a new military education was suggested by Bakytzhan Abdiraiym, the head of Military strategic research center. According to him there are three problems in military education lack of new equipment and military vehicles, second is inefficient management system and third is a quality of military education (!!!) This shows that there is a way of development of military education and we believe that this will be improved.
_____________
References
1. https://en.tengrinews.kz/military/Kazakhstan-needs-new-military-education-system-18068/
2. http://central.asia-news.com/en_GB/articles/cnmi_ca/features/2016/07/11/feature-01
3. https://www.mod.gov.kz/rus/obrazovanie/srednee_obrazovanie/?cid=0&rid=385
4. http://old.el.kz/m/articles/view/content-23637
5. https://www.mod.gov.kz/rus/obrazovanie/srednee_obrazovanie/?cid=0&rid=384
6. https://tengrinews.kz/kazakhstan_news/v-aktau-arestovali-soldata-za-otkaz-vyipolnyat-prikaz-314799/
7. Bruneau, Thomas C., and Scott D. Tollefson. 2008. Who Guards the Guardians and How:

Democratic Civil-Military Relations. University of Texas Press.

Military Education in Kazakhstan

Daniyar Tengelbay

In March 2013 president of the Military-Strategic Research Center Bakytzhan Abdiraiym pointed that one of the main problems of Kazakhstan’s army is military education. He suggested to reconsider the whole system of military education and argued that Kazakhstan need highly intellectual officers, which study not only in military academies but also in top universities of the world. There was also stress on emotional factor as there is need in psychological fitness and stress resistance.

Since this time, Kazakhstan agreed with several states to cooperate in military education as part of bilateral cooperation. For example, agreement with China in 2015 regarding free technical assistance for Kazakhstan’s army and cooperating in military education. (Part of Kazakhstan’s military personnel is educated in Chinese military academies) Moreover, from fall 2016 Kazakhstan’s military academies introduced new disciplines as military ethics, military logistics, military radio electronics and engineering, military management and military jurisprudence. This is also a part of development of state’s military education.

In addition, Astana Times informs that US and Kazakhstan developed a project for 2016-2017 military cooperation. It is directed to improve professionalism of military and developing the military education. As US interested in regional security of Central Asia it will assist Kazakhstan’s military academies with teaching methods and considers cadets exchange.
 
According to Bruneau and Tollefson (2006), military education should inculcate loyalty to civilians and directed to avoid coups and other interference in states politics. It should develop professional behavior and teach respect and obedience to higher administration.


Kazakhstan is in right way of developing its military education as it cooperates with states that have strong militaries. It already had been improved much as young men willing to be in Armed forces are more than the army needs. This is mostly because military is in process of professionalization and military capacities are improved by time.

____________

http://astanatimes.com/2016/03/1-4/ 

https://en.tengrinews.kz/politics_sub/China-continues-strengthening-military-relations-with-262536/ 

https://en.tengrinews.kz/military/Kazakhstan-needs-new-military-education-system-18068/ 

http://bnews.kz/ru/redesign/news/kak_popast_v_elitnie_voiska_kazahstana

The News Article Summary: "Course towards Professionalization”

Author: Alina Nurtas

Reading            - Nathan W. Toronto, “Why Professionalize? Economic Modernization and Military Professionalism”, 2016.

According to Kazakhstan’s military doctrine which was signed in 2000, state’s military should grow and develop according to the character of the real military threats from the outside or inside of Kazakhstan, with use of the new tendencies or technologies and, what is more important, with state’s economic capabilities. Kazakhstan went through major transformations, and the shift to a market economy is one of them. Market Economy requires the state to redefine its military politics. Issues are yet to be resolved. The situation was complexifyed with Armed Forces’ inability to satisfy the demands of a changing environment, where the geopolitics outside the country changed, and the internal and external politics of Kazakhstan also went through significant alterations. Moreover, Kazakhstan’s army dropped behind neighboring states in terms of the military technologies. Here one would see how Kazakhstani institutions are lagging behind the economic change; according to Huntington (1968) this hinders the military professionalism. Kazakhstan, until recent time, had no effective army financing. The economic questions did not let the state to start military reforms. Importantly, the needs of the army were satisfied by means of the ‘emergency store’. In spite of that, the state identified long term goals – to create centers for mobilized preparation, and invent mobilization reserves. Though, it is hard to modernize the military equipment, professionalize military officers, and educate them, without a proper financing system and well developed economy of the state.

How is it related to our class?

What do we mean by ‘military professionalization”? I believe that a professional military officer should be familiar with military history and the doctrine of his state; he should understand military philosophy and know that violence is the last resort. The later notion was mentioned by numerous authors during the course of the semester. Huntington (1957) once said that military should do nothing but manage violence. This will eventually contribute to the state’s ability to manage military business and violence as well. Enough words were said about the significance and the meaning behind ‘military professionalism’, and people do appreciate that. Though, how to achieve it? As W. Toronto (2016) argued, when the state achieves a higher level of economic stability and modernization, it is likely to professionalize in military terms. Going back to the news regarding Kazakhstan, it comes as no surprise that a young market economy will clash with inability to satisfy its military sector because of unstable economic environment.

What about the direct links between economic modernization and military professionalism? Well, W. Toronto (2016) identifies three main pathways to link the former and the later one. The ‘accumulation of human capital’ or the third pathways seems to fit into Kazakhstan’s frame. From the news article, it became evident that Kazakhstan is about to professionalize its military through creating mobilization reserves and through introducing educational centers for officers. This will empower their multifaceted education and ensure the professionalization. 

Is the military in Kazakhstan professional?

Author: Aigerim Suleimenova

Soldiers in Kazakhstan

What does it mean to be a professional officer? According to Huntington (1991) we need to analyze the professional character of officers. There are three key features: expertise, corporateness and responsibility. Do all of these satisfy and enough for Kazakhstan officers be professionals?

In January 24, 2017 the military servant of Kazakhstani army was arrested in Aktau because he refused to perform h/is duties, in other words he disobeyed the higher rank officer. According to Criminal code, he was found guilty and arrested for 48 hours. The quite light punishment was because no one was harmed. This is an example of how military servants not obey the rules and this does not satisfy with corporate character of officer, where the priority is given to higher rank. Also being a professional military servant means give the responsibility to the state, where you cannot not broke the rule and impose decisions upon yourself, and all actions are controlled by the law.

In order to get a military education and get a military skills there are military schools, colleges and universities (ex. Zhas Ulan Republican school, Military Academy in Almaty etc). Moreover there are military Departments at universities which are responsible for military education. These can show that students who graduate these universities have a specialized knowledge and some experience. Also there is the Army (Military service contract) which is for 1 year, where people (both male and female) can join and under the contract have different positions (officer, soldiers, warrant officers). However from 2014 there is new type of military service –military technical school, where a man can pay 300.000 tenge and be under military conditions (real Army) for 1 month and this is instead of 1 year military service and they receive a lieutenant rank. Hence we can assume that what knowledge and experience can get a person for 1 month is not enough for professional officer, because professional officer need more intense and intellectualized knowledge and experience.

As Huntington (1991) argued “management of violence” is one of the important and central skills that professional officer obligate to do, however previous example (with soldier in Aktau) showed that this person cannot do his duties, and even not able to maintain control over himself.

From this one example we can see that nowadays our military is lack of professionals. Having a good, trained and professionalized military is one of the steps to development. The Ministry of Defense has stated that Kazakhstan was going to have a professional army by 2016 and we hope that this plan will be fulfilled near future.

_______
https://en.tengrinews.kz/military/Kazakhstan-to-have-professional-army-by-2016-23220/
https://tengrinews.kz/crime/aktau-soldata-arestovali-otkaz-vyipolnyat-prikaz-komandira-312971/
https://egov.kz/cms/en/articles/sluzhba_po_kontract