Dr Diana Kudaibergen’s book ‘The Kazakh Spring: Digital Activism and the Challenge to Dictatorship’ (Cambridge University Press, 2024) was selected as the best publication in Russian, Soviet and Post‑Soviet Studies for 2024. The Alexander Nove Prize was established by BASEES in March 1995 in recognition of the outstanding contribution to its field of study made by the late Alec Nove. The book offers the first comprehensive analysis of the protests and civic mobilisation that reshaped Kazakhstan between 2019 and 2022.
The prize committee highlighted the book’s clear, accessible analysis of digital activism, everyday acts of dissent, and the ways in which citizens navigated limited political space to challenge authoritarian rule. By foregrounding the voices of those involved in the Qazaq Köktеmi, the work reframes assumptions about resistance and political possibility in authoritarian settings.
This important study not only deepens our understanding of Kazakhstan but also provides insights relevant to wider debates on democracy and collective action.
We warmly congratulate Dr Kudaibergen on this outstanding achievement and the well‑deserved recognition of her important and timely scholarship.