Cybersecurity as a Factor of Kazakhstan's National Foreign Policy Strategy

Abstract

This article examines cybersecurity as an increasingly autonomous factor shaping the foreign policy strategy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the period 2020-2028. Drawing on the Concept of Foreign Policy of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2020-2030, the national "Cyber Shield of Kazakhstan" programme, and the country's evolving engagement with multilateral cyber-diplomacy platforms, the study argues that cybersecurity has moved from a purely technical and domestic-security concern to a structural component of Kazakhstan's multi-vector diplomacy. The authors analyze the institutional architecture responsible for cyber-policy formation, Kazakhstan's positioning between Russia, China, the European Union and the United States on questions of digital sovereignty and information security, and the country's participation in United Nations, OSCE, SCO, CSTO and CIS cyber-related initiatives. Particular attention is paid to the tension between Kazakhstan's aspiration for an open, internationally integrated digital economy and its simultaneous pursuit of information sovereignty and control over the domestic information space. Based on document analysis and comparative case material, the article concludes that cybersecurity functions in contemporary Kazakhstani foreign policy simultaneously as a security imperative, a diplomatic resource, and a legitimizing narrative for the modernization of state institutions. The findings contribute to the broader academic discussion on digital diplomacy and technology-driven transformation of foreign policy doctrines in Central Asian states, and offer a set of policy recommendations aimed at strengthening Kazakhstan's cyber-diplomatic capacity through 2028.