Abstract

This chapter brings to bear what Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan can explain with regard to the concepts
of legitimacy and legitimation in authoritarianism. It argues how legitimation should be understood as a
series of claims by the regime regarding their appropriateness to rule which are then transformed
through social action which then produces legitimacy. The chapter challenges contemporary theorisation
of legitimation in the post-Soviet space, which disaggregates the process too far, failing to address the
overlapping and interdependent nature of legitimising claims. Instead, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan
demonstrate how authoritarian regimes can rely on a combination of charismatic, traditional and legalrational
claims to evoke legitimation, but that ultimately, we can never truly know the extent to which
broader society believes in the legitimacy of these regimes.