What does it take to build a generation of citizens who respect human rights? In Kazakhstan, the government believes it starts in the classroom. While debates over civic education, legal literacy, and public trust in state institutions unfold across the globe—from the halls of European parliaments to grassroots movements in Africa and Asia—Kazakhstan has adopted a formal strategy to instil respect for the rule of law and justice through a multi-year educational campaign.
Globally, the link between education and democratic resilience is well established. In Europe, civic education is being revitalised in response to growing polarisation and disinformation. For instance, Finland’s national core curriculum now includes digital literacy and democratic participation as essential skills. In the United States, bipartisan efforts have emerged to reintroduce civic instruction into public schools after decades of neglect. Across developing democracies, such as in Kenya and Indonesia, targeted legal education campaigns have been used to combat corruption and strengthen institutional legitimacy. These efforts aim to ensure long-term respect for laws and rights through the idea that citizens must first understand them and believe in their fairness.
Kazakhstan’s Case Study
Kazakhstan’s new Concept for Promoting the Ideology of Law and Order in Society for 2025–2030, adopted in April 2025, joins this global conversation by proposing a long-term transformation in how legal culture is taught, understood, and practiced. Framed within the broader political reform agenda of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, whose administration has introduced the guiding ideas of a “Listening State” and “Just Kazakhstan,” the Concept aims to cultivate a deep-rooted respect for the law not just through enforcement, but through education, participation, and cultural change.
The “Listening State,” introduced early in Tokayev’s presidency, is a shift from top-down governance to a more responsive model in which government institutions are expected to listen to citizen concerns, respond transparently, and build public trust. Building on this, the “Just Kazakhstan” initiative calls for reforms that reinforce fairness, accountability, and social justice. In this context, the newly adopted Concept seeks to operationalise these ideals by reshaping how Kazakh citizens interact with the legal system as informed participants.
The Concept suggests that human rights, justice, and the rule of law must be embedded in the lived experience of ordinary people. And that process must begin early. The reform proposes an expansion of legal education in schools, with curricula redesigned to emphasize the practical application of legal norms, respect for others’ rights, and personal responsibility. Students will not only study the Fundamentals of Law as a subject, but also engage in interactive, real-world learning experiences, including legal clinics, public consultations, and community-led training sessions on legal literacy.
This approach seeks to create what the government calls a “self-reproducing culture of legality,” in which each new generation internalises core values of justice, responsibility, and civic duty. Rather than promoting legal obedience as a matter of fear or enforcement, the Concept calls for fostering voluntary, conscious adherence to laws perceived as legitimate and fair.
Building Trust through Participation and Service
To do this, the Concept is grounded in several foundational principles that are widely recognised in international legal discourse: the rule of law, transparency, accountability, human rights, and participatory governance. The law must apply equally to all, without exception, and the state must enforce it visibly and fairly, from minor infractions to major corruption cases. Citizens, in turn, must have access to clear information about how justice is administered, and must feel that the law protects their rights as much as it imposes duties.
The document also highlights the importance of adapting legal education and outreach to Kazakhstan’s unique cultural and historical context. This includes integrating traditional values such as respect for elders and communal justice into modern civic education. Public events and materials will be designed in multiple languages and framed using national cultural references, reinforcing the idea that legality is part of Kazakhstan’s own heritage.
The Concept also includes reforms to how law enforcement and state agencies operate, with a shift from punitive control to a service-oriented model. Police and prosecutors, for instance, will be evaluated not only on efficiency but on their ability to communicate respectfully with citizens, explain rights and obligations, and respond to concerns with transparency and empathy. Judges and investigators will receive additional training to prevent procedural errors and reinforce public confidence in the justice system. Meanwhile, civil servants will undergo regular legal training and ethics evaluations, with a zero-tolerance approach to corruption.
Taken together, Kazakhstan is attempting to address one of the most difficult challenges facing governments today: how to rebuild public trust in the rule of law. In many countries across the world, confidence in government institutions is falling, eroded by inequality, perceived injustice, corruption, and bureaucratic distance. Kazakhstan’s initiative, while domestically focused, speaks to this universal concern by proposing a cultural and generational response to legal disengagement and distrust.
A Model Worth Watching?
It would be naive to suggest that the Concept alone will reverse decades of legal cynicism or eliminate systemic shortcomings in Kazakhstan’s judicial system. Reforms of this nature are often slow-moving and uneven, especially when they challenge entrenched interests or bureaucratic habits. However, what makes the Concept noteworthy is its long-term scope and its recognition that legal culture cannot be shaped solely through laws and courts. It must be cultivated through classrooms, communities, public services, and the daily interactions between citizens and the state.
In an era where public trust in institutions is declining worldwide, Kazakhstan’s attempt to reimagine legal culture through education and civic engagement deserves attention. It illustrates a broader shift in how some governments are responding to legitimacy crises: not with more control, but with deeper investment in trust, literacy, and mutual responsibility.
If successful, Kazakhstan’s approach could offer a valuable case study for other countries grappling with similar questions: How do we foster legal consciousness in an age of disinformation and disengagement? Can education and participation replace fear and enforcement as the foundation of public order? And ultimately, what does it take to build a generation of citizens who respect human rights – not because they are told to, but because they choose to?
Kazakhstan is betting that the answer begins in the classroom.
Michael Rossi is a Lecturer in Political Science at Rutgers University of New Jersey, United States, and a Visiting Professor at Webster University Tashkent.
