POLITICAL AND LEGAL CULTURE OF POPULATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN: SIMILARITIES AND
DIFFERENCES
G.R.Absattarov,
Deputy Dean of history
faculty
KazNPU named after Abai, PhD
From our analysis it follows that the political and legal culture of the
population of Kazakhstan enrich and develop each other in the process of interaction. The
principles and norms of political culture affects the development of the law.
Therefore, we will consider the similarity and interaction of political and legal
culture of the population of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The similarity and interaction most clearly seen on the example of
Kazakhstan's social values that indicate the social significance
of something and express the collective interest. Interests and values
have several orders of classification and can be related to
individuals, social communities, groups and layers, and to the society (nation)
as a whole. And the values of group (social) are not the sum of the
values of individuals that make up these groups. And social
values are not the sum of certain values of the
society groups. The nature and content of values can not be
properly understood without reference to the social and political mechanisms acting
on it. The author does not believe
that the political and legal values of Kazakhstan are eternal
abstract "entities" that are outside of space and time. Values
vary depending on the specific stage of historical development.
Changing of historical conditions affect the political and legal culture of the
population, which undergo changes, certain evolution.
There is a distinction between the legal and the
political culture of the population of Kazakhstan society. Legal norms and
values are stable and objectively much stronger rooted in
traditions, institutions, public opinion, etc. In this sense, the political
norms and values are more subjective and volatile, less stable
and traditional. As a rule, all the reforms and social changes in Kazakh
society begins with changing political norms, traditions and values, that is,
changes in the political culture. And only then political and social
institutions are beginning to realize the need to change the legal culture, and
only then proceed to its practical change.
In the course of social change of Kazakhstan the interaction of political
and legal culture, political and legal basic values are the most visible
. For example, answering the question: "How do you now feel about the
disintegration of the Soviet Union?", 20% of respondents (inhabitants of
Kyzylorda) - regret, 10% -no
difference, 67% - approve and 3% were undecided. Decisions (adopted in 1991) of the political
leaders of three Soviet republics, were political (but not legal). However,
after the formation of the fifteen new nations began an active process of
building a new political and legal systems and the formation of a new political
and legal culture (the process in each of the new states still ongoing).
The historical practice of the international community [1] and Kazakhstan confirms
that the first policy changes in society, but it can be separated from the law.
It is therefore advisable to use such a clarification to the concept of legal
culture of the population of Kazakhstan as a "state of law", which
can be estimated using a number of indicators. These include: a measure of the
constitutional principles; the availability of basic principles, the uniformity
of areas of legislation; compliance with the principles and norms of
international law; adequately address the problems of an economic, social and
political development of citizens' rights, transparency and accessibility;
reduction of transgressions. In this
way the legal culture of Kazakhstan may serve as a limiting factor for the
world of politics, for the political culture as a whole.
The political culture of Kazakhstan begins with ensuring the systematic
reproduction of political knowledge, beliefs, values, traditions and practices
for their implementation in the whole society. Therefore, the political culture
of Kazakhstan is still a relatively broad concept with respect to the Kazakh
legal culture: it contains the features and capabilities of a small group of
people (the elite leadership of the state), which has the political power to
control society.
Legal culture is secondary to the political culture - it describes the
willingness to comply with and reproduce
the norms of society (developed by competent political structures) by individuals and social groups. But this
legal culture is an objective limitation of political culture.
Normativity of political and legal culture of Kazakhstan permeates all
levels of the personal and social interests and core values.
Therefore there is a possibility of a sociological dimension for the political
and legal culture of Kazakhstan on various indicators, criteria and
methodologies which are developed in science. The socio-political norms and
values in the legal and general culture is reliable condition for
the effective regulation of behavior of people by law. It is well known that
the formation of the political and legal culture of Kazakhstan is closely
related to lifestyle. There is a constant acceleration of political and legal
values in lifestyle, in the forms of human behavior and
activities of social groups and entire societies.
Legal culture of Kazakhstan is linked with the political structure of the society
and its political system. This relationship exists objectively, as the policy
should be based on existing legislation. Adoption of sustainable laws is the most important problem in the modern
Kazakh lawmaking. It should state that the laws can not be used to implement a
diametrically opposite, different interests. The law is created for all people
[2], the law suggests the possible future behavior of the person and work of
social groups and society as a whole.
If a political system of Kazakhstan is usually understood as a set of
different political institutions, socio-political communities, forms, rules and
principles of interactions, in which political power is realized, the legal
system of Kazakhstan is expressed primarily in the normativity of legal reality
and the normative instructions. Normativity is the real organizational force of
law, normative requirements serve as the basis determining the legitimacy of conduct
for members of public.
In the modern Kazakh scientific community there is a perception that the
category of the legal system is still poorly developed because there is no
single view of the subject, object and the concept of "legal system"
of society. Differently reveals the genesis of the concept, and is defined by
its epistemological value. Indeed, the
"legal system of Kazakhstan's society" refers to the number of
scientific categories, which can not be
explained only by factors of social reality, the integration processes taking
place in the legal life of the community, the presence of the legal validity of
the system of quality, because the history of formation and development of
legal systems of the world has a thousand years history.Methodological bases of
formation of the concept of "legal system" of Kazakh society composed of:
- the wide use of a holistic approach to the law and other legal phenomena
in legal science;
- the assertion in science sociological approach to law, which requires his
research in action;
- the development of comparative jurisprudence and exchange information at
the level of the world of jurisprudence;
- the active formation and strengthening of multidimensional vision of law,
that is, methodological pluralism.
Currently, there are over 10 definitions of the term "legal
system". "Legal System", as a concept, defines the structural
characteristic of legal reality, opens its overall design, reflects the role
and value of law-making and law enforcement authorities, that is, directly
covers the activities of state institutions (legislative and judicial), which
are performing judicial functions. Certainly, the legal system is inseparable
from the system of legislation. However, it should be stated that modern Kazakh
scholars often write about the legal system, not about the legal system of the
society, that is, as a result there is no answer to the question: is the legal
system of the state or the legal
system of society, and how it differ?
In opinion of the majority of scholars, legal system consists of the following basic
elements: a system of customary law, the system of moral standards, the system
of religious laws, the system of legal norms, the system of corporate law.
We do not consider the legal culture as a separate
component of the legal system because the legal culture - a qualitative state
of legal reality, reflected in the current level of development of legal
phenomena and processes. The condition characterizes the entire legal system as a
whole and each of its components individually, acting as an attributes,
properties of the entire legal system. The legal system is a complex set of legal phenomena,
institutions and processes that are emerging as a result of their interaction,
and under the influence of the political system, and the process of political
and legal impact of social and political actors in the public life and private
life of citizens.
It should be said that an important role in the formation
and functioning of the legal culture of Kazakhstan plays the state and its
major political institutions. The need for the law arises before the advent of
the state, the law is intended to protect the rights when the will
of individuals (which are in opposition to the interests) can not be
"balanced" by the will of the interested party and where the acts of
repression is the the "balance". The need for the law
as the dominant form of law arises later, with the formation of the domestic and international markets, when there is a need for the unification of
law, elimination of its particularism.
State compulsion always qualitatively more efficiently and reliably, it is
systematically and comprehensively. Therefore, economically ruling class uses
political power of the state to protect the already established norms. Being the official structure of society, the state
makes the norm as structural element and has the legal basis for compulsion
of population to its execution. Public
recognition of the rule of law is the law. Law reunites the private interest of
the individual with the "public" interest of the state. However, as a
structural element of the state, the law is not only a proclamation and
consolidation rules in the legislation, but also the creation of the conditions
necessary for its implementation. The law is expressed in the activities of the
state as a whole and all of its component parts.
The social and political nature of law that can be interpreted as a
socio-political nature, is an institution that mediates the private individual
and his special, specific claims for material and social benefits; it is the
norm for advisory relationships among individuals over distribution of material
and public goods necessary for the normal functioning of society; it is the
norm expedient behavior of individuals, reflecting the normative attitude in their will and consciousness; it is an
official expression of freedom of the ruling political class and its measure in
the functioning of individual interests and in the sphere of autonomy of individuals of ruling class (for example, the political elite).
References
1.
Alekseev I.P. Policy and law. –Moscow, 2010. –p.150-152.
2.
Constitution of the Republic
of Kazakhstan. –Astana, 2008. –p.7-15.
3.
Sozialphilosophische,
politische und rechtliche
Aspekte der Modernisierung Kasachstans. - Berlin, 2012. - S.137.