Based on work carried out for the recent book, ‘Rentier Capitalism and its discontents’ (2021), Balihar Sanghera and Elmira Satybaldieva will examine the moral economy of rent extraction, using Central Asia as a case study.

The speakers will first explain how rent extraction has been justified and legitimised by economic elites, the judiciary and international financial institutions in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. They will then discuss the harmful and damaging effects of rentier activities on economic development, people’s well-being, the environment and democracy. Finally, they will examine how grassroots movements have emerged to counter the neoliberal commodification of land, money and labour.