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Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev's family dynasty is taking dysfunction to new heights. Nazarbayev's son-in-law Rakhat Aliyev -- who is regularly in trouble with authorities and with his father-in-law -- pushed Nazarbayev past the point of forgiveness when he directly challenged Nazarbayev for the presidency for the first time. In response, on May 30 Nazarbayev called for a family member's arrest for the first time and had Aliyev arrested in Austria on June 1 on years-old murder charges.
Aliyev, who controls one of the largest and most influential groups in Kazakhstan, will not go down quietly. His power will either grow to challenge Nazarbayev or get absorbed into the president's power -- which is growing every day. Whatever the outcome for Aliyev, Kazakhstan's large foreign investors -- mainly the United States, Europe, Russia and China -- are the actors to watch as instability leaves Kazakhstan ripe for foreign meddling.
The Power Players
Nazarbayev has cracked down on most of the opposition in Kazakhstan during his 16 years as president. He has set up four main groups in his inner circle to control the largest influential sectors in the country (and to balance each other in the process). Most of the four groups are either made up of family or clan members -- hence Nazarbayev's reputation for creating a family dynasty in Kazakhstan.
The controlling players are:
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