Kazakhstan has become a successful market reformer under the leadership of President Nursultan Nazarbayev. But what type of a market economy has emerged in the country since 1991? This book focuses on Kazakhstan's transition path, examines the role of the state in steering economic processes, and analyses the state – business interaction. The Varieties of Capitalism approach and a core – periphery analytical framework are applied to classify the evolving model of capitalist economy in the country in detail. The research design is based on a qualitative cross-sectional interview study, where 159 semi-structured interviews were conducted. This study makes an innovative contribution to the scholarly literature on the economic and institutional transition of Kazakhstan.