E-Government in Kazakhstan
When it comes to analyzing the phenomenon of digital government, the overwhelming focus is on the most developed nations in the world, and Western countries in particular. However, Kazakhstan, a post-totalitarian country, has also proved to be successful in the development of e-government.
This book analyzes e-government development in Kazakhstan from a multitude of dimensions, including, but not limited to, political, social, economic and technological platforms. It examines the adoption of a wide range of technology-driven public sector projects and identifies the key drivers, challenges, regulation policies and stakeholders of e-government reforms in this transitional society. Taking into account recent changes in governance, such as the development of mobile government, the rise of civic engagement and the open data-driven movement, and the overall formal progress of the e-government project, this book addresses the emergence of new challenges and concerns associated with the advancement of the e-government concept. Furthermore, it suggests that a universal framework can be applied when investigating e-government projects in the developing world.
Offering a wide range of practical recommendations on how to overcome the problems associated with e-government development, this book will be a valuable resource for anyone wishing to improve their understanding of the multidimensional nature of e-government. It will also be of key interest to academics studying Political Science, Development Studies, Public Policy and Central Asian Studies.
Maxat Kassen is Associate Professor at the Eurasian Humanitarian Institute, Kazakhstan.
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10E-Government in Kazakhstan
A case study of multidimensional phenomena
Maxat Kassen
E-Government in Kazakhstan
A case study of multidimensional phenomena
Maxat Kassen
First published 2017
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Contents
Maxat Kassen is a political scientist and a docent teaching students in the Eurasian Humanitarian Institute in Astana, Kazakhstan. He is a former head of foreign information service in the National Information Agency Kazinform (20032004). He is also a former Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the University of Illinois at Chicago (20112012) and fellow of the Annenberg-Oxford Summer Institute at the University of Oxford (2011). His research focuses on studying the impact of new information technologies on domestic politics and international relations, especially in analyzing the e-government phenomenon, globalization of the open data movement and transformation of the political communication channels. He has several works on digital politics and use of e-government technologies published in prestigious international high-impact factor academic journals.
In academic and professional literature, the phenomenon of digital government is usually analyzed in the context of the most developed and democratic nations of the world with a majority of case studies focused on Western countries, forgetting that it is a global trend. In contrast to the traditional tendencies in literature, the author of this book investigates the phenomena in an unusual context, resorting to the case study of a typical emerging and post-totalitarian country such as Kazakhstan and focusing on the analysis of the key drivers and challenges in the diffusion of the e-government movement to answer the ultimate question: whether it is harnessed by the members of civil society to promote civic engagement and new political communication.
In general, the results of the case study research presented in this book are useful as analytical material by providing a detailed review of various e-government, open data and e-participation projects; investigating political, economic, social and institutional challenges associated with their development; and offering a wide range of practical recommendations on how to overcome them, providing an interesting, unique and rich empirical basis for policy makers and practitioners, political scientists and journalists, as well as students of public administration and all those who seek to understand better an amazing multidimensional nature of e-government.
The primary purpose of the chapter is to outline the investigation framework of the research to help establish the correct methodological foundation of the analysis, which will mostly be based on a case study of the e-government development in Kazakhstan in its various dimensions and institutional levels, including but not limited to political, social, economic and technological ones; first, by setting the research questions and shaping the investigation skeleton of the study, determining the key areas of concentration and choosing the appropriate research methods as well as providing some generalizations on expected findings and outcomes of the research.
