Saltanat Janenova

Innovating Public Service Delivery in Transitional Countries: The Case of One Stop Shops in Kazakhstan

Abstract This article analyses the implementation of managerial ideas in Kazakhstan using the case of a combined public service delivery called “One Stop Shops”. Several public services are provided in a single building rather than different government offices in a business-like style of service delivery and in a modern physical environment. The service integration policy is an attempt of Kazakhstani government to improve the quality of public services and reduce corruption. Some positive progress in improving the accessibility of public services has been noted. However, as this article argues, the country-specific model of “alternative-access” service delivery was not able to implement in-depth changes in the work of the public sector and improve service quality. Implementation of the managerial ideas has been limited and constrained by the institutional framework and culture prevailing in the Kazakhstani bureaucracy. The main conclusion is that the governments of transitional countries need to critically analyze the pros and cons of the new policies and reflect on their cultures before making further steps to adopt Western managerial initiatives.

Analyzing the Experiences of Female Leaders in Civil Service in Kazakhstan: Trapped between Economic Pressure to Earn and Traditional Family Role Expectations

ABSTRACT This paper analyzes the experiences of female leaders in civil service in a rapidly changing political, socio-cultural, and economic context of Kazakhstan. The research presents an analysis of the views of female managers on advantages and disadvantages of having women-leaders in civil service; on challenges and opportunities they are facing; on strategies they use to advance to and succeed in leadership positions. The important finding of this research is that female leaders in Kazakhstan are challenged with a clash of western, neo-liberal values and traditional expectations of women in the society. The analysis is based on primary data with women holding managerial positions in civil service.

‘Public Councils in Kazakhstan: a case of emergent participative democracy?’

ABSTRACT As Kazakhstan aims to become one of the top 30 developed countries by 2050, it is increasingly turning to ways which will improve its governance, one of which is greater participation by its citizens in the decision-making processes of state agencies. A new initiative aimed at doing just that, the establishment of public councils, received legal backing in January 2016. The aim of public councils is to ‘strengthen democracy and the quality and responsiveness of public polices’ through the ‘public expression of matters of concern to Kazakh citizens’. This article offers a formative evaluation of the role performed by public councils and questions the extent to which they have achieved this aim. It draws on primary data from public officials, non-governmental organizations, ministries, and non-participant observation of public councils in Kazakhstan. It finds limited evidence of their effectiveness to date.

Civil service reform in Kazakhstan: trajectory to the 30 most developed countries?’

Kazakhstan has ambitious plans to become one of the top 30 developed countries in the world by 2050. Its most recent route map to achieve this is the Plan for the Nation: 100 Concrete Steps, announced by the president in May 2015. A key pillar in this reform agenda is the development of a professional civil service. This article considers whether civil service reforms to date and those envisaged under the new plan offer a trajectory to the 2050 stated goal. It finds that despite significant political endorsement at the highest level, reforms have focused on institutional, structural and legal changes without the necessary attention to how these will impact on the quality of public services provision. The article highlights the interdependence between civil service reforms and an outcomes-based approach and adapts the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Better Life framework for Kazakhstan as a way of making this connection. Points for practitioners Moving to an outcomes-based approach in a developing country challenges practitioners to focus on the impact of their work and to be judicious and context-specific in the selection of results indicators.

Capacity and Autonomy: An Exploration of Fukuyama’s Governance Hypothesis

The governance literature has been around for two decades now. A review of the literature suggests that the term remains largely contested and, as Fukuyama (2013) argues, is in a state of conceptual confusion. Others note that the term has been used expansively, as a broad multidimensional concept lacking operational precision and as an umbrella concept to federate an assortment of different, albeit related ideas (Quibria 2013).