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Item Open Access OPEN GOVERNMENT AND CITIZEN EMPOWERMENT IN AUTHORITARIAN STATES(Journal of Eurasian Studies, 2022) Kurmanov, Bakhytzhan; Knox, ColinThe introduction of open government has been used in many countries to improve the transparency, accountability of the state, and promote participation by citizens in collaborative governance. Its potential for public services improvement, citizen empowerment, and a positive impact on reducing corruption have attracted scholarly attention. Set alongside this, open government initiatives have facilitated greater access to information which can be used to hold governments to account and, in so doing, build trust between citizens and the state. While open government principles sit easily in democratic systems, some authoritarian states have also adopted this concept. This raises two questions. First, is there evidence that open collaboration, as the most developed form of open government, has empowered citizens in autocracies? Second, and more generally, why would authoritarian regimes seek to adopt open government when the concepts of autocracy and openness are antithetical? This paper attempts to address these questions using three case study countries in Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan which adopted open government policies. It finds evidence of cooptation, network authoritarianism, and state unresponsiveness/resistance to citizens’ inputs.Item Open Access ASSESSING INITIAL CONDITIONS AND ETS OUTCOMES IN A FOSSIL-FUEL DEPENDENT ECONOMY(Energy Strategy Reviews, 2022) Howie, Peter; Atakhanova, ZaureshWe analyze the energy market and ETS outcomes in Kazakhstan, a major fossil-fuel exporter. The energy market was characterized by the presence of large state-owned enterprises, prevalence of fossil fuel subsidies, and dominance of coal-fired generation. Despite the ETS, Kazakhstan’s CO2 emissions and CO2 emissions intensity of its power sector continued to grow. Power sector investment and prices declined while CO2 emissions intensity of GDP reversed its downward trend. To increase ETS effectiveness it is necessary to prioritize stakeholder engagement, address deficiencies in carbon allowance allocation and trading, and enhance the carbon cost pass through mechanism. Finally, formulating and implementing a comprehensive low-carbon transition strategy should improve ETS outcomes.Item Open Access EFFECTS OF PARTY SYSTEM FLUIDITY ON LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT AND GOOD GOVERNANCE INDICATORS (IN THE CONTEXT OF SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAN COUNTRIES)(Current Research Journal of Social Sciences, 2020) MUKHTAROVA, AKBIKESHWhile analyzing data for 47 Sub-Saharan African countries, this article explores the correlation between Legislative Oversight and Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) and the effects of Party System Fluidity on WGI and legislative oversight. The effects of party systems fluidity on governance indicators and legislative oversight have received little systematic scholarly attention. To fill the gap in the existing literature, the article explores how in/stability of party systems affects governance indicators and legislative oversight capacity in Sub-Saharan African countries. Analyzing the data on 47 Sub-Saharan African countries, we find that legislative oversight has a strong positive relationship with Worldwide Governance Indicators;1 however, instability of political party systems expressed in high party systems fluidity has a negative relationship with legislative oversight as well as all six dimensions of WGI. These findings reaffirm: "that the stability of political party systems”2 (Pelizzo: 2020, p. 265) is a crucial factor that is essential for the development of democratic institutions and further evolvement of mechanisms of democratic control of Parliaments over the work of national governments. The work structure is the following: firstly, it analyzes how academic scholarship defines legislative oversight and party system fluidity. The second part presents our data analysis methods. In conclusion, the paper discusses the research's key findings, namely the effects of party systems fluidity on legislative oversight and WGI in the context of Sub Saharan African countries.Item Open Access DOES GOOD GOVERNANCE MATTER? KAZAKHSTAN’S ECONOMIC GROWTH AND WORLDWIDE GOVERNANCE INDICATORS(Otoritas : Jurnal Ilmu Pemerintahan, 2020) Absadykov, AikozhaGood governance is generally believed to improve country’s economic performance. This paper stud ies the relationship between the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators (Voice and Ac countability, Political Stability and Absence of Violence, Government Effectiveness, Regulatory Quali ty, Rule of Law, Control of Corruption) and economic growth in terms of GDP per capita in Kazakh stan. The findings of the research indicate that there is a significant positive relationship between good governance and economic performance of Kazakhstan. Specifically, results show that the Con trol of Corruption has the strongest impact on GDP per capita.Item Open Access HARDLY VISIBLE, HIGHLY ADMIRED? YOUTH PERCEPTIONS OF THE EU IN KAZAKHSTAN(Journal of Eurasian Studies, 2021) Arynov, ZhanibekYouth have always been one of the central target audiences of the European Union’s (EU) policies towards Central Asia, which was once again emphasised in the recent EU Strategy for the region. This paper scrutinises how youth repre sentatives in Kazakhstan, Brussels’ closest partner in the region, perceive the EU and its policies. By doing so, the paper shifts the focus from the EU-centric assessment of its external activities, which has long dominated the academic literature, and provides a ‘voice’ to the targets of the EU’s various initiatives. Examining data obtained through the method of pictorial test and focus group discussions with students of leading Kazakhstani universities, the paper argues that the issue Brussels faces among youth is not an image problem, rather it is a visibility issue. Although Kazakhstani youth are aware of the EU’s main ‘attributes’ at the basic level, they have little knowledge that goes beyond stereotypical, yet positive, images of it. This stereotyped admiration towards the EU, however, is not necessarily an outcome of Brussels’ successful policies, rather it is partly inherited from the historically idealised image of Europe. The paper suggests that increasing its visibility and better communicating its policies and messages need to be a priority for the EU in Central AsiaItem Open Access GLOBALISATION AND PUBLIC POLICY: BRIDGING THE DISCIPLINARY AND EPISTEMOLOGICAL BOUNDARIES(POLICY AND SOCIETY, 2021) Lodhi, IftikharGlobalisation, the ever increasing economic and socio-political international interactions, poses challenges to public policy theory and practice. This paper aims to (a) draw an outline of a discussion and research agenda for theorizing the policy process under globalisation, by (b) identifying some theoretical consensus across disciplines and epistemological paradigms. The literature shows a consensus on ‘constrained’ state thesis and that globalisation affects all states through structural pressures as well as the neoliberal discourse. However, policy outcomes vary across states depending on their position in the international power structure and domestic adjustment costs. The paper concludes that policy studies shall focus on the changing functions and organisational forms of the state and explicitly incorporate domestic–international interactions into the theories of the policy process.Item Open Access JOSIAH CHILD, INTEREST RATES, AND JOHN LOCKE’S “FOR A GENERAL NATURALIZATION”(Modern Intellectual History, 2021) Smith, BrianThroughout the 1690s there were several high-profile parliamentary debates about lowering inter est rates from 6 to 4 percent. Locke’s involvement in these policy debates is significant. In this period, he circulated at least one important pamphlet on this issue to various Members of Parliament. The purpose of this article is to illuminate the links between Locke’s arguments against interest rate reduction and immigration policy. Locke’s essay “For a General Naturalization” (1693) employs some of the same pro-naturalization formulations that Josiah Child uses in A New Discourse of Trade (1693), a pamphlet that was ostensibly published in support of the parliamentary proposal for lower interest rates. Even though Locke had a long his tory with pro-naturalization arguments, the framework of his essay on naturalization is very likely an extension of those debates with Child about interest rates from 1691/2.Item Open Access COVID-19 AND THE NEW NORMAL OF ORGANIZATIONS AND EMPLOYEES: AN OVERVIEW(Sustainability, 2021-10-28) Raghavan, Aarthi; Demircioglu, Mehmet Akif; Orazgaliyev, SerikThe COVID-19 pandemic has hit organizations and employees in every sector worldwide in unprecedented ways. It became extremely difficult for organizations and employees across sectors to operate under increased mobility restrictions. The pandemic effectively disrupted previous operational models and imbued changes such as telework and digital adoption that are pervasive and may potentially last beyond the pandemic. Amid these circumstances, it was essential to ask how organizations and employees will sustain themselves in the post-COVID-19 ”new normal”. Although so much research is conducted about COVID-19, there is no comprehensive view of the changes at the meso (organizational) and micro (individual) levels. This article aims to explain this using the emergency-learning-institutionalization-new normal (ELIN) framework, which is based on the timeline of the pandemic. The article aims to bring forth the overall trends in how organizations and employees are adapting to the pandemic, the lessons they have learned, and how they will change and adapt in a post-COVID-19 “new normal”. We have analyzed existing policy papers, articles published in business, public administration, nonprofit journals, and other studies to achieve this. We find an increasing trend towards the adoption of telework and digital tools at both meso- and micro-levels. The effective implementation of telework policies and digital transformation plans at the meso-level will ensure the sustainability of organizations and jobs in the new normal. Although these trends vary across sectors and within and across countries, there is an overall increase in the flexibility of organizations and employees in adopting new solutions, making them more open to innovation. The article makes important recommendations for organizations to make these transitions more sustainable in the medium and long termItem Open Access STATE CAPACITY IN RESPONDING TO COVID-19(International Journal of Public Administration, 2020-12-07) Serikbayeva, Balzhan; Abdulla, Kanat; Oskenbayev, YessengaliThis study investigates the link between state capacity and deaths from Covid-19. We examine the effects on the Covid-19 case fatality rates of state capacity across countries with an ordered probit estimation controlling for the level of democracy, government policy responses, the share of the elderly population, and health system resource capacity. The study presents strong evidence for the critical role of state capacity in achieving positive policy outcomes. The effect of government effectiveness on the Covid-19 death level is consistently negative and statistically significant, suggesting that increased government effectiveness is significantly associated with decreased Covid-19 fatality rates. The findings also show that in the models controlling for government effectiveness and the testing and stay at home policies, non-free countries are more likely to have lower death levels than free countries. The effects of the testing and stay at home policies have expected negative signs. Higher health system capacity represented by higher numbers of hospital beds and doctors is more likely to lower a country’ s case fatality rate. A higher proportion of the elderly population is associated with higher levels of death from Covid-19.Item Open Access “DELIVER AFRICA FROM DEBTS”: GOOD GOVERNANCE ALONE IS NOT ENOUGH TO SAVE THE CONTINENT FROM DEBT ONSLAUGHT(World Affairs, 2021-08-03) Kinyondo, Abel; Pelizzo, Riccardo; Byaro, MwoyaThe present article analyzes the debt–economic growth nexus in African countries while controlling for the impact of good governance indicators. In contrast to a long tradition of scholarship that has consistently suggested that government debt has a detrimental impact on economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa, recent studies have actually shown that government debt, when coupled with improvements in the quality of government, is actually a driver of economic growth. By analyzing an original dataset that covers the 2002–15 period and additional debt–economic growth data going up to the year 2020, we are able to suggest three conclusions....Item Open Access IMPROVING THE EVIDENCE ON HEALTH INEQUITIES IN MIGRANT CONSTRUCTION WORKERS PREPARING FOR BIG SPORTING EVENTS(BMJ, 2021) Flouris, Andreas D; Babar, Zahra; Ioannou, Leonidas G; Onarheim, Kristine H; Phua, Kai H; Hargreaves, SallyTo host big sporting events such as the Olympic Games and the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup, countries undertake large infrastructure projects, including building new stadiums and extending public transportation. Hundreds of thousands of migrant workers a year are needed, often quickly and for a short time. Given local constraints in supply, many such jobs are filled by low skilled, low waged migrant labourers.Item Open Access HEALTH AND SOCIAL NEEDS OF MIGRANT CONSTRUCTION WORKERS FOR BIG SPORTING EVENTS(BMJ, 2021-08-06) Onarheim, Kristine Husøy; Phua, Kai Hong; Babar, Zahra R; Flouris, Andreas D; Hargreaves, SallyMigrant construction workers, a subgroup of the world’s 164 million international labour migrants—the largest migrant group globally—leave their homes and families for employment opportunities in high income countries.1 Temporary jobs in construction industries meet demands in host countries and provide countries sending migrants and low skilled labourers with income, contributing to billions in remittances from high income countries each yearItem Open Access CENTRAL ASIA PERFORMANCE REVIEW IN LAND GOVERNANCE INDICES AND ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORKS(Deutsch-Kasachische Universität, 2021-09-22) Mukhtarova, AkbikeshAcademic scholarship captures different land governance dimensions while focusing mainly on agrarian, legal, and economic aspects. However, little to no attention is paid to land governance consideration through public policy lenses. In particular, this holds for Central Asian (CA) countries where there is a noticeable lack of academic works on land governance effectiveness and anti-corruption strategies in the land sector. This review paper analyzes the question of how Central Asian countries are presented in land governance indices and assessment frameworks such as the World Bank's Land Governance Assessment Framework (LGAF), Global Property Rights Index (Prindex), Global Land Governance Index (LANDex), and The Open Data Barometer. The paper uses the integrative review of academic works and the author's empirical data on Central Asian performance in land governance indices and assessment programs. The findings revealed that while the Prindex results for the region are promising, the underperformance and lack of active engagement of Central Asian countries in the Open Data Barometer, LANDex, and LGAF are still visible. This fact could be explained by various reasons, including the lack of institutional and legal capacities in CA countries and the limitation in methodology and data collection techniques observed in present land indices. Considering that the subject is understudied, it is anticipated that this review paper will give both scholars and practitioners from the region and abroad the impetus to improve Central Asian performance in global land governance indices and assessment programs. Keywords: Central Asia, land corruption, LANDex, PrindexItem Open Access HOW COVID-19 HAS AFFECTED AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT(World Affairs, 2021-03-08) Kinyondo, Abel; Pelizzo, RiccardoFor the first 15 years of the new millennium, several countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have experienced longs spells of “sustained economic growth” that translated into considerable progress along the developmental path and in a sizable reduction in the level of poverty in the continent. While the literature (see, for example, Arrighi 2002) has long noted that SSA had alternated periods of economic expansion with periods of economic contraction, the sustained economic growth that SSA experienced at the beginning of the new millennium represented a certain novelty—because it reflected changes in both domestic and international conditions. Recent studies (see, for example, Pelizzo, Kinyondo, and Nwokora 2018) have observed, in this respect, that Africa’s development in the new millennium resulted from the interaction of domestic factors (such as the spread of democracy in the continent), improvements in public health and in the level of good governance, and international factors (such as the international community’s new approach to aid and development, the rise of China, the fact that Africa’s debt was canceled, and a growing inflow of foreign direct investments). After identifying such factors, and their interaction, as the main determinants of growth and development in the continent, Pelizzo, Kinyondo, and Nwokora (2018) hypothesized that the disappearance of one or more of the success factors identified in their study could have a detrimental impact on African economies’ ability to grow, slow down their progress along the developmental path, and prevent them from further reducing poverty in the continentItem Open Access EFFECTS OF PARTY SYSTEM FLUIDITY ON LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT AND GOOD GOVERNANCE INDICATORS--IN THE CONTEXT OF SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAN COUNTRIES(Current Research Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities (CRJSSH), 2020-10) Mukhtarova, AkbikeshWhile analyzing data for 47 Sub-Saharan African countries, this article explores the correlation between Legislative Oversight and Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) and the effects of Party System Fluidity on WGI and legislative oversight. The effects of party systems fluidity on governance indicators and legislative oversight have received little systematic scholarly attention. To fill the gap in the existing literature, the article explores how in/stability of party systems affects governance indicators and legislative oversight capacity in Sub-Saharan African countries. Analyzing the data on 47 Sub-Saharan African countries, we find that legislative oversight has a strong positive relationship with Worldwide Governance Indicators;1 however, instability of political party systems expressed in high party systems fluidity has a negative relationship with legislative oversight as well as all six dimensions of WGI. These findings reaffirm: "that the stability of political party systems”2 (Pelizzo: 2020, p. 265) is a crucial factor that is essential for the development of democratic institutions and further evolvement of mechanisms of democratic control of Parliaments over the work of national governments. The work structure is the following: firstly, it analyzes how academic scholarship defines legislative oversight and party system fluidity. The second part presents our data analysis methods. In conclusion, the paper discusses the research's key findings, namely the effects of party systems fluidity on legislative oversight and WGI in the context of Sub- Saharan African countries.Item Open Access LEGALITY OF RULE OF LAW WITH CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS: A CASE OF “ULTRA-SINOISM”(Russian Law Journal, 2020) Younas, AmmarThe legal progression in China is portrayed negatively by western scholars who often argue that the state institutions in China are subordinate to the control of Chinese Communist Party’s leadership which makes these institutions politically insignificant. We consider that the legal progression in China has an instrumental role in achieving “Harmonious Socialist Society.” The purpose of this thesis is to provide an analytical literature review of scholastic work to explain the legality of rule of law in China and to elaborate the outcomes of China’s recent legal developments. This paper has two main subjects. First, it examines the nature of law and rule of law in China through the prism of different legal theories. Secondly, by arguing from different political theories, it explains the necessity of customized legal system in China for establishing a Harmonious Socialist Society. By giving different examples from contemporary China, this thesis argues that the legality of the rule of law in China ought to be understood in the context of China’s economic and social progression rather than the western legal scholarship. China’s economic progress demands a customized legal system. In our thesis, we claim that the regular upgradation of laws and introduction of constitutional amendments in China, should be recognized as important achievement which is required for the institutional innovation. Legal progression in China during last decade perfectly fit into the framework of “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics” and is very crucial for building a harmonious socialist society. It is vivid from China’s economic growth and developed international relations. Finally, this paper suggests that the Chinese legal progression can be taken as successful example of legal experimentalismItem Open Access A BIBLIOMETRIC REVIEW OF THE WATER SECURITY CONCEPT IN CENTRAL ASIA(Environmental Research Letters, 2021) Xenarios, Stefanos; Assubayeva, Aliya; Xie, Lei; Sehring, Jenniver; Amirkhanov, Daulet; Sultanov, Alisher; Fazli, SiamacEngineering, economic, social sciences, geophysical, and integrated modeling studies have approached the assessment of water security in Central Asia (CA) in distinct ways. Different indicators and indexes have been introduced to assess the most vulnerable aspects of water use in this region. Until now, though, the suggested approaches are often represented in a fragmented manner, while the relevant indicators cannot fully attribute the vulnerability status of a country or on a regional level. This can result in diverging perceptions of the water security situation in policy dialogues, also affecting bilateral and multilateral relations among the countries in CA. In this study, we conduct a bibliometric review on the approaches and methods that directly or indirectly touch upon the water security perceptions in CA. ....Item Open Access DIRECT AND NON-LINEAR INNOVATION EFFECTS OFDEMOGRAPHIC SHIFTS(Wiley, 2020-04-08) Suzuki, Kohei; Ha, Hyesong; Avellaneda, Claudia N.Among these pressures, demographic shifts seem to boostinnovation, as the public sector responds to the arrivalof migrants and to community changes in race and eth-nic composition. However, we know little about innova-tion by governments in response to expected populationdecline. In particular, studies have under-examined howanticipated demographic pressures prompt public organiza-tions to innovate. This study undertakes this task by argu-ing that innovation is more visible in municipalities fac-ing greater anticipated demographic decline. However, wealso argue for a non-linear relationship in which too strongand/or too weak expected demographic declines lead to lessvisible innovation (inverted U-shape effect). These proposi-tions were tested with a data set of Japanese municipalitiesand employing a dose–response model. Findings show thatanticipated demographic declines directly boost innovationvisibility. However, too strong and/or too weak unexpecteddemographic declines make innovation less visible.Item Open Access Analysis of the Relationship between Women’s Participation and the Rate of Corruption in the Post-Soviet States(Pusat Penelitian Ilmu Sosial dan Humaniora Kontemporer, 2020-04) Baktybayev, BektasCorruption remains one of the main problems of Post-Soviet states. Georgia, Belarus, Lithuania, and Latvia are doing relatively well compared to other Post-Soviet states. Popular explanations for high corruption rates are underdevelopment of democratic institutions and the limitation of human rights. However, the lack of women’s participation can be also another factor that could explain the widespread corruption level. According to popular stereotypes, women are considered as more honest and “fairer” gender, which has an impact on the decrease in corruption rate. There is a belief that women have a perception of risk aversion which makes them less likely to engage in corrupt activities. There is no consensus regarding whether women’s participation has an effect on reducing corruption. The purpose of this paper is to test to what extent women’s participation in parliament, school and or with tertiary education, labor force affects corruption rate in Post-Soviet states. The SPSS software was used to assess a relationship between aforementioned variables. According to findings, there is a strong, positive, and statistically significant impact of women enrollment in school and/or with tertiary education on a country’s score in the Corruption Perception Index. I argue that promoting women’s education is the best way to lower corruption in the post-Soviet states.Item Open Access The determinants of Party System Change in Sub-Saharan Africa(Jurnal Ilmu Pemerintahan, 2018) Pelizzo, RiccardoThis article examines what socio-economic factors are conducive to changes in the patterns of inter-party competition in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The literature has in recent years paid considerable attention to measuring party system change, to identifying the consequences of party system instability for the proper functioning of democratic regimes, and to understanding what factors are responsible for the instability of party systems. In contrast to previous studies that view political change in general and party system change more specifically as the result of social transformation, development, modernization and change in the cleavage structure, this paper shows instead that poverty is the primary driver of party system change in the SSA region....