Implementation of meritocracy in the public sector of Kazakhstan

Abstract

Kazakhstan's ultimate goal for the next 20 years is to become one of the most economically successful top 30 countries in the world. In order to get onto that list, the President of the country, on a regular basis, sets goals that should be achieved by politicians, businessmen, scholars, students and others. One of the latest goals was the introduction of 5 reforms in 2015 that included a huge transformation of the civil service. The reform was aimed at creating a professional and effective civil service free from corruption, nepotism, and tribalism, with bright leaders who will guide the country towards success and prosperity. Thus, political stability will gradually result in economic success. The focus of the civil service reform was the implementation of principles of meritocracy. Meritocracy guarantees that access to the civil service will be equally given to everyone interested in working for the government and who has the proper qualifications. Promotion should be based on their merits ignoring things like subjectivism, nepotism, corruption etc. On the basis of the reforms, the government has introduced new law ‘On civil service’. Thus the main objective of this thesis paper is to investigate whether the principle of meritocracy has been introduced and implemented in the civil service of Kazakhstan. Using the example of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan I have researched whether the results of this process have been successful or not. The primary source of data is interviews conducted with the representatives of the MoFA. The results of the interviews showed interesting findings regarding merit-based and non-merit basedpriniciples of recruitment and promotion in the MoFA. According to the interviews one of the important factors besides merits is professionals networking connections which can play crucial role in the candidate’s recruitment and promotion. The implementation of a meritocracy will contribute to the building strong government institutions free from corruption and will also support Kazakhstan’s economic development.