Implementation of Open Government in Kazakhstan: The case of Astana Open Government Initiative

Abstract

Today, Open Government principles are implemented by countries in order to create appropriate conditions for effective governance and public policy system. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of Open Government initiative in Kazakhstan based on the case of Astana city. We define the effectiveness of the Open Government system by three main components of the concept such as participation, transparency, and accountability. The research project is done upon the qualitative research methods, which consist of semi-structured interviews, surveys and content analysis of official portals. By using triangulation of sources, we considered the Open Government initiative from different perspectives of citizens, public officials, and scholars. Additionally, this study proposes the website analysis based on the official portals of Astana Akimat and Open Government. Envisaging the system of Open Government from all the angles, the research illustrates the existent picture of the Open Government initiatives in Astana as well as in Kazakhstan in general. As a result, we defined the main challenges and common problems that the system faces today. Thereby, we provided a list of recommendations that will contribute to its effectiveness and further development.