Strategic ambivalence above, selective implementation below: an institutional analysis of Kazakhstan`s policy toward skilled labor
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Date
2016
Authors
Issabekova, Makhabbat
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Nazarbayev University School of Sciences and Humanities
Abstract
Aiming at entering the top thirty most competitive economies in the world by 2050
Kazakhstan faces a problem of inadequate human capital. However, an objective demand for
foreign skilled workers notwithstanding, Kazakhstan fails to attract as many of them as its
labor market needs. Driven by this puzzle, the given study analyzes labor migration policy of
Kazakhstan regarding skilled workers. It attempts to explain what factors make Kazakhstani
labor migration policy ineffective under the condition when skilled foreign workers are
needed. Two main factors influence the outcomes of labor migration policy implementation:
decentralized decision-making and strategic ambiguity. Transferring the function of policy
implementation to local-level bureaucratic institutions the state not only shifts its
responsibilities to bureaucrats but also provides them with a certain degree of autonomy and
discretion. However, the state and its institutions have no a coherent vision of the national
interest in labor migration. Bureaucrats concerned with their professional duties have a more
protectionist stance on foreign specialists’ inflows. Meanwhile, aimed at increasing these
inflows the state ensures its interest through strategic ambiguity in its discourse and practices.
It allows the state to reconcile an economic need in more foreign skilled workers with a
political demand for a more restrictive labor migration policy. Thus, starting from above
ambiguity is manipulated by local bureaucrats to meet their professional and, occasionally,
personal interests when implementing the policy. As a result, the state fails to attract the
needed numbers of foreign specialists. In other words, the policy through which the state
aims to achieve its goals turns to be ineffective. This thesis demonstrates that an institutional approach with an emphasis on the
bureaucratic model of decision-making is a better way to understand the reasons of labor
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migration policy ineffectiveness in Kazakhstan. However, it also shows that when
bureaucrats are involved in the policy-making process the findings from this case can be
applied to the countries other than Kazakhstan and public policies other than migration
Description
Keywords
labor migration, labor, labor migration policy