On May 20, 2022 in Almaty city the 10th Congress of Political Scientists “New Kazakhstan in the New World” was conducted, which was co-organized by the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The event was attended by the deputies of the Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, leading political scientists and experts in the social sciences, representatives of the academic community, as well as university professors.
The Congress began with a plenary session with the involvement of Yerkin Tukumov, the Director of the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of Kazakhstan. In his speech, the head of the Institute noted that geopolitical shifts are changing the established order of international relations. Under the conditions of external and internal challenges the need to identify further ways of development of Kazakhstan’s political science is becoming more relevant.
“First, communication between the government and the expert community still needs special attention. Despite the involvement of experts in the process of shaping public policy, there are certain problems in building a bridge between the world of academia and government bodies. Second, political science as a discipline does not stay on the same position. Generally accepted dogmas are constantly being transformed. Thirdly, Kazakhstani political scientists can turn their attention to a number of new directions of research that have been actualized in the global political science over the last decade. Fourth, Kazakhstan has done quite a lot of work to expand the academic freedom of universities. According to the Academic Freedom Index our country has already seen improvements in this direction compared to previous years. I would also like to note the following. Policy ideas are not developed in isolation, but are the result of open interaction. Domestic Think Tanks should be platforms for uniting efforts. For this, think tanks have all the necessary resources to stimulate public debate and mobilize the experience and ideas of a wide range of the public to make scientifically accurate policy decisions,” said Yerkin Tukumov.
The head of the Institute stressed that a window of opportunity is opening in Kazakhstan. According to Yerkin Tukumov the population’s demand for democratization is accompanied by the political will of the Head of State. “In this regard, Kazakhstani political scientists have real opportunities through recommendations and proposals to participate in the construction of a new Kazakhstan and a new Republic with strong democratic institutions. We, as a think tank under the President of Kazakhstan, are always ready to listen to your opinions and advices on a variety of issues and make every efforts to deliver your messages to decision makers,” concluded Yerkin Tukumov.
The Congress also included panel sessions on the analysis of implementation of political reforms in Kazakhstan, the prospects of development of party system of Kazakhstan, issues of transformation of identity models of the people of Kazakhstan, as well as the prospects of development of political science and the higher school of political science in Kazakhstan.
At the end of the Congress a resolution was adopted, in which the participants confirmed their intention to institutionalize the role of the community of political scientists in the formation of the “New Kazakhstan”, expressed their readiness to improve the work on providing expert support for the decisions taken, as well as to expand the conceptual and methodological base and research tools on the principles of academic freedom, integration into the world political science and the priorities of national interests of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
