E-participation and civic engagement in Kazakhstan: incentives, challenges and

prospects

Maxat Kassen

Associate Professor, DocentPhD/CSc in Political SciencesEurasian National University

Presentation during the 2014 Global e-Government Forum

The research objectives

• to analyze the incentives that lie behind the mere desire to better public administration in Kazakhstan through the use of e-participation platforms;

• locate current and future challenges in realization of the civic engagement projects;

• provide some generalizations on prospects of using the innovations and offer ways forward

Incentives• Global incentives: globalization of the e-participation

technology (global country PR)

• Political incentives: political reaction to the diffusion of e-democracy tools in non-public sectors

• Economic incentives: prospects to further national competitiveness, battle corruption and save money

• Social incentives: building new channels of communication and easing potential social tensions

The pillars of e-participation in Kazakhstan: strong points

• Strong political will and support

• Robust financial basis

• E-government building as a national priority project

Current e-participation projects in Kazakhstan

• Internet conferences• Public discussion platforms• Electronic address platform (tracking)• Online appointment to ministers• Blog-platforms• Officials in social networks project• Open Data Portal

Classical G2C implementation of e-participation

Challenges

• Inertia in public mentality

• Ambiguous legislation

• Paradox of e-Participation

Questions:

What is e-participation: A fancy entourage or tentative touch of a new

digital democracy?

What is the difference between e-participation and civic engagement as a phenomenon?

E-participation

Political networks in traditional e-participation

Key political nodes:eGov – e-government platform as a political super-node;C1 ... 5 – citizens; Dyadic relationship:G2C – government-to-citizen component

Features of political communication:Centralism;Bureaucratic top-down implementation;Reactive traditional ‘black box’ concept.

Implementation tools: Use of social media, blog -platforms and open data portals;

Civic engagement

Political networks in civic engagement

Key political nodes:С1 ... 5 – citizens; Dyadic and triadic relationship:C2C – citizen-to-citizen component. Features of political communication:•Decentralization; •Anonymity; •Proactive mechanism of implementation and political relations Implementation tools: •Open data-driven platforms •Civic mapping,•Wiki technology

Generalizations and ways forward

Ways forward:

• Focusing on civic engagement• Supporting C2C projects• Using wiki technologies• Embracing open data-driven political

philosophy where government is more a platform rather than process

• Promoting rise in political culture

Hypothetical model of open data civic engagement projects

The answer is:

It is all about changing political communication and traditional mindset

My recent publications (to follow up)

1. Kassen, Maxat. (2013). A promising phenomenon of open data: A case study of the Chicago open data project. Government Information Quarterly, Volume 30, Issue 4, pp.508–513. Impact factor – 1.910 (USA)

2. Kassen, Maxat (2010)."E-Government in Kazakhstan: Realization and Prospects". Paper 6. Southern Illinois University – Carbondale (USA)

3. Kassen, Maxat (2012). "Empowering Social Media: Citizens-Source e-Government and Peer-to-Peer Networks“. Paper 3. Southern Illinois University – Carbondale (USA)

4. Kassen, Maxat. (2014). Globalization of e-government: open government as a global agenda; benefits, limitations and ways forward. Information Development, 30(1), pp. 51-58. Impact factor – 0.375 (UK)

Click here to watch the video-presentation of Maxat Kassen during the 2014 Global e-

Government Forum

Thank you!