Gaziz Abishev

Position:

Visiting Fellow at ONGC

Senior Researcher, Institute for Applied Social and Political Research (Astana, Kazakhstan)

Research interests:

post-authoritarian transition, political modernisation, mechanisms of deliberative democracy

Biography:

Gaziz Abishev is a political scientist, commentator and blogger.

In 2007, he completed a Master’s degree in Mathematics at Pavlodar State Pedagogical Institute (now Margulan University). He holds an MSc in Economics from Queen Mary University of London (2016). In 2025 he completed a PhD-program in Political Science in L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University (2025).

Gaziz has been actively involved in national deliberative initiatives. From 2020 to 2023, he was a member of the Senate (Upper Chamber of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan) «Experts’ Club». Since 2022, he has served on the Public Chamber of the Mazhilis (Lower Chamber of Parliament). In 2025, he joined the National Qurultay under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Gaziz Abishev’s current research project examines the design and effectiveness of deliberative platforms operating under both Chambers of Parliament. The study seeks to identify which models of deliberation produce more meaningful outcomes and public value. This question has gained particular significance in light of Kazakhstan’s ongoing constitutional reform, which proposes merging the two Chambers into a single-house legislature. His work aims to provide practical recommendations for designing and implementing deliberative mechanisms within the new unicameral parliamentary system.

Selected publications:

Abishev, G., Kurmanov, B., & Sabitov, Z. (2024). Authoritarian succession, rules, and conflicts: Tokayev’s gambit and Kazakhstan’s bloody January of 2022 (Qandy Qantar). Post-Soviet Affairs, 40(6), 429–451. https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2024.2377929

Abishev, G. (2023). Online petitions as a framework of deliberative democracy in contemporary Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan-Spectrum, 105(1). https://doi.org/10.52536/2415-8216.2023-1.01

Abishev, G. (2022). The National Council of Public Trust as a mechanism for implementing deliberative democracy. Kazakhstan-Spectrum, 102(2). https://doi.org/10.52536/2415-8216.2022-2.01