A new guest of ‘Galym-Galam’ rubric is Dina Sharipova, Assistant Professor at NU Graduate School of Public Policy. Prior to joining Nazarbayev University in 2018, Dr. Sharipova worked at KIMEP University and served as Research Director of the College of Social Sciences. She was also a member of the Board of the European Society for Central Asian Studies from 2017 to 2019. Her recent publications include the book “State-building in Kazakhstan: Continuity and Transformation of Informal Institutions” published by Lexington Books in 2018. She also has a number of publications in scholarly journals such as Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Europe-Asia Studies Journal, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, Central Asian Survey, Nationalities Paper, and others.
Can you please tell us about your educational and professional background?
I received my Ph.D. degree in Political Science from Indiana University, Bloomington, in 2013. After graduation, I returned to KIMEP University where I had worked before in the Department of International Relations and Regional studies. For three years I have been serving as the Research Director of the College of Social Sciences and coordinated research-related activities. I was also a member of the Board of the European Society for Central Asian Studies from 2017 to 2019. I joined Nazarbayev University in 2018 and currently work as the Assistant Professor at the NU Graduate School of Public Policy.
Can you please tell us about your current research project?
My research interests include the issues of national identity and nation-building, security issues, social capital, civil society, and well-being in Central Asia. Currently, I am working on several collaborative projects including societal perceptions of terrorism and security in Central Asia. This project is based on nationwide surveys conducted in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan in 2018. With a colleague from the School of Sciences and Humanities, Dana Bazarkulova, we investigate the factors that lead to people’s perceptions of terrorist attacks in these Central Asian states.
Another project is focusing on the determinants of political stability in the region. It has been conducted together with my colleagues from NU GSPP – Dr. Colin Knox and Dr. Simeon Nanovksy. Recently I have done some research on the relationship between social capital and well-being in Central Asia where we tried to evaluate the factors that influence people’s satisfaction with life in Kazakhstan and other Central Asian states. This project has been implemented with researchers from KIMEP University – Alma Kudebayeva and Alma Sharipova.
What are your key research findings?
In terms of our project on well-being in Central Asia, we found that the more people follow social norms in Kazakhstan, the more they are satisfied with their lives. It means that those people who pay taxes, do not bribe, and are not free-riders in public transportation are much happier than those who do not follow these norms. Other factors that influence people’s satisfaction in life include better health, higher levels of income, and more freedom of choice over one’s own life as well as a higher number of children. Interestingly, trust has been more important in Kyrgyzstan and social participation in civil society organizations is more crucial in Uzbekistan than in Kazakhstan. As evidence suggests, despite that Central Asian societies are similar in many aspects, what makes them satisfied with their life is different. And these are interesting nuances that can help policymakers to channel their efforts and develop such policies so that people could become more satisfied in their lives.
In another project on political stability, we looked at factors that contribute to political (in) stability in the region. We found that one of the main predictors of political stability is a neo-patrimonial rule which is based on a leader who distributes material benefits via informal networks in exchange for loyalty. We found that in the context of Central Asia, this type of rulership can lead to the stability of the regime. However, recent events in Kazakhstan in January 2022 showed that there might be some triggers that can destabilize the situation. This would be also an important venue for future research to understand what the tipping point is to destabilize the situation in the country.
Another predictor of political stability is weak civil society. It is a well-known fact that civil society in Central Asia is rather weak. We wanted to see how weak civil society impacts political stability. It has been found that the weaker the civil society, the higher the level of stability is in Central Asia. Obviously that the relationship between civil society and political stability in democratic regimes will be absolutely different. Finally, our hypothesis about media censorship and political stability has not been confirmed. The model has shown that mass media censorship in Central Asia leads to higher levels of political stability in the region.
I cannot say much about our findings related to factors that determine people’s perceptions of terrorist attacks in Central Asia since we are currently working on this project. But some preliminary findings are really interesting and insightful. We can share them later.
Why did you choose to join NU?
I joined NU GSPP in 2018 because I could see what unique opportunities the School and the University can offer to scholars. First, due to the existing teaching workload, scholars have an opportunity to focus on research. This is very important. My experience shows that NU is the only University in Kazakhstan that can offer this opportunity to professors. In other Universities, instructors have heavy teaching workloads that do not allow professors to be heavily involved in research. Second, there is an opportunity in terms of research grants. Of course, we must compete for them but the sheer fact that there is such a possibility creates an exceptional environment for scholars. Third, the people who work here are outstanding scholars. I can benefit from collaboration and networking with highly qualified people at NU GSPP and other schools. Professionalism is what NU offers and what attracts me most of all. Finally, the University provides access to resources such as scholarly articles and books via international databases. This is also critical for our professional development and research. Altogether, this provides a favorable and unique environment for scholars with different backgrounds. I see how people can grow professionally working at Nazarbayev University.
What are your plans?
In the future, I will continue doing research I am interested in. I hope to finish the project on an edited volume with my colleagues and publish it with the Palgrave Publishers. I am currently a member of the editorial board of the Central Asian Survey, and I will also continue serving on it. There are many other interesting ideas and projects that I want to realize in the future. My colleague and I want to apply new methods that we have not employed before such as survey experiments to find out more about people’s perceptions. Another project is conducted together with the Oxus society, a think tank located in the USA. We provide training in research methods and policy paper writing to scholars and activists from Central Asia. In my view, it is important to develop networking not only with international scholars but also with our local researchers.