Graduate School of Public Policy

Position:	Assistant Professor
Education Background:	Ph.D. in International Relations, University of St Andrews (UK)

Research Areas

Central Asian regional cooperation and geopolitics; regional organizations in Central Asia/Eurasia; EU-Central Asia relations; Kazakhstan’s foreign policy; international identity, image and perception studies.

 

Research Output

Contact information

Zhanibek Arynov
Assistant Professor
Graduate School of Public Policy
Nazarbayev University
53 Kabanbay batyr Avenue
Astana, Kazakhstan 010000
Email: zhanibek.arynov@nu.edu.kz

Zhanibek Arynov is an Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Public Policy. He first joined the School as a Postdoctoral Scholar in July 2019. Dr. Arynov obtained a Ph.D. degree in International Relations from the University of St. Andrews, UK. His research interests include Central Asian geopolitics, Kazakhstan’s foreign policy, EU-Central Asia relations, and international identity, image and perception studies. He is currently working on projects related to regional organizations in Central Asia/Eurasia (EAEU, CSTO, and OTS).

Prior to joining the GSPP, Zhanibek Arynov served as a Senior Expert of the Program of Eurasian Studies, Institute of World Economics and Politics (IWEP), a think-tank based in Astana, Kazakhstan. 

 

PUBLICATIONS:

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

• Arynov, Z., S. Orazgaliyev, L. Issova (2023). ‘Non-recognizing the Other? Discursive deligitimation of the EAEU by the EU’. Journal of Contemporary European Studies 32(2), pp.524-537. https://doi.org/10.1080/14782804.2023.2271849.
• Arynov, Z. (2022). ‘Educated into Sinophilia? China as Perceived by Kazakhstani Graduates/Students of Chinese Universities’. Journal of Current Chinese Affairs 52(2), pp. 334–353. https://doi.org/10.1177/18681026221110245.
• Arynov, Z. (2022). ‘‘“Nobody Goes to Another Monastery with Their Own Charter”. The EU’s Promotion of ‘European Values’ as Perceived in Central Asia’. Europe-Asia Studies 74(6), pp.1028-1050. https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2022.2032604.
• Arynov, Z. (2022). ‘Hardly Visible, Highly Admired? Youth Perceptions of the EU in Kazakhstan’. Journal of Eurasian Studies 13(1), pp. 42-55. https://doi.org/10.1177/18793665211058187.
• Arynov, Z. (2022), ‘Opportunity and Threat Perceptions of the EU in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan’, Central Asian Survey 41(4), pp.734-751. https://doi.org/10.1080/02634937.2021.1917516.
• Arynov, Z. (2018), ‘Changing Perceptions of the European Union in Central Asia’. L’Europe en Formation, Issue 385, pp. 61-73. https://doi.org/10.3917/eufor.385.0061.

Peer-Reviewed Book Chapters

• Arynov, Z., F. Bossuyt, K.Kluczewska (forthcoming). ‘A Benign Power with Contested Values: Perceptions of the EU in Central Asia’, in ed. L. Delcour Handbook on EU External Action and Policies. Edward Elgar Publishing.
• Arynov, Z., D. Sharipova (forthcoming). ‘Russia in Central Asia’, in. eds. J. Lempp, and S. Mayer Central Asia in a Multipolar World. Springer.
• Arynov, Z. (2023). ‘‘Following Externals or Leading Internals? Kazakhstan as the Non-Follower with Leadership Ambitions of Its Own’, in eds. I.Busygina, and S. Krivokhizh Regional Leadership in Post-Soviet Eurasia: The Strategies of Russia, China, and the European Union. Routledge, pp. 102-123.
• Arynov, Z. (2022). ‘Global Giant, Regional Dwarf? Perceptions of EU Actorness in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan’ in eds. D. Nascimento, P. Lopes, and L.Simao The EU’s global actorness in a world of contested leadership: policies, instruments and perceptions. Palgrave, pp. 185-204.
• Arynov, Z., D. Sharipova (2020), ‘Russland in Zentralasien’, in Lempp, J., Mayer, S., and Brand, A. (eds.), Die politischen Systeme Zentralasiens, Springer.

Other Publications

• Nuriddenova, A., Z. Arynov (2024). ‘Central Asian Regional Interactions in a Changing Geopolitical Context’. The Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs. https://oxussociety.org/central-asian-regional-interactions-in-a-changing-geopolitical-context/.
• Arynov, Z. (2024). ‘Lots of Engagement, but Little Plan: How relations between the EU and Central Asia are changing amid new geopolitical realities’. Roza Luxemburg Stiftung. https://www.rosalux.de/en/news/id/51773.
• Arynov, Z. (2022). ‘Is Kazakhstan’s multi-vector foreign policy threatened’, Horizons, Issue 21, pp. 192-197.
• Arynov, Z. (2022). ‘Global and Regional Perspective’, in ed. Rico Isaacs A Critical Reader in Central Asian Studies: 40 Years of Central Asian Survey. Routledge. 
• Arynov, Z. (2019), ‘Dem Untergang geweiht? Die Wahrnehmung der Europäischen Union in Zentralasien im Wandel’, Zentralasien-Analysen, Issue 217-218, pp. 9-12, issued by Centre for East European and International Studies (Berlin).

Papers under Review

• Arynov, Z., T. Umirbekov. ‘Contesting the Unknown? Public Perceptions of the CSTO in Armenia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan’.

Papers in progress

• ‘Discursive Legitimation of the Eurasian Economic Union in Belarus, Kazakh, and Russian Media’.
• ‘Illegitimate and Unpopular? Perceptions of the EAEU among the Armenian, Kazakh, and Kyrgyz publics’
• ‘The Organization of Turkic States in the Political Imaginary of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkiye’.

RESEARCH GRANTS

• Principal Investigator: ‘Legitimation and Delegitimation of International Organizations: The Case of the Eurasian Economic Union’. MSHE grant for young scholars 2022-2024. Grant # AP13068101.
• Member of Research Team: ‘Social fragmentation, group polarization and misinformation in Kazakhstani social media’. MSHE grant for young scholars 2022-2024. Grant # AP13068148. 
• Member of Research Team: ‘The Organization of Turkic States (OTS) as a New Balancing Organization in the Era of Geopolitical Turbulence’. MSHE grant for young scholars 2024-2026. Grant # AP22786507. 
• Member of Team: ‘ValEUs – Research and Education Network on Contestations to EU Foreign Policy’. ERASMUS-JMO-2023-Networks, Project ID: 101127800.