by Vera Axyonova
How does expertise influence policymaking in authoritarian regimes? While research on think tanks and policy advice has expanded rapidly in recent years, it has focused predominantly on liberal democracies. In Managing Policy Expertise through Think Tank-State Relations in Kazakhstan, author Vera Axyonova turns attention to an underexplored political context, examining how expertise is organised, mobilised and constrained under soft authoritarianism. The article forms part of the Policy & Politics special issue forthcoming in 2027, Expertise in Democratic and Autocratic Policymaking: A research agenda, guest edited by Sonja Blum, Ellen Fobé, Valérie Pattyn and Bishoy L. Zaki.
Drawing on original interviews with think tank professionals conducted in 2022 and 2025, Axyonova examines how think tanks navigate a policy environment characterised by selective pluralism, resource dependence and tightly managed access to decision-makers. Rather than excluding independent expertise altogether, the Kazakhstani state strategically incorporates and manages it through informal networks, selective funding and carefully bounded participation in policymaking.
The article also explores how moments of crisis reshape these relationships. Examining the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the January 2022 political unrest in Kazakhstan and Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Axyonova shows that crises can create temporary openings for expert engagement. Yet these temporary opportunities do not fundamentally change how expertise is governed. Instead, the usual ways in which the state manages and controls access to policymaking re-emerge once the crisis passes.
Drawing comparisons with more restrictive authoritarian regimes and de-democratizing contexts, the article argues that soft authoritarian systems follow a distinct logic in governing expertise. Think tanks are neither fully autonomous nor entirely excluded from policymaking. Instead, they occupy a negotiated space in which expertise is strategically incorporated, managed and instrumentalised while remaining subject to political constraints.
By extending debates on think tanks, policy expertise and policymaking into an underexplored regional and political context, the article broadens our understanding of how expertise shapes governance beyond democratic settings. In doing so, it makes an important contribution to comparative public policy scholarship and to the wider debates explored in the forthcoming special issue.
You can read the original research in Policy & Politics at
Axyonova, V. (2026). Managing policy expertise through think tank–state relations in Kazakhstan. Policy & Politics (published online ahead of print 2026) from https://doi.org/10.1332/03055736Y2026D000000103
If you enjoyed this blog post, you may also be interested in reading:
Krizsán, A., & Fekete, D. (2026). Legitimising policy knowledge in autocratising contexts: the case of Hungary. Policy & Politics, 54(1), 141-162 from https://doi.org/10.1332/03055736Y2024D000000061
Migone, A., & Howlett, M. (2025). A theory of policy advisory system quality: Hirschman 2.0 or what makes for good policy advice?. Policy & Politics, 53(1), 44-64 from https://doi.org/10.1332/03055736Y2024D000000035
