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.
