Abstract
This contribution attempts to answer the key question: Who sets the agenda for economic diversification in the context of Kazakhstan? This question remains critical in current scholarly debates. Although Kazakhstan, a young post-Soviet developing nation, has received fair scholarly attention with regard to the agenda setting stage of the policy cycle, the existing literature has yet failed to (1) empirically establish who actually sets the agenda for a certain policy issue and (2) employ the Internet research methods. This paper seeks to fill these gaps. The literature review of Kazakh-specific agenda setting publications suggests that among the major actors, the government tends to exert predominant influence, though other actors may also play a role, for example, media and academia. This research is driven by Internet penetration rate data and focuses on the period from January 2011 until December 2016. The findings lead to two key conclusions. First, think tanks seem to set the government agenda for economic diversification policy in Kazakhstan. Second, the government, while exhibiting the larger agenda setting magnitude vis-à-vis the other actors, shapes the subsequent debates as measured by the number of relevant references in media, think tanks, and academic publications. This research seeks to contribute to existing agenda setting theories in the Internet era by defining the most important actor(s), specifically in the Kazakh context based on longitudinal dynamics in attention.
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Appendices
Appendices
1.1 Appendix 1 Nodes as Defined by NVivo Content Analysis
1.1.1 (a) The Public
1.1.2 (b) Media
1.1.3 (c) Academia
1.1.4 (d) Think Tanks
1.1.5 (e) Government
1.2 Appendix 2 Causes and Effects as Defined by Key Actors
1.2.1 (a) The Public
Note: The public defined causes only. Dark green denotes negatively correlated causes, i.e., mismanagement should lead to weaker economic diversification.
1.2.2 (b) Media
Note: Media defined 13 distinct causes (including 6 negatively correlated, as denoted by dark green) and 3 effects of economic diversification (all positive).
1.2.3 (c) Academia
Note: (a) Academia defined the total of eight distinct causes (two negative and six positive) and eight distinct effects (three negative and five positive) of economic diversification in the context of Kazakhstan. (b) Red denotes a hypothesized cause (i.e., foreign direct investments) that was tested in a research publication and found not to be an important factor explaining the development of economic diversification.
1.2.4 (d) Think Tanks
Notes: (a) The think tank community produced 13 distinct causes of economic diversification. These include 11 positively correlated causes (light green) and 2 negatively correlated (dark green) causes. (b) Think tanks defined 12 distinct effects of economic diversification, including 10 positive (blue) and 2 negative (navy blue) effects.
1.2.5 (e) Government
Note: Similar to the public (Appendix 3a), the government of Kazakhstan defined causes only. Dark green denotes a negatively correlated cause of economic diversification, i.e., incomplete infrastructure.
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Dyussenov, M. (2019). Who Sets the Agenda? Analyzing Key Actors and Dynamics of Economic Diversification in Kazakhstan Throughout 2011–2016. In: Grimm, H.M. (eds) Public Policy Research in the Global South. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-06061-9_8
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