Maxat Kassen

Published: Feb 16, 2024 by Enterprise Information Systems
Authors: Maxat Kassen
Subjects: Economics, Finance, Business & Industry, Business, Management and Accounting, Web, Information Science, Area Studies, Communication Studies, Urban Planning, Urban Studies, Communications Studies, Research Methods

The article elaborates on algorithms for blockchain ledgers to reliably record e-service transactions in a cross-referenced manner. New technological models of related data management in the industry were analyzed such as the generation of unique lifetime personal profiles, blockchain-driven cross-referencing of e-government metadata, parallel maintenance of serviceable ledgers and phenomena of blockchain ‘black holes’ to ensure reliable protection of public, corporate and civic information.

Published: Jan 01, 2024 by Policy & Internet, 16(1), pp. 33-64.
Authors: Maxat Kassen
Subjects: Education, Economics, Finance, Business & Industry, Web, Communication Studies, Urban Planning, Urban Studies, Research Methods

The article elaborates on the potential of blockchain technology to transform governance in different sectors of economy, providing answers to the following questions: How could blockchain governance conceptually work? How could one illustrate schematically key principles and public values of its implementation? Why are they important? What benefits could the concept bring to different sectors of economy? What are the typical barriers and limitations? What could be recommended to overcome them?

Published: Jul 27, 2023 by Preservation, Digital Technology & Culture, 52(2), pp. 69-82.
Authors: Maxat Kassen
Subjects: Education, Health and Social Care, Information Science, Communication Studies, Urban Planning, Urban Studies, Research Methods

The global outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has forced governments around the world to launch various digital information campaigns in an attempt to boost public awareness about the virus and increase public information on effective measures to prevent its diffusion in local communities. In this regard, it is interesting to analyze how these public relations and data management strategies were manifested in real administrative and technological practices in promoting such digital platforms.

Published: Jan 08, 2023 by Journal of Public Health Policy, 44, pp. 643–657.
Authors: Maxat Kassen
Subjects: Health and Social Care, Information Science, Communications Studies

A problematic manifestation of the COVID-19 pandemic is a related digital ‘infodemic’ with widespread dissemination of misinformation about the impact of the crisis. In response, a wide range of e-government policy approaches have been proposed to combat this new digital phenomenon. In this regard, this paper identified, analyzed, and classified the most interesting strategies, platforms, and tools proposed or already used by public decision-makers to address the infodemic in a digital society.

Published: Jan 01, 2023 by Review of Policy Research
Authors: Maxat Kassen
Subjects: Communication Studies, Urban Planning, Urban Studies, Research Methods

The paper critically elaborates on the potential of blockchain governance to promote political dimensions of technology-driven public sector reforms and decentralized decision making in e-government, in a post-positivist manner, resorting to multiple case study analysis. It identifies, debates, and draws on what benefits and risks public policy can yield from the implementation of blockchain governance.

Published: Jan 01, 2022 by Information Systems, 103:101862
Authors: Maxat Kassen
Subjects: Political Science, Information Science, Communication Studies, Communications Studies

E-government leaders are beginning to grasp the potential of blockchain to provide new public information management and make public digital platforms more transparent and efficient. Given the multidimensional nature of e-government, it is interesting to understand in which areas blockchain has the potential to promote innovation, what processes and procedures can be automated using blockchain technology, and what illustrative examples of government efficiency can be observed in this area.

Published: Jun 25, 2021 by Technology in Society, 66:101650
Authors: Maxat Kassen
Subjects: Information Science, Communication Studies, Communications Studies

The advent of the digital era has facilitated the development of a plethora of digital participatory platforms that could presumably help to boost the effective engagement of civic communities in decision making processes in an explicitly decentralized manner and, more so, the demand for such decentralized e-participation services is increasing during the current Covid-19 crisis.

Published: Mar 19, 2021 by Innovation, 23(1), pp.44-70.
Authors: Maxat Kassen
Subjects: Information Science, Communications Studies

The purpose of the paper is to understand what motivates civic developers, who often call themselves technically savvy citizens or independent developers, to step in and begin to reuse open data, which is published by local governments, considering that the creation of such data-driven projects is time and money consuming business, and, more importantly, elaborate on what kind of challenges these civic stakeholders face on the way.

Published: Dec 10, 2020 by Aslib Journal of Information Management, 75(5), pp.765-785.
Authors: Maxat Kassen
Subjects: Information Science, Communications Studies

The peer-to-peer data-driven innovations are tentatively beginning to directly compete with traditional e-government solutions, providing arguably better services to citizens and businesses. In this regard, the paper aims to further debate on the potential of such independent data-driven collaboration not only to transform the traditional mechanisms of public sector innovations but also provide more democratic ways to ensure greater transparency of government.

Published: May 04, 2020 by Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, 14(2), pp.305-330.
Authors: Maxat Kassen
Subjects: Political Science, Information Science, Communications Studies

The paper aims to analyze reasons that led to the discontinuation of e-voting, resorting to the case of Kazakhstan, a transitional post-soviet country, which actively used the technology in 2004-2011, as a poster child of the global trend, elaborating on key political, socioeconomic, organizational and technological risks that could be associated with the possible return of this innovation in future elections.

By: Maxat Kassen
Subjects: Information Science, Other

On December 21, 2023, Professor Maxat KASSEN received the prestigious national scientific prize - “The Best Researcher Award 2023” for his significant contribution to the development of domestic science and technology, in particular in the field of development of e-government and digital data management. This award is aimed at supporting and praising researchers and scientists who have made a significant contribution to the development of science and technology. The prestigious award was given by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (Astana, Kazakhstan). The award is regarded as one of the most prestigious research awards in Kazakhstan.

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Biographical information about the laureate of the scientific prize: Dr. Maxat Kassen is a researcher of digital governance, blockchain and data science. He is a former Fulbright Scholar in the University of Illinois at Chicago (USA) and fellow of the Annenberg Institute at the University of Oxford (UK). Over the last two decades, he lectured at a number of universities and research institutes on digital governance topics in Kazakhstan and abroad, including as a visiting professor and researcher with guest lectures in the University of Illinois (USA), University of Massachusetts (Amherst, USA), University of Woodbury (Los Angeles, USA), the US National Center for Digital Government (Amherst, Massachusetts, USA), Nazarbayev University and other universities and research institutes. Also before that, he had worked in the public sector.

He is a former head of the foreign information service in the Kazakh National Information Agency (Kazinform). In partnership with CNN agency (Atlanta, USA), he organized the work of the international analytical and digital information platform to cover the First Congress of the Leaders of the World Religions in Astana, Kazakhstan (September 23-24, 2003), which has later become universally famous as the largest regularly held inter-religious summit in the world.

Dr. Maxat Kassen is a member of various international, European and American associations of sciences in such research subfields as digital governance, digital public administration, network and data analysis, information management and public sector innovations. He was a speaker and chair of various scientific panels and sections in a number of international conferences, symposiums and forums, which have been organized over the years on these topics in San Francisco, Chicago, Denver, Oxford, Hanover, Seattle, Washington, Durham and other venues. He is also an independent peer reviewer in such research areas as e-government, blockchain technology, data analytics, technology innovations and data management for various prestigious international peer-reviewed academic journals with high impact factor.

In December 2017, Dr. Maxat Kassen was awarded with the Baitursynov Silver Medal for his achievements in scientific research and excellence in teaching students (Association of Institutions of Higher Education, Almaty, Kazakhstan). In November 2018 he received the prestigious Scopus Award 2018: Contribution to Science (Elsevier, The Netherlands) and in November 2020 he won another prestigious international distinction - The Web of Science Award 2020: The Leader of Science in the category "Publication leader in social sciences" for his achievements in scientific research from such a global academic agency as Clarivate Analytics (Philadelphia, USA). In December 2023, he became the laureate of the national scientific prize “The Best Researcher Award 2023” for his significant contribution to the development of science and technology (Astana, Kazakhstan).

Dr. Maxat Kassen's research mostly focuses on studying such scientific phenomena as e-government, digital governance, blockchain technology, digital public administration, data management, data analytics and public sector innovations. He is an author of more than 50 scientific publications in these areas, including more than 20 articles in international peer-reviewed journals with high impact factor (all indexed in Scopus/Web of Science Q1 and Q2 rank journals) and also an author of four books, titled “Understanding systems of e-government” (Rowman & Littlefield: New York, 2015), “E-government in Kazakhstan: a case study of multidimensional phenomena” (Routledge: London, 2016), "Open data politics" (Springer: Switzerland, 2019) and "Open data governance and its actors: theory and practice" (Palgrave Macmillan: London, 2022).

By: Maxat Kassen

In November 2020, Dr. Maxat Kassen received the prestigious Web of Science Award 2020: Leader of Science from Clarivate Analytics for his achievements in scientific research. Clarivate, which main headquarters are based in Philadelphia (United States), is a globally renowned aggregator of scientific information that indexes such famous and highly prestigious databases of scientific citation, research and impact factor publications as Web of Science and ScholarOne among others.

Every year Clarivate Analytics presents "The Web of Science Award: Leader of Science" around the world to educational establishments, research institutions, scientific journals, and individual scholars, whose contribution to the development of higher education and scientific research is the most impactful and meaningful. This award is often referred to as one of the most prestigious in global and regional academic communities and the number of awardees in any year never exceeded 500 worldwide.

In this regard, Dr. Maxat Kassen received The Web of Science Award 2020: Leader of Science - in the category “Publication Leader in Social Sciences”.

By: Maxat Kassen
Subjects: Political Science, Politics & International Relations

On August 29 – September 1, 2019, Maxat KASSEN, Assistant Professor of Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Public Policy, participated in the annual symposium as a chair of the panel in the American Political Science Association in Washington, DC (USA). More than 5 thousand political scientists from such world-famous universities as Harvard, MIT, Oxford, Chicago, California, Cambridge, New York and other universities and research centers from all over the world took part in this prestigious international scientific meeting.

The annual congress of the American Political Science Association is a global political platform to discuss the current trends in politics and share the best experiences/methodologies in research and teaching in various fields and areas of political sciences, public affairs, public administration and international relations.

As part of the association’s work, an international scientific symposium is held annually at the end of August – early September, which brings together prominent scientists from more than 80 countries around the world to discuss various issues of political science development in general and public policy and public administration in all its manifestations, in particular.

In July 2019, Maxat KASSEN received an invitation from the organizers of the conference to take part in this representative political and scientific forum and act with three participating roles as a chairman, presenter and discussant/expert in three separate panels in the field of public policy and public administration (DIVISION 24: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION).

On August 29th, 2019, Maxat KASSEN participated with two roles, first, as a discussant/expert in the panel titled “Making Use of the Market: Government Contracts and Outsourcing” and then as a presenter in the panel titled “Bureaucratic Effectiveness in Comparative Context”. The title of the paper that he presented in the second panel was “Open data as a collaborative trend: understanding peer-to-peer interactions”.

On September 1st, 2019 he participated in the conference with one more role, now as the chair of the panel titled “Experimental Research and Behavioral Public Administration” (please see the truncated conference program here).
In addition, during the conference, Maxat KASSEN participated in the APSA Business Meeting as a member to discuss the current work of the association and the latest trends in the field as well as vote for new agendas for the upcoming year. At the event, he met APSA current president Professor Rogers Smith and Association’s Executive Director Professor Steven Smith. The event itself was intrinsically designed for political scientists who rely on rich empirical evidences and resort to various methods of investigation in analyzing political decision making in public administration and public policy.

The scientific panel on experimental research and behavioral public administration, at which Maxat KASSEN acted as a chairman, was devoted to the study of administrative behavior, including through the prism of quasi-natural experiment, survey experiment and laboratory experiment in trying to understand how decision makings are made in various institutional and cross-country perspectives and shed lights on the behavioral aspects of representative bureaucracy. Prominent scientists from the United States, Germany, China, the Netherlands, Japan and many other countries, in particular from such prestigious universities and research centers as Rutgers, California, Georgia, Indiana, Pittsburg, State University of New York, University of Konstanz, University of Oldenburg, Tsinghua University, Leiden and many other universities, took part in the work of the abovementioned panels and also in the extensive scientific discussion that followed.

Also, Professor Maxat KASSEN attended the book exhibition that was held at the conference main hall and where his recently published book titled “Open Data Politics” was exhibited for visitors by such a prestigious English-speaking and internationally recognized academic publishing house as Springer in their booth (please see the link to the book).

By: Maxat Kassen
Subjects: Political Science, Politics & International Relations

On April 3-7 2019, Professor of the Eurasian Humanities Institute Maxat KASSEN took part in the annual symposium as chairman of the panel in the American Midwest Political Science Association in the city of Chicago, Illinois (USA). More than 7 thousand political scientists from such world-famous universities as Harvard, California, Cambridge, Oxford, Chicago, New York Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other universities and research centers from all over the world participated in this prestigious international scientific forum.

The annual congress of the political sciences association is a global political platform to discuss promising directions and share experience in the development of political technologies in various fields and areas of public affairs. As part of the association’s work, an international scientific symposium is held annually at the beginning of April, which brings together eminent scientists from more than 100 countries around the world to discuss various issues of political science development in general and public policy, in particular, in all its manifestations.

In March 2019, Maxat KASSEN received an invitation from the organizers of the conference to take part in this representative political and scientific forum and act as chairman and expert in the field of comparative political science (see the conference program here).

The event itself was intrinsically designed for political scientists who study the approbation and practical application of various methods in analyzing political information and political decision-making technologies in public administration through the prism of a comparative scientific approach. The scientific panel on “Comparing policy outputs”, at which Prof. Maxat Kassen acted as a chairman and expert on comparative policy, was devoted to the study of current and future trends in applying modern technologies in decision making and analysis of the results of specific actions in public policy in a comparative manner.

Prominent scientists from the United States, Canada, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands and many other countries, in particular from such prestigious universities and research centers like Michigan, Columbia, Colorado and many other universities, took part in the work of the panel and also in the extensive scientific discussion that followed.

Also within the framework of the scientific visit of our scientist to the United States, Professor Maxat KASSEN met with faculty members, doctoral and graduates students in the University of Chicago, University of Illinois as well as scientists from the Northwestern University (the City of Evanston, Illinois).

At the meeting, Prof. Maxat KASSEN discussed with his American colleagues the prospects for scientific cooperation in the field of comparative policy in various areas of political science, in particular, in analyzing the results of scientifically-based political decision-making processes in domestic and foreign policy in various countries of the world. The potential initiation of mutually beneficial research projects and memorandums of understanding in this area was also negotiated.

The University of Chicago is a private research and tertiary education institute in Chicago, which was founded in 1890 by the American billionaire John Rockefeller. The university is one of the most prestigious institutions of higher education in the world. The Chiago University Press is the largest university publisher in the United States. By numbers of the Nobel Prize Laureates amongs its professors, this university is ranked fourth in the world, since of its employees and graduates, 89 were were awarded with this prestigious international prize. In 2019, the University of Chicago took 9th position in the world, according to the QS international academic ranking of universities. It was at this university that the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, taught for many years before joining big politics. In total, he worked at this university in various teaching and professorial positions from 1991 to 2004.

The University of Illinois is one of the largest public universities in the world. In total more than 80 thousand students study at this institution, and more than 2.5 thousand teachers work there, of which 11 are Nobel laureates. In 2019, the University of Illinois took the 28th position in the QS global academic ranking of universities.

Northwestern University is a private research university located in Evanston, the State of Illinois. According to many international rakings, it is in the list of the top 20 best universities in the world. Being founded in 1851, it is one of the oldest universities in Illinois. Among those who studied, taught or engaged in research activities in the university, one can find the holders of 19 Nobel Prizes and 38 winners of the Pulitzer Prize.

In addition, on April 4, 2019, Professor Maxat KASSEN was invited to deliver an official speech at the headquarters of the Fulbright Association in Chicago, where he presented the results of his scientific achievements as one of the graduates of this program. Also at this meeting he presented his book titled “Open Data Politics”. This monograph has been recently published in such a prestigious English-speaking and internationally recognized academic publishing house as Springer (Switzerland). Professors, doctoral students, graduates of this educational program from the United States and other countries of the world, as well as heads of a number of American universities were invited to this event. After the meeting, he held some interview sessions with representatives of local media who cover issues of political events in the United States and abroad.

Maxat KASSEN’s articles (in international journals with high impact factor):

 If you are interested in this research topic, by clicking on the hyperlinks below you can read other publications by political scientist Maxat KASSEN in this scientific and other related areas over the past two decades, including articles in English that have been published in more than 20 prestigious international academic journals with high impact factor (according to the Web of Science and Scopus global science citation indices):

• Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=XIROq0kAAAAJ&hl=en
• Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Maxat_Kassen
• Academia: https://independent.academia.edu/MaxatKassen

Maxat KASSEN’s books:

Also, via the links below, you can purchase scientific books by the author, which were published in English in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland in such globally renowned academic publishing houses as: Rowman & Littlefield (New York), Routledge (London) and Springer (Geneva):

• Kassen, M. (2015). Understanding Systems of e-Government. Rowman & Littlefield: New York.
  https://www.rowman.com/ISBN/9781498526609
• Kassen, M. (2016). E-government in Kazakhstan. Routledge: London.
  https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781315400570
• Kassen, M. (2019). Open Data Politics. Springer: Switzerland.
  https://www.springer.com/us/book/9783030114091

These books can also be bought on global marketplaces such as: Amazon, Walmart, Barnes & Noble, Target, eBay, Google Play, Apple Store and Microsoft.

Biographical information:

Maxat KASSEN is a political analyst, professor of political science at the Eurasian Humanities Institute (Astana, Kazakhstan). He is a graduate of of the Academy of Public Administration of the Republic of Kazakhstan. He is also a graduate of the Fulbright Scholarship (Washington, DC). In 2011-2012, he completed an internship at the University of Illinois (Chicago, USA) and a research institute at the University of Oxford in 2011 (United Kingdom). Over the past two decades, he lectured on political science disiplines at a number of prestigious foreign and domestic universities and research institutes, including the University of Massachusetts (Boston, USA), the University of Woodbury (Los Angeles, USA), the US Electronic Government Center (Amherst, Massachusetts, USA) and many other universities. Also before that, he worked in various positions in government agencies, national companies and United Nations structures. He was also a former head of the foreign information service in the Kazakh National Information Agency – Kazinform.

Dr Maxat KASSEN is the author of more than 50 scientific papers that study the phenomena of government information and digital politics, e-government, political education of the younger generation and international relations, which were published in leading scientific journals in the United States, Europe, Russia and Kazakhstan, including in a number of highly reputable international peer-reviewed journals with high impact factor. He is a permanent member of the International, European and American Political Science Associations. He often participated as speaker and chairman of sections in various international scientific symposiums and forums, which in different years were organized in such cities as San Francisco, Chicago, Denver, Oxford, Hannover and other places. He is also an independent external reviewer for a number of prestigious international scientific journals in political science, diplomacy and international relations with a high impact factor in such countries as the USA, Great Britain, Canada and the Netherlands. In December 2017, he was awarded the Baitursynov silver medal for a special contribution to science and training of young professionals. In November 2018, Professor Maxat KASSEN became the winner of the international scientific prize “SCOPUS AWARD 2018: Contribution to Science” for outstanding achievements in research activities on a global scale. The prestigious award was presented by such a world-famous English-speaking academic agency as Elsevier (Netherlands), which oversees the global scientific citation index of more than 2500 international journals with high impact factor, also known in the academic community as SCOPUS and Science Direct databases.

The global scientific citation index of Professor Maxat KASSEN, also known as the Hirsch index is – 7 (h-index). Click on the hyperlink to the author’s citation index on Google Scholar for more details: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=XIROq0kAAAAJ&hl=en

By: Maxat Kassen
Subjects: Information Science, Other

In November, 2018, Dr. Maxat Kassen received the prestigious Scopus Award for his outstanding achievements and citation impact in scientific research. The prize is awarded annually to prominent scholars for their special contribution to the development of science in different parts of the world. This year, for the first time in the history of this country, the award ceremony was held in Kazakhstan.

The globally well-known academic publisher Elsevier (The Netherlands), which manages such universal scientific databases as Scopus and Science Direct and publishes the largest share of journals with high impact factor in the world (more than 2,500 high rank peer-reviewed journals in almost all fields), was a main organizer of this award ceremony. The key purpose of the event was to support scholars who advance science, especially promoting the international recognition of those of them who have made the greatest contribution to research in their fields and have high citation rates (h-index).

In this regard, the prestigious Scopus Award in the nomination for Contribution to Science in 2018 was given to Dr. Maxat Kassen for high citation output of his scientific publications in peer-reviewed international journals with high impact factor.

Prominent scientists, heads of all leading universities in Kazakhstan, the management of prestigious international university rating agencies such as Times Higher Education and QS, local media, and also the top leadership of a number of government agencies participated in the event. The Vice Minister of Education and Science Askhat Aimagambetov, and other honorary participants delivered a welcoming speech at the award ceremony.

By: Maxat Kassen

In December 2017, Dr. Maxat Kassen received the Baitursynov Silver Medal for significant achievements in scientific research and excellence in teaching students. The award was given by the Association of Institutions of Higher Education (Almaty, Kazakhstan).

By: Maxat Kassen

In 2011-2012, Dr. Maxat Kassen received a highly prestigious Fulbright Scholarship Award (Washington DC, USA).

The Fulbright Program is a US academic grant program founded in 1946 by Senator James William Fulbright to strengthen cultural and academic ties between citizens of the United States and other countries. The Fulbright Program is one of the most prestigious award programs in the world and as the scholarship is highly competitive and selective. Hundreds of Fulbright alumni worldwide currently hold top positions in sciences, academia, government, higher education, journalism, and the corporate sector. For example, among those who received the scholarship:

• 88 have received the Pulitzer Prize,
• 60 have received a Nobel Prize,
• 75 have been MacArthur Fellows,
• 10 have been elected to US Congress,
• 38 have served as head of state or government,
• 1 has served as secretary general of the United Nations.

The research direction that Dr. Maxat Kassen proposed was: “Digital Government in the USA and Kazakhstan: A Comparative Analysis”. During 2011-2012 academic years, he conducted scientific research on various e-government topics in the University of Illinois at Chicago, one of the largest U.S. public universities with a globally renowned research base.

During his stay in the United States as a Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Maxat Kassen did field studies on digital governance, data governance and public sector innovation both at local and federal levels. Also as part of the research, he was invited to various institutes throughout the country, including as a visiting professor with guest lectures in the University of Illinois, University of Massachusetts, the US National Center for Digital Government (Amherst, MA), University of Woodbury (Los Angeles, CA), Shaw University (Raleigh, NC) and other universities and research institutes.

By: Maxat Kassen

Organized at Oxford University, Media Policy Fellowship was dedicated to the development of global media policy which brought together prominent scientists from more than 30 countries. Dr. Maxat Kassen was the only representative of Kazakhstan at this scientific forum.

All expenses associated with participation of the scientist in the event were covered by University of Oxford.

University of Oxford, located in Oxford, United Kingdom, is the oldest university in the English speaking world. In addition, it is also the largest research center; there are more than a hundred libraries and museums as well as a publishing house in Oxford. A number of brilliant scientists, writers and politicians were graduates of the university - Oscar Wilde and Margaret Thatcher studied there. 25 British Prime Ministers graduated from Oxford.

Each year the institute invites young scientists and specialists to the University of Oxford to discuss the latest trends in development of multimedia technologies, international relations and their impact on media policy. Among the participants were well-known scientists of the largest universities and research centers of the planet, as well as representatives of the world's largest media institutions: BBC, Thomson-Reuters, News Corporation and many others.

This year special attention was paid to issues of media governance, development of strategic communication, social development, management and convergence of various electronic media. Part of the course was devoted to modern methods of media regulation in the U.S., China, EU, Middle East, Africa and Asia. As part of the program a visit to the UK Office of Communication (Ofcom) in London was organized for participants of the Institute to learn more about the regulatory body of the country. Within the program of the Summer Institute, Dr. Maxat Kassen made a presentation on "Development of media policy in Kazakhstan.