Civil service in Kazakhstan
The civil service in Kazakhstan is the role of civil servants in public agencies, which is aimed at realization of objectives and functions of the state. A civil servant in Kazakhstan is a citizen of Kazakhstan who has a public position in the state agency, executing official duties in order to implement tasks and functions of the state. His/her salary is paid by republican, local budget, or from the means of the National Bank of Kazakhstan. Principles. The Civil service in Kazakhstan is based on the following Principles: There are few major principles categorized by  their meanings. In fact, there are 20 principles stated in the Law on Civil Service of Kazakhstan. Classification of civil servants. There are two types of civil servants in Kazakhstan: administrative and political civil servants. Administrative civil servants have two groups: corps A and corps B. Corps A – administrative public positions of managerial level. There is a special procedure of the selection into the personnel reserve, competitive selection, continuation and termination of civil service, as well as special eligibility requirements for this corps. Special eligibility requirements include the level of education, work experience, and competencies. Competencies consider the knowledge and  skills necessary for professional performance. Corps B – administrative public positions that are not included in corps A. Official positions held in this corps are lower than those in corps A. The difference between political and administrative civil servants: Political civil servant is a civil servant whose appointment (election), termination and performance carrying out political character and responsibility for implementation of political tasks and goals. There are categories (A, B, C, D, E) for administrative civil servants in regard to their positions, while categories for political civil servants are not established. General preconditions. There are specific requirements that have to be  met by a candidate who tends to be a civil servant. These preconditions are illustrated by the major categories: There are major limitations, within which a candidate cannot become a civil servant (Article 16, point 3): Moreover, there is a special audit conducted by the authorities of national security in accordance with the Law during three months. There is no way for discrimination in regard to origin, social, official, and property status, sex, race, nationality, language, religion, place of residence, and any other circumstances. Requirements to stay in civil service. An administrative civil servant has to take an attestation  every three years in order to continue the work in civil service. Attestation is conducted by the attestation committee consisting of at least five people with its chairman. This committee can decide whether to let a civil servant to stay, to promote or to fire him/her depending on the results of evaluation. Release of civil servants. The main reasons that can lead to dismissal or loss of a civil servant's status: For a political civil servant: For an administrative civil servant: Structure of civil service. The structure of the civil service system in Kazakhstan is illustrated by the  positions of public bodies – implementers of public policy. Generally, the state power consists of legislative, executive and judicial powers. Civil servants function within all three parts of the state power and can be rotated within it if one has necessary qualifications (education, experience) for that. Thus, legislative power is carried out by the Parliament; executive power is carried out by the Government; and judicial power is carried out by the Supreme Court (The Constitution, Chapter 6, Article 75). The Administration of the President is able to control and give orders to the Supreme Court, the General Prosecutor's Office, the  Committee of National Security, the National Bank, the Government and other executive public bodies under the Government. However, the only source of the state power is People (The Constitution, Chapter 1, Article 3). Generally, these four major public bodies illustrated below construct the system of civil service in Kazakhstan. Main Rights, Duties, and Restrictions of Civil Servants. Major rights of civil servants: Major duties of civil servants: Major restrictions of civil servants: Notable Reforms in Civil Service. Generally, reforms in civil service of Kazakhstan can be divided into three main phases: Period from 1990 to 2011. In 1997 the President  introduced the development program of Kazakhstan – 2030 during the President's Address to the people of Kazakhstan. Strategy of "Kazakhstan-2030: Prosperity, security and improved living standards for all Kazakhs". One of the long-term goals of this program was to produce a professional state. In other words, the content of the civil service system was affected as a driving force of administrative reform. According to Knox, who studied reforms of civil service in Kazakhstan, this program introduced the following goals of administrative reforms: “1. To increase the effectiveness of the government working collectively as a state organ and individually through  the role of each minister; 2. to implement modern information technology and eliminate bureaucracy in government bodies. 3. to create an effective and optimal structure of state bodies. 4. to restrict state interventions in the economy”. In addition, in 2007 the President of Kazakhstan signed a Decree entitled “Measures aimed at Modernizing the Public Administration System in the Republic of Kazakhstan”. This Decree proposed to enhance civil service, professional skills and efficiency of public bodies, and the quality of administration procedures. Period from 2011 to 2015. The next substantial change was adopted through the Code of Honor of Civil Servants  in 2011. Issue of ethics was considered as one of the main needs to adopt in civil service at that time. The rules of civil servants’ ethics is an official document that determines the behavior of workers. It touches upon not only their official duties, but also activities outside of their official performance. Two years later in 2013 another changes were introduced by the Chairman of the Agency for Civil Service Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan – Alikhan Baimenov's initiative. In particular, the Law “On amendments and additions to some legislative acts of the Civil Service” came into effect . This amendments brought the principle of meritocracy – the selection and promotion of the personnel basing on their professional advancement and merits. Period from 2015 till present. In May 2015 the President introduced “Plan of the Nation – 100 Concrete Steps of Implementation of Five Institutional Reforms of the Head of State”, which affected the civil service too. The purpose of this plan is to accept the global internal challenges and to enter the top-30 most developed countries in the world. One of the five institutional reforms is “formation of contemporary state apparatus”, which is directly about civil service system of Kazakhstan . This chapter includes 15 innovations or steps (out of 100 steps of the plan) in civil service. In fact it covers all aspects that were introduced in the previous phases (Reference: Plan of the nation, Chapter 1):