Foreword and acknowledgements

In the past decades, Kazakhstan has been undergoing the gradual transition from a planned to a market economy, including the commoditydriven economic surge of the first decade of this century and the recent impetus for a transformation of public governance. In May 2015, the President of the Republic unveiled a vast and ambitious programme of reforms entitled the 100 Concrete Steps, in order to bring about five institutional transformations: the creation of a modem and professional civil service the establishment of the rule of law industrialization and economic growth a unified nation for the future and transparency and accountability of the state. In January 2017, the President announced a further revision of the Constitution, aiming in particular to devolve some of the powers of the Presidency to the Cabinet and to the Parliament.