Zhanibek Arynov

Zhanibek Arynov is a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Graduate School of Public Policy, Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan. He obtained a Ph.D. degree in International Relations from the University of St. Andrews, UK. Dr. Arynov’s research interests include Central Asian geopolitics, Kazakhstan’s foreign policy, EU-Central Asia relations, and international identity, image and perception studies. He is currently working on a project related to legitimacy and (de)legitimation of international organizations with a specific focus on the Eurasian Economic Union. 

The project

Title: Discursive Delegitimation of the Eurasian Economic Union by the European Union

Keywords: Central Asian geopolitics, EU-Central Asia relations, issues of international image and perception studies, international legitimacy and legitimation.

Selected publications

• Arynov (2021), ‘Opportunity and Threat Perceptions of the EU in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan’, Central Asian Survey (online first), https://doi.org/10.1080/02634937.2021.1917516.
• Arynov (2021), ‘Hardly Visible, Highly Admired? Youth Perceptions of the EU in Kazakhstan’, Journal of Eurasian Studies, (online first). https://doi.org/10.1177/18793665211058187. 
• ‘‘“Nobody Goes to Another Monastery with Their Own Charter”. The EU’s Promotion of ‘European Values’ as Perceived in Central Asia’, Europe-Asia Studies’, Europe-Asia Studies, (online first). https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2022.2032604.