Dauren Aben
Senior Research fellow
Dauren Aben holds a Master’s in International Relations from Kainar University, Almaty, Kazakhstan, and a Master’s in International Policy Studies and certificates in nonproliferation studies, conflict resolution, and commercial diplomacy from the California-based Monterey Institute of International Studies. Dauren previously worked as a senior project manager and researcher at the Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Education. In 2011-2014, he worked as a senior research fellow at the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In 2008-20
Staff's Publications
February 28, 2018
Since 1990s, Kazakhstan has always been in the forefront of activities related to nuclear nonproliferation and nuclear security in Central Asia as the region faced many common problems inherited from the Soviet-era military programs, as well as new threats, such as illicit trafficking in nuclear and radioactive materials. Having disposed […]
February 5, 2018
Kazakhstan and the United States have agreed to elevate their relationship to the level of enhanced strategic partnership through engaging in closer political and economic cooperation to the benefit of both nations. This has become a major outcome of President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s January 16-18, 2018 official visit to the United […]
January 8, 2018
Uzbekistan has been developing bilateral relations with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) since 1992 through the North Atlantic Cooperation Council established in December 1991 and renamed as the Euro-Atlantic Partner-ship Council in 1997. In July 1994, Uzbekistan signed a framework document of NATO’s Partnership for Peace (PfP) program, and […]
November 21, 2017
Kazakhstan has been engaged in bilateral relations with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) since 1992, when the country joined the North Atlantic Cooperation Council (NACC) established by the alliance in December 1991 as a forum to discuss and coordinate security issues with its new partners. Kazakhstan’s practical security cooperation […]
November 4, 2017
For over two months, a radioactive incident of unknown origin has been making the headlines in the European and Russian media. On October 8, 2017, Germany’s Federal Office for Radiation Protection and Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety issued a joint statement reporting that since […]
September 23, 2017
In the Soviet period, Kazakhstan’s uranium industry played an important role as an integral part of the USSR’s nuclear military-industrial complex. When the Soviet Union collapsed, in addition to the nuclear-weapon systems and facilities, the newly independent state inherited a developed civilian uranium mining and processing infrastructure (Nuclear Threat Initiative, […]
September 5, 2017
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the newly independent states of Central Asia have confronted a number of unresolved issues related to the Soviet legacy of Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD) development programs. One of the most serious problems that has public health, environmental and security risk dimensions is […]
August 14, 2017
The Syrian Kurds are considered one of the most significant and influential parties of the ongoing conflict in Syria, mostly due to their direct engagement and relative successes in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and resulting support they receive from the major powers, the […]
July 19, 2017
In late June 2017, the reports circulated in mass media that Kazakhstan’s military might be deployed in Syria as part of the multilateral mechanism to monitor the ceasefire regime. The news caused a mixed, though mostly negative, reaction among the country’s general public. While opponents of such a step were […]
June 19, 2017
The EXPO 2017 international specialized exhibition was launched on June 9, 2017, in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, at a spectacular grand opening ceremony hosted by President Nursultan Nazarbayev and attended by 17 heads of state and government, including the presidents of China and Russia and the prime ministers of […]