Maulen Ashimbayev – is the Deputy head of the Presidential Administration of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Candidate of Political Sciences, well-known political scientist.
He was awarded the Certificate of Honor of the Republic of Kazakhstan (2001) and the Award of "Kurmet" (2007). Maulen Ashimbayev was born on January 28th, in 1971 in Almaty in the family of the famous Kazakhstani publicist, literary critic and public figure Sagathan Ashimbayev (1947-1991), a graduate of S. Kirov Kazakh State University. After graduating from Kazakh secondary school, M. Ashimbayev entered the Faculty of Philosophy and Economics of Kazakh National University in 1988. The deep fundamental knowledge and brilliant education in the field of political and economic processes obtained at the university allowed him to successfully combine expert-analytical and administrative functions in the future. After graduating from the university in 1993, he was invited to work at the Ministry of Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan, where he worked as a leading specialist, chief specialist, Deputy Executive Director of the Press Fund of the Ministry of Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Maulen Ashimbayev was an assistant of the deputy of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 1994 and 1995. He completed a research internship at Johns Hopkins University at the School of International Studies (USA). In 1995, he was appointed a consultant to the staff of the Security Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan. From 1995 to 1999, he worked his way up from senior expert, head of the sector to First Deputy Head of the Center for Analysis and Strategic Studies of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Vivid evidence of productive scientific activity during this period are his publications devoted to the study of the problems of the transition period, and the defense of his PhD thesis on “Political transit in Kazakhstan in the context of global democratization processes”. The range of scientific interests of M. Ashimbayev is very wide and includes issues of domestic and foreign policy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, problems of international and regional security, national security, and others. He was the head of the Analytical Center of the Security Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 1999. In 2000, he became the director of the country's leading research center, the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Under his leadership the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies conducted fundamental research on strategic issues of foreign and domestic policy, socio-economic development of Kazakhstan. Then he headed a new analytical structure – the Institute of World Economy and Politics at the Foundation of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. M. Ashimbayev being one of the initiators of its creation, paid special attention to international relations, cooperation with foreign scientific and analytical structures, carrying out international research projects on various problems of development of Kazakhstan and Central Asia. Today, the Institute of World Economy and Politics at the Foundation of the First President is a professional association of political scientists, historians, economists, and sociologists. Several responsible employees of the Presidential Administration of the Republic of Kazakhstan, ministries and departments, the diplomatic corps of the Republic of Kazakhstan, teachers of higher educational institutions began their activities within the walls of this institute.
In May 2005, M.S. Ashimbayev became Deputy Secretary of the Security Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan. A year later, in April 2006, he was appointed Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Significant administrative experience allowed M. Ashimbayev, despite his young age, to occupy a high position among political figures in Kazakhstan. At the same time, the acquired scientific baggage and professionalism brought him into the category of a leading analyst and expert. As a scientist, he directs his efforts to research activities. He is the author of a significant number of well-known books and publications including “Political transit in Kazakhstan: the content of the process and its features” (2001), “Political transit from the global to the national dimension” (2002), “Security of Kazakhstan at the present stage” (2002), “Modern terrorism: a view from Central Asia” (co-author, 2002), “Central Asia before and after September 11th: geopolitics and security” (co-author, 2002), “Oil resources of Kazakhstan in the system of global regional relations” (co-author, 2002), “The military-political alignment of forces in the Caspian-Central Asian region” (co-author, 2003).
M. Ashimbayev is one of the well-known researchers of the problems of Kazakh transitions. Scientific and analytical monographs have been written and published under the editorship of M. Ashimbayev. In these works, well-known Kazakhstani political scientists considered the problems of security and regional cooperation, integration processes in the CIS countries, Kazakhstan's foreign economic priorities at the present stage, problems of regional security in the Central Asian region, modern problems of the world economy.