Kazakhstan is one of the global leaders in the number of ministries — 21! It’s safe to say that we live in a bureaucratic state. But do we really need that many?
Blogger and political analyst Ilyas Baktygaliyev, on his Telegram channel, using the example of Argentina, suggests that it wouldn’t hurt us to consider reducing the army of officials. Literally:
«The new president of Argentina, Javier Milei, an open anarcho-capitalist known for his unrestrained eccentricity, also has a superhero alter ego called General Ancap. Right after his election, Milei reminded everyone of his plans to abolish most of Argentina’s ministries, considering them absolutely useless. Argentina currently has 17 ministries, but Milei plans to reduce that number to 8. In this regard, it’s worth noting that Kazakhstan is among the countries with a large number of ministries. We have 21 of them. Russia and Uzbekistan, our neighbors, have a similar number of ministries. In the post-Soviet space, only Belarus has more ministries with 24. For comparison, Germany and the United States have 15 ministries each, and France has 20. In vast China, the number of ministries is the same as ours — 21, excluding the State Council Office. Moreover, the number of ministries in our country is only increasing, despite the declared plan to reduce the number of civil servants. It seems to me that the feasibility of some of our ministries is highly questionable, so the services of General Ancap might come in handy for us in the future.
Speaking of Argentina, it’s hard to find a bigger example of a failed state in the entire 20th century than this South American republic. At the beginning of the last century, Argentina had the reputation of the New World’s darling with colossal potential and was among the top ten countries in terms of per capita GDP. By 1908, it had surpassed Denmark, Canada, and the Netherlands, reaching the 7th position, only trailing behind Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia, the USA, the UK, and Belgium. Argentina’s income per capita was 70% higher than in Italy, 90% higher than in Spain, and 180% higher than in Japan. A significant number of Europeans, especially Italians, regularly emigrated to Argentina. Its position on the world stage was also notable, with periods when the country was among the world’s top ten largest economies. All this prosperity was eventually squandered by decades of stagnation and political circus. Now Argentina doesn’t even rank in the top 50 countries in terms of per capita GDP. Its economy is on life support and has been in a semi-dead state for the last 70 years, serving as a stark reminder that any potential can be easily lost. In this context, the economic reforms planned by the new president seem like an interesting attempt to turn the process backward; it’s hard to think of anything worse than continuing endless stagnation.»
