Dr. Togzhan Kassenova joined CITS as a Research Associate in 2008. In 2007-2008 she was a postdoctoral fellow at James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies and an adjunct faculty at Monterey Institute of International Studies, California. She holds a PhD in Politics from the University of Leeds (United Kingdom). Her areas of research include: cooperative threat reduction programs, WMD proliferation issues in Central Asia, U.S.-Russian strategic relations, and export controls in East Asia.
She earned her BA in International Relations (with Distinction) from Almaty State University and MA in Euro-Asian Studies (with Distinction) from the University of Reading (United Kingdom). In 1998-1999 she attended National Taiwan Normal University (Mandarin Training Center).
For several years Togzhan worked as a journalist for major newspapers in Almaty writing on topics related to international politics. She was a Senior Researcher for a UK FCO/Global Opportunities Fund project in Almaty in 2004-2006, and an Affiliated Fellow at the International Institute of Asian Studies at Leiden, The Netherlands, in 2006. Since 2006, she served as an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics and Strategic Research.
She is the author of From Antagonism to Partnership: the Uneasy Path of the U.S.-Russian Cooperative Threat Reduction (ibidem-Verlag/Stuttgart) published in 2007.
Email
Select Publications
"Kazakhstan's Nuclear Renaissance," St. Antony's International Review, Volume 4, Number 2, February 2009.
Reprinted with permission from: Togzhan Kassenova. Kazakhstan's 'Nuclear Renaissance'. St. Antony's International Review (STAIR); Vol. 4. No. 2. 2009, pp. 51-74. © 2009 by St. Antony's International Review.
"The Struggle for a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in Central Asia," The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, December 22, 2008.
"Central Asia Becomes a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone" (co-authored), CNS Feature Story, December 11, 2008.
"Cooperative Threat Reduction and Pakistan," NTI Issue Brief, August 4, 2008.
"Biological Threat Reduction in Central Asia," The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, July 18, 2008.
"Kazakhstan's Nuclear Ambitions," The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, April 28, 2008.
"Central Asia: Regional Security and WMD Proliferation Threats," Disarmament Forum, UNIDIR, Volume 4, 2007.
