Governance and Democracy

W stronę europejskiego demos? Polskie wybory do Parlamentu Europejskiego w 2009 roku w perspektywie porównawczej

(in English and in Polish)

A study by the Institute of Public Affairs (ISP), Poland

An analysis of the implementation of the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (Country-Based Support Schemes) in Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine

ICPS Newsletter, No. 8 (471), 19 April 2010
(in English and in Ukrainian)

An analysis of the implementation of the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (Country-Based Support Schemes) in Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine

This report is based on the surveys of public opinion carried out by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) in the year 2007 and 2008.

#5, February 2010
Special Issue

In November 2009, the Council of the European Union approved a set of Council Conclusions on Democracy Support in the EU’s External Relations, including an Agenda for Action. With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, and the creation of an EU diplomatic service (European External Action Service), an opportunity now exists to provide a clear framework for democracy support in EU external relations.

(attached in English and Ukrainian)

The OSCE and other international observers have been unanimous in their conclusions: the first round of Ukraine's Presidential election was both fair and transparent. Still, it's not clear for what and why Ukrainian voters cast their ballots. What impact did the international community have on this election?

In the new EU members of Central Europe, a lack of public confidence in current political elites has resulted in turning citizens away from engagement in public debate, while the winners and losers of transition are increasingly evident in a widening socio-economic divide. In three of the Visegrad Four countries, a majority recognise more advantages and opportunities in democracies today than under the pre-1989 dictatorial regimes, but there is an urgent need to win over a reticent public to support the transfer of democratic know-how to the EU’s eastern neighbours and other countries.

The PASOS Annual Report 2007/2008 is now available in print and online, including contact details to hundreds of policy analysts in 40 independent think-tanks in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and details of joint cross-border projects by PASOS members, and a section highlighting where think-tanks are making a difference

International Centre for Policy Studies, Ukraine: Policy Brief, September 2009

by Sacha Tessier-Stall

(in English and Georgian)

The paper is published with financial support of the Think Tank Fund of the Open Society Institute - Budapest. The opinions it contains are solely those of the author and do not reflect the position of the OSI TTF.

According to recent surveys, accession to the European Union is considered to be a vital strategic option for the country by the majority of people in the Republic of Moldova. Over 70% of those questioned stated they would cast a positive vote in a referendum on Moldova’s accession to the EU. Some 30% were ready to support the option of Moldovan integration into NATO.

With regard to NATO and EU expansion, effective and legitimate civilian crisis management and civil protection are becoming important items on the public policy agendas of individual nations as well as international organizations. Civilian crises can all too easily escalate into political crises or lead to the outbreak of violent domestic or international conflicts. The Crisis Management (CM) Europe program is a research project that aims to produce scientific knowledge that can be used to train practitioners to cope more effectively with national, regional and transnational crises.

The current study is part of the project Transparency, accountability and civic participation in the Black Sea Region- a plea for open Parliaments in Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Georgia, implemented by the Institute for Public Policy (IPP) Romania in partnership with the Centre for Liberal Strategies (CLS) - Bulgaria, the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS Viitorul) - Republic of Moldova and Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development (CIPDD) - Georgia. The project was supported by the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation (BST).

(In Macedonia and Albanian with Abstract in English)

The purpose of this study is to provide a conceptual framework for the analysis of specific areas of the Macedonian election policy, which are considered to be complex and of crucial importance for the improvement of the institutional and political capacities of Macedonia.

Discussion paper arising from seminar organised by the Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development, and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung

European Democracy Assistance after EU Enlargement

Editors: Jacek Kucharczyk and Jeff Lovitt

A paper by the working group assembled by the Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development (CIPDD)

Monthly analytical bulletin on Moldova, issued by Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) "Viitorul", Chisinau
(in English and Romanian)

This paper tackles the question why the Czech Republic and Poland, both close U.S. allies, developed considerably different foreign policy responses to the American offer to site parts of the U.S. missile defense system on their territories.

Institute for Public Affairs Newsletter, No. 3, 2008

(in Slovak only)

Kvalita demokracie za tretí štvrťrok 2008 podľa IVO Barometra: 2,9

ICPS Newsletter #28 (420), 22 September 2008,
a publication of the International Centre for Policy Studies, Kyiv, Ukraine
(in English and in Ukrainian)

The design of the Community Financial Instruments for the first half of the Financial Perspective 2007-2013

A research study for The Evaluation of Visegrad Countries’ Democracy Assistance - a PASOS project with the support of the International Visegrad Fund and the Open Society Institute Think-Tank Fund

Monthly analytical bulletin on Moldova, issued by Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) "Viitorul", Chisinau
(in English and Romanian)

This report into Serbia's civil protection system drew a number of findings, including the following:

1. The conflicts of the 1990s were among the greatest crises that Serbia’s Civil Protection System had ever faced, and the system performed admirably.

2. Any revised legal framework for disaster preparedness and response in Serbia should emphasize coordination of activity and clarification of the different roles of each Ministry and government agency rather than emphasizing the primacy of one agency over the other.

3. Senior staff in the Ministries of Defense, Interior and Environment should continue their efforts to establish an inter‐ministerial coordination body as a mechanism for enhancing disaster preparedness. The United Nations, in their International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, promotes the concept of “National Platforms for Disaster Risk Reduction” which could be a useful model for promoting inter‐agency cooperation in Serbia.

This paper comprises an investigation and preliminary assessment of the activities of Monitoring Committees. Monitoring Committees (MCs) are a mandatory feature of European Union spending, combining a mixture of consultative, advisory and oversight roles with respect to each of the different Operational Programmes.

(In English and Georgian)

This report is an attempt at understanding the impact and effect of the broadcast media on Georgia's parliamentary elections in 2008. It also attempts to answer the following broader questions;

Monthly analytical bulletin on Moldova, issued by Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) "Viitorul", Chisinau
(in English and Romanian)

EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy has been actively involved in major international network project “Think Global-Act European – The Contribution of European Think Tanks to the French, Czech and Swedish Presidencies (TGAE)”. Under the leadership of Notre Europe and the Fondation pour l’Innovation Politique, leading French think-tanks, the project mobilises a limited number of dynamic European think tanks for the purpose of formulating concrete recommendations on major issues of concern to the French, Czech and Swedish Presidencies.

In 2006, the Riinvest Institute for Development Research completed the project ‘Improving the Corporate Governance Framework and Transparency in Publicly Owned Enterprises in Kosova’. The project aimed at introducing and publicizing the modern concepts of corporate governance based on OECD Principles for the first time in Kosova, and analysing the gap between the corporate governance system in POEs and the OECD principles. Through advocacy, the project intended to contribute to filling this gap. The project focused especially on KEK JSC and PTK JSC due to their importance for economic and social development. The project’s Final report, published and widely disseminated amongst the stakeholders and civil society, made a number of policy recommendations for improving the corporate governance system and transparency practices of POEs.

The rise of populism in Central Europe since accession to the European Union is one of the most frequently discussed social phenomena in the region. Today, the activities of populist actors challenge established liberal-democratic regimes. Rising populism creates new and deepens existing social problems. In some post-communist countries, populist political forces are now part of the party system’s mainstream. In Slovakia, for example, populists enjoy a dominant position in national politics.

Monthly analytical bulletin on Moldova, issued by Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) "Viitorul", Chisinau
(in English and Romanian)

This report sets out how voluntary organizations and civic groups take part in social policy making in Hungary. It also presents a series of case studies on socially innovative projects that aim to encourage greater engagement and participation, with the main theme how governmental and non-governmental agencies have sought to use the opportunity of EU development funds to stimulate greater levels of public participation.

Monthly analytical bulletin on Moldova, issued by Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) "Viitorul", Chisinau
(in English and Romanian)

Proceedings and associated policy papers related to the conference, Populism in Central Europe, organised by the Association for International Affairs (Asociace pro mezinárodní otázky, AMO), a leading independent think-tank in the Czech Republic

Corruption—the use of public power for personal gain—has been studied from many different angles. The chapters collected in this publication mostly focus on one aspect of corruption, when decisions are directly linked to public finances. So regardless of the fact whether corruption provides personal or institutional gains, whether it is considered grand or petty, these reports examine different stages of public finance management. They analyze the budget cycle starting from the allocation of public funds (budgeting), through revenue policies (tax collection and the sharing or transferring of national budget funds to lower levels of government) and spending (procurement, contracting, asset utilization) till audit and its information base.

Monthly analytical bulletin on Moldova, issued by Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) "Viitorul", Chisinau
(in English and Romanian)

This book is a summary of a comprehensive report published by IPA in the autumn of 2007 entitled “Demokracja w Polsce 2005-2007”.

Seventeen years after the fall of the Iron Curtain, Central and Eastern Europe continues to present a rich opportunity for scholars of comparative politics. In the introduction of their 1996 book Stabilizing Fragile Democracies, Geoffrey Pridham and Paul G. Lewis estimated that the transition between a new democracy and an established democracy can take on average a dozen to twenty years.

The main goal of the comparative project Populism and Liberal Democracy in Central Eastern Europe, supported by Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe, was to assess the consequences of and the dangers related to the rise of populism in Central Eastern Europe in pre− and especially in post−accession period in new EU member states.

The following is a report on a roundtable discussion with the Center for EU Enlargement Studies at the Central European University in cooperation with the Center for Economic Development and the Center for Liberal Strategies in Bulgaria.

(in English and in Czech)

Enhancing the legislative powers of the European Parliament and the parliamentary organization of the EU system of governance has been seen for a long time as a means to face the EU democratic deficit. In reality, the expectations of providing a superior system of European government have not been met. The citizens’ interest in European elections has been steadily declining since 1979. They can still barely identify a set of protagonists in the developments at a supranational level, let alone endorse their policies. The conference “The European Parliament – Towards Parliamentary Democracy in the European Union?” was aimed at exploring both the academic and the political visions of the future of parliamentary democracy at the European level, as well as the involvement of the national parliaments of EU member states in the process of European governance. Overall, the final debate tackled a much broader spectrum of the issues and visions of the development of European integration.

(In English and Georgian)

This paper deals with the issues of building and reforming the security sector in Georgia.

The object of this study is the foreign policy agenda, orientation, and behaviour of political parties in selected Central and Eastern European countries. More specifically, the authors assess the position of major political parties in six countries of Central and Eastern Europe that have recently become members of the European Union (2004 in the case of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary; 2007 in the case of Bulgaria and Romania) vis-a-vis the United States.

The post-Communist countries of Central Europe have changed dramatically over the past two decades in many areas such as politics, economics, and society. On the one hand, many problems remain that cannot be solved by the government alone. Much room remains for positive contributions by the non-profit sector, such as in policy formulation and service delivery in particular areas. On the other hand, non-profit organizations in these countries are having trouble finding a clear role to play, and are facing many enormous challenges such as the withdrawal of foreign donors and rising demands for professionalism and accountability.

Monthly analytical bulletin on Moldova, issued by Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) "Viitorul", Chisinau
(in English and Romanian)

Electorate: Features and attitudes - Preliminary results of the survey of Georgia’s population, December 1-10, 2007

Monthly analytical bulletin on Moldova, issued by Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) "Viitorul", Chisinau
(in English and Romanian)

(In Romanian with summary in English)

In 1998, the Soros Foundation Moldova launched a public opinion poll programme – Barometer of Public Opinion. The programme has been managed by the Institute for Public Policy since August 2000.

This publication examines Polish Foreign Policy between the years 2005-2007. It has been prepared within the framework of the project “Polish Foreign Policy at Crossroads: Towards a New Consensus or Political Competition?”, which is supported by the German Marshall Fund of the US.

(In English and Romanian)

The study “Moldova on the Way to Democracy and Stability: from the Post-Soviet Space towards the World of Democratic Values," published with the support of GMF (German Marshall Fund of the United States of America), seeks to offer its readers the possibility to understand the structure and the character of the security risks facing a society in the period of transition, based on the example of the Republic of Moldova.

Poland’s autumn election followed the collapse of the coalition between the majority Law and Justice Party (PiS) and the Samoobrona Party and the League of Polish Families (LPR) two years before the end of the parliament’s four-year term. The resignation of the government came in the wake of accusations and counter-accusations between the coalition partners of corruption and unconstitutional behaviour. The short election campaign saw, in essence, a continuation of little more than the robust polemics between PiS and the Civic Platform (PO), the main opposition party during the government’s two years in office. The PiS-led
government’s foreign policy played a small part in the campaign, and what debate there was between the main contenders failed to reflect the electorate’s concerns over Poland’s continued involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as plans to site a US missile defence base in northern Poland. The election was fought on the government’s record in combatting corruption and saw a big mobilisation of voters on both sides of the political spectrum around this issue. High economic growth and declining unemployment during its entire term helped to buoy PiS’s support in the election. Ultimately, however, the contest1 was decided by an unprecedented
turnout of young people who voted to reject the government’s traditionalist domestic policies and inherent suspicion of the outside world.

Monthly analytical bulletin on Moldova, issued by Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) "Viitorul", Chisinau

(in English and Romanian)

The National Corporate Governance Code is a step forward towards the establishment of modern rules and norms for the governance of public companies in Bulgaria.

In 1999 the European Union (EU) developed the Stabilisation and Association Process (SAP) as the main policy framework for the Western Balkan (WB) countries, regarding their possible future accession.

A publication for the Council of Europe and Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe prepared in co-operation with the Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative (LGI) and PASOS (Policy Association for an Open Society) with reports on Local Democracy in Stability Pact Countries since the Zagreb Conference and Fiscal Decentralisation in South-Eastern Europe

(In English and Russian)

‘Quo Vadis, Moldova?,’ published with the help of the European Integration Studies Centre in Lithuania, is a collection of 10 analytical articles which chart the complex changes within Moldova on the path to EU membership.

The democratic changes in Bulgaria, combined with the processes of globalisation, have completely changed its position in relation to migration. Before 1989 Bulgaria, like the other former socialist countries, was a closed country with limited emigration and immigration. After 1989 Bulgaria became part of the European and world migratory system, with an increase in migration flows. Incoming and outgoing flows were made up of transitory migrants, migrant workers, and those seeking asylum.

In this paper Dr. Ceslav Ciobanu, an eminent economist and Moldova's former ambassador to the United States, Mexico, and Canada, examines regional conflicts in the Balkans and in secessionist regions of ex-Soviet countries, such as Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia, Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan, and Transnistria in Moldova, and discusses their implications for wider relations between Russia and the West.

Opinion leaders and major printed media in Latvia sometimes propose arbitrary limitations to the public visibility/ participation/ citizenship (in the broader sense of the word, including access to policy debate) of a number of groups whom they deem ‘suspect’ – non-citizens, new immigrants, LGBT, and activists of NGOs which receive international funding.The ability of NGOs and other civil society actors to effectively oppose the arbitrary attempts to ‘shrink citizenship’ depends on their ability to provide evidence-based assessment of these attempts and to mobilise public support for inclusive and participatory policy-making.

Parlamentul în afara Parlamentului

Activitatea parlamentarilor în Bucureşti şi în circumscripţii

(in Romanian; abstract in English)

(In English and in Romanian)

This research aims to analyze and evaluate the non-governmental sector in the Republic of Moldova and to determine and formulate policy variants for consolidating the civil society.

(In English and Georgian)

This paper analyzes the general picture of the Georgian regional media and measures the effects of international assistance on the development of selected newspapers.

This report has been prepared on the basis of research on the Integrated Regional Operational Programme (IROP) using the EU structural funds in the budget period 2004–2006. The research was carried out by the Institute of Public Affairs in 2006. The main conclusion from the study is the conviction that the management system of the IROP does not sufficiently prevent political and administrative corruption.

The new Georgian state is approximately 15 years old - depending on what is considered the moment of its inception. There have been three changes of government in Georgia during this period, two of which were unconstitutional. All three times the changes were claimed to have been made in the name of revolutionary transformation and the establishment of a dramatically different political system. The latest change of government, the Rose Revolution, took place in 2003. Enough time has passed since then to draw some general conclusions on what the main characteristics of Georgia’s political evolution and political system are, how they can be categorized in terms of the fundamental notions of political science and what trends of political system development have become discernible.

Kosovo is one of the former Yugoslavia’s last regions to begin transitioning to a free-market democracy. A key barrier to reform is a weak and ineffective governance system, manifested in an inefficient public sector that is burdened by a lack of transparency, accountability, and clearly defined roles for stakeholders. The absence of a governing principle for publicly owned enterprises (POEs) has contributed greatly to this confusion.

(In Czech Only)

This publication represents an outcome of the second research project awarded to EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy by the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

(In Russian)

Annual report of the non-profit organisation Strategia, based in St. Petersburg, and its activities during the course of 2006. It contains reports on all major events and programmes; the role of the regional ombudsman and human rights, anti-corruption measures, transparent budgeting, public policy development and the development of public policy centres.

This report was prepared within the framework of the research
project of the Institute of Policy Studies, funded by the Human
Rights and Governance Grants Program (HRGGP) of the Open
Society Institute. The nationwide survey of the Georgian population
aimed to assess public attitudes and the level of satisfaction
of the population in relation to public goods and governmental
policies - concerning issues on poverty and economy, social
protection, health, education and corruption, public participation,
human rights, media freedom, and infrastructure development. It
assessed public perceptions and expectations with regards to these
issues, the degree of popular participation in dealing with the most
important problems of Georgian society, the level of trust toward
different social institutions and the popularity of authority figures.
It also examined public attitudes towards democracy, the political
situation and the external orientation of the country as well as
examining the value system and preferences of the population.

(available only in Albanian and in Macedonian)

What is our money spent on and how? The answer can be found in the long-awaited Budget Guide prepared in cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.

The Guide contains chapters on;

• budget substance and structure
• budget procedures (preparation, adoption and execution)
• budget monitoring.

The guide also explains the role of citizens in the process.

(Published in Armenian and English)

Having accumulated rich experience in the sphere of Track Two Diplomacy (T2D - Unofficial or Public Diplomacy) projects, ICHD signed a contract with the EURASIA Foundation to evaluate T2D projects implemented in Armenia since 2001. The projects were devoted to Armenian-Turkish reconciliation and implemented with the sponsorship of various international organizations, including US agencies.

Indeks otvorenosti Društva - hrvatska 2006

(in English and Croatian)

The Open Society Index is a project initiated by OSI-Croatia, with the vision of developing a reputable theoretical framework and appropriate methodology for monitoring the process of opening of society in a specific country and a number of countries and societies simultaneously. The methodology and product itself are a result of Croatian experts and OSI-Croatia’s staff effort.

Published by Routledge in co-operation with the Center for Policy Studies and the Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation at the University of Warwick

Edited by Diane Stone and Christopher Wright

Publication date: September, 2006

ISBN: 0 415 41282 X, hardcover / 0-415-41650-7, paperback
Series: Routledge/Warwick Studies in Globalisation
Extent: 288 pages
Price: GBP 65 / GBP 20
Availability: Order from Routledge

This timely book offers the first critical retrospective of World Bank policy reforms and initiatives during the past decade. The World Bank Group is viewed as one of the most powerful international organizations of our time. The authors critically analyze the influence of World Bank policy and engagement during the past decade in a variety of issue areas, including human rights, domestic reform, and the environment.

(in Latvian only)

Authors: Linda Austere, Janis Ikstens, Inese Voika

The purpose of this biannual report is to analyse the corruption situation and anti-corruption measures in Latvia on a regular basis.

The main focus of the third issue is on the corruption of political parties and possibilities to reduce this corruption in Latvia. Authors of the report analyse prospects of minimising political corruption before the 2006 parliamentary elections in Latvia as well as the structural factors, which account for the corruption of political parties.

For nearly two decades, Georgia has been struggling to develop its democratic political party system. Step by step, progress has been made and new challenges addressed. But what are the prospects for the future? What is the current situation of the political party system and how can it be improved so that it contributes to a vibrant democracy?

This essay presents the basic outline of the situation in the media field in Slovenia and draws attention to certain trends that reduce journalists’ (media) autonomy.

(In Russian)

Annual almanac following previous publications in 2004 and 2005, dedicated to the development of Public Policy in Russia as well as the institutions that promote it, such as Public Policy Centres. Special attention is given to varying forms of co-operation within local communities in several of the larger regions of Russia.

The publication also looks at the development of public policy centres beyond Russia's borders in the CIS and Eastern Europe.

Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) control stakeholders and practitioners within South Eastern Europe (SEE) are often told that weapon registration and collection programmes are ineffective because guns are an intrinsic part of ‘cultures’ in the region. In addition, international and local observers often explain high levels of gun ownership and use in SEE by stating there is a strong ‘gun culture’. In contrast, survey results on the public’s perception of guns, suggest that ‘culture’ and ‘tradition’ are not principal reasons for gun ownership in the region. Thus, it is a matter of continued debate to what extent and which types of gun ownership and use are rendered acceptable and legitimate by certain cultural beliefs and practices.

Between April 13 and 25, 2004, the Institute for Public Affairs conducted a survey that mapped the social and political climate in Slovakia before the upcoming 2006 parliamentary elections as well as basic patterns of electoral behaviour.The data were gathered by the FOCUS agency through its network of trained interviewers from a representative sample of 1,242 Slovak citizens older than 18, using the method of face-to-face interviews.The survey was supported by the Open Society Foundation.

The outcome of the Belarusian elections of March 19, 2006 opens up the prospects of a prolonged struggle between Lukashenka’s dictatorial regime and the forces of democratic opposition and politically awakened parts of the civil society. In view of the brutal repression of protesters against the fraudulent elections and anyone daring to challenge the regime, the question arises as to what will be the best tactics and strategies for pro-democracy activists and their supporters in the West.

A publication by the Economic Research Center, Baku, Azerbaijan, Scientific editor: Vugar Bayramov, Technical editor: Samir Aliyev

This document summarises the results of the CIVICUS Civil Society Index Shortened Assessment Tool (CSI-SAT) application in the Russian Federation, carried out by the CSI implementing partner in Russia, the St. Petersburg Center for Humanities and Political Studies “Strategy” (“Strategy” Center). The project was carried out from June 2003 through December 2005 as part of the international Civil Society Index (CSI) project coordinated by CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation. The CSI is a comprehensive needs assessment and action-planning tool for civil society actors at country level, which is currently being implemented in more than 50 countries around the world.

In the late 1990s and the beginning of following decade, the Czech government designed and implemented an innovative industrial restructuring program for eight of the country’s most significant, distressed manufacturing companies, as part of a plan to address the widespread financial insolvency of many of the Czech Republic’s largest industrial companies and the need to bail out, recapitalize and privatize some of its largest banks.

The National Property Fund represents a case of how to accomplish privatisation without derailment by scandals or other substantial problems. The Slovak case traces the evolution and environment of the National Property Fund (NPF), which was, and still is, the key element of the privatisation process in Slovakia.

Building democracy requires both top-down and bottom-up efforts. In transitional democracies this is a number one imperative. To enhance such efforts in Armenia, a post-Soviet transitional country, a prominent Armenian think-tank, the International Center for Human Development (ICHD), initiated a pilot project on citizens' participation in local government budget policy development.

This report in English provides an overview and analysis of labour market trends in Moldova. It highlights the problems caused by the shift from a centrally planned economy to a free market model.

This paper is the result of a complex study undertaken by the Institute for Public Policies (IPP) and developed on two tiers. On the one hand, it aimed at identifying the citizens’ opinions on a range of major topics regarding Romania’s foreign policy and the international political arena, and on the other, it was meant to examine - by comparison - the citizens’ responses in relation to the opinions of certain personalities who belong to the Romanian political elite.

The report, "Legislation and control mechanisms of political parties’ funding: Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Ukraine," is part of the project, "Strenghtening Democracy in South-East Europe through Responsible Control of Political Parties Funding," and is compiled by the Institute for Public Policies (IPP) in Bucharest with the financial support of Open Society Institute (OSI), through the assistance program for institutes and associations of public policies members of the Policy Association for an Open Society network (PASOS) and of Open Society Foundation (OSF), through the East-East Partnership Beyond Borders Program.

The 2005 Bulletin of LSLG

Bестник Центра правовой поддержки местного самоуправления - 2005)

(available only in Russian)

A publication by the Center for Legal Support to Local Government, Moscow (available only in Russian)

Open Society Index is a project initiated by the OSI-Croatia, with the vision of developing reputable theoretical framework and appropriate methodology for monitoring the process of opening of society in a specific country and a number of countries and societies synchronously. The methodology and product itself are a result of Croatian experts and OSI-Croatia’s staff effort.

The Open Society Index measures and evaluates the societal openness as a political, economic and social prerequisite for building democratic, pluralistic and fair society, regarding assurance of human rights to each member of the society. It is built as an integrative index based on level of openness in six key dimensions such as education, rule of law, media, economic rights and entrepreneurship, transparency and degree of democracy of political processes, minorities, each of them described by selected criteria of openness. These processes are evaluated through five criteria: inclusiveness, access to information, freedom to express opinion and possibility for public debate, capacity to change, and responsibility (individual and social). The research is carried out on a year to year basis, by using methodology that enables temporal and spatial comparisons: experts' pool, based on selection committee, web survey, public opinion poll, case studies, based on expressed experts' opinion, monitored horizontally (various countries and societies) and vertically (each particular country through time).

Application of the Index can contribute to the following processes in society:

- Intensifying the process of democratization
- Strengthening the participation of citizens in decision-making
- Creating vision of an open society in the respective country
- Creating strategies for change in particular areas of society.

The current need to strengthen civil initiatives has been intensified in some countries by the processes of preparation to accede to the European Union, but also by the long-term presence of serious problems related to the slow development in many countries around the world. In the process of developing civil society in the countries in transition, inclusiveness, or the ability to act in society, is of the utmost importance. The implementation of the Open Society Index is intended to be applied in different countries/societies - transitional countries and emerging democracies, post-conflict societies, EU candidate countries, newly independent states and countries of Western democracies.

Since its independence in 1991, Armenia adopted the path of transition from a centralized and planned governance system to a market economy. The health sector reform process started in 1995 and during the last decade several reform policies were launched. Despite this, the health sector still remains one of the most problematic.

The purpose of this study, a joint effort by the Ministry of Defence of Serbia and Montenegro and the Jefferson Institute, in Belgrade, is to analyse the current state of strategic research in the Ministry of Defence, to assess its strengths and weaknesses and to propose a new research body based on the best practices of similar institutes in other democratic countries.

Policy Paper 4/2008, Association for International Affairs (AMO), Czech Republic

(in English and in Czech)

About 81 percent of respondents interviewed pointed to ineffective use of oil revenues and lack of transparency concerning revenues

An analytical paper from the Institute for Public Policy, Romania, after a six months' project monitoring ca 45 localities in Romania

A policy brief from the International Centre for Human Development in Armenia.

(In English and Armenian)

PASOS Policy Brief No. 2, 2008

by Jacek Kucharczyk, Research Director, Institute of Public Affairs, Poland, and Jeff Lovitt, Executive Director, Policy Association for an Open Society (PASOS)

PASOS Policy Brief No. 1, 2008

Jeff Lovitt, Executive Director, Policy Association for an Open Society (PASOS) and

Věra Řiháčková, Research Fellow, EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy, Czech Republic

A report by the Economic Research Center, Azerbaijan

AMO Research Paper 2/2008
by Michal Roškanin

Policy Brief No. 17 (in English and Macedonian)

A policy brief of the Social Policy and Development Center in Armenia.

(In English and Armenian)

A policy brief of the Social Policy and Development Center, Armenia.

(In English and Armenian)

A report by Center for Economic and Social Development (CESD), Baku, Azerbaijan

A strategy paper by the Center for Economic and Social Development, Baku, Azerbaijan

Occasional Paper No. 12

(In English and Italian)

Back in October 1995, when Macedonia was admitted as a participating country to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), it accepted the political commitment to treat national minorities in accordance with the principles written down in the Copenhagen Document.

This policy paper outlines the opportunities and obstacles for setting up free, viable and decentralized local government in Moldova following new laws on administrative decentralization and the functioning of local public administration (July - December 2006).

Economic Research Centre, Baku