A ground-breaking new PASOS study by four leading Central European think-tanks into the democracy assistance policies, spending, and geographical priorities ofthe Visegrad Four countries, Democracy’s New Champions (296 pages, see PDF below) provides an analysis of the record of four of Europe’s new democracies in sharing their transition experience to promote democracy abroad and in keeping democracy promotion on the European political agenda.

The research in Democracy’s New Champions includes an assessment of the Visegrad Four countries’ democracy assistance policies and practice towards four target countries, namely Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cuba, and Ukraine.

Edited by Jacek Kucharczyk, Research Director of the Institute of Public Affairs, Poland, and Jeff Lovitt, Executive Director of PASOS (Policy Association for an Open Society), the project involved four leading think-tanks – EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy, Czech Republic, Center for Policy Studies at the Central European University, Hungary, the Institute of Public Affairs, Poland, and the Institute for Public Affairs, Slovakia. All four policy centres are members of the PASOS network, while the research in Ukraine was co-ordinated by researchers from the International Centre for Policy Studies, also a PASOS member.

Contents

PART I. Democracy Assistance Policies – Trends and Approaches
Re-energising Europe to Champion Democracy
The Visegrad Four bring fresh transition experience to the donors’ side of the table
by Jacek Kucharczyk and Jeff Lovitt
Limited Resources, Global Ambitions
The Czech Republic’s Democracy Assistance Policies and Priorities
by Vladimír Bartovic
Hungarian Minorities, the Balkans … and the Far East
Hungary’s Democracy Assistance Policies and Priorities
by Áron Horváth
Eastern Promises and Achievements
Poland’s Democracy Assistance Policies and Priorities
by Piotr Kaźmierkiewicz
Exporting Democracy (not only Democracy…)
Slovakia’s Democracy Assistance Policies and Priorities
by Grigorij Mesežnikov
European Union: Democracy versus Bureaucracy
An Assessment of the Reform of the EU’s External Assistance Instruments
by Věra Řiháčková

PART II. Visegrad Four Democracy Assistance Policies in Target Countries
Belarus: Next Generation Democracy
by Marian Kowalski
Bosnia and Herzegovina: A Closely Watched Democracy
by Sanida Kikić
Cuba: Forging Alliances Across the Transatlantic Divide
by Francesco Guarascio
Ukraine: Supporting Elusive Consolidation
by Natalia Shapovalova and Olga Shumylo

Democracy’s New Champions emerged from the PASOS project, Evaluation of the Democracy Assistance Policies and Priorities of the Visegrad Four countries, which compares the democracy assistance priorities of the Visegrad countries, and puts their policies and priorities in perspective in the context of EU democracy assistance efforts.Two additional policy briefs, New Kids on the Block – Can the Visegrad Four emerge as effective players in international democracy assistance? and Is the EU ready to put democracy assistance at the heart of European foreign policy? also emerged from the project.

The project was supported by the International Visegrad Fund, the Open Society Institute Think-Tank Fund, and the Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative (LGI) of the Open Society Institute.

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The papers address such diverse topics as new media, visa liberalisation, the revolutions in North Africa, and the European neighbourhood.

Following is a description of each brief and a link to download the paper:

These policy studies were created with the support of the International Visegrad Fund:

What kind of EU does the Mediterranean need? (Alexander Duleba & Lucia Najšlová)

This paper proposes modalities for stronger and more efficient EU engagement in the reform of Arab countries that recently underwent revolutions, without necessarily putting extra burden on financial expenditure allocated for the region. It argues that the EU policy in the Mediterranean has to be grounded in structured partnership with non-state actors, which engages them in all phases of policy cycle including planning of goals and monitoring of results of EUMED cooperation. This policy study was carried out with the support of the International Visegrad Fund.

From the network to the streets: Online tools and democratization in Egypt and Belarus (Alek Tarkowski, Basem Fathy and Dzianis Melyantsou)

This policy brief includes two case studies – Egypt and Belarus – that show how digital communication technologies were used in recent protest activities in both countries. Based on interviews with civil society activists and an analysis of the process, it provides recommendations to EU policymakers and
argues for stronger EU endorsement of civic freedoms, including an uncensored internet.

Friendly Neighbours: Increasing the Potential of European Neighbourhood Policy Cross-Border Cooperation Initiatives (Andrey Demidov & Sara Svensson)

This policy brief looks at the EU’s promotion of integration and cooperation along its external borders and draws policy recommendations from the experience on the ground. The policy brief focuses on the local level, on people and communities living close to the borders as represented by political administrations (local governments) and civil society organizations. The brief starts with an analysis of the current practice of the crossborder cooperation initiatives of the ENP and the partnership with Russia.
The following policy study was written as part of the PASOS project, Paving the Road towards Visa-free Travel between the Eastern Partnership countries and the EU. The project is being carried out with the support of the Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative (LGI) of Open Society Foundations:

No shortcuts on the road to freedom of movement for the EU’s Eastern neighbours (Piotr Kaźmierkiewicz and Nadya Dimitrova)

This study identifies opportunities and barriers to the process of visa liberalisation between the European Union (EU) and the states of the Eastern Partnership, in particular Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. Attention is paid to two key factors: technical, involved in the process of adoption, implementation and evaluation of action plans, and political, centering on the will of the two parties (EU and EaP states) to move the process forward and complete it successfully.

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PASOS has published two guidebooks for think-tanks, one a code of good governance and one based on a set of principles for ensuring quality control.

“Thinking Ethically” and “How to win respect and influence policymakers” were released at the annual PASOS members assembly in Warsaw November 26.

The ethics guide was written by Petr Pajas, a PASOS programme manager. The 44-page booklet unveils “The PASOS think-tank code of good governance,” 10 principles to assist think-tanks facing ethical decisions. The code  includes chapters on avoiding conflicts of interest, responsible fundraising, and financial management.

“Thinking Ethically” draws on a wide variety of sources to construct the code, including some from PASOS members: an integrity statement created by The Centre for Research and Policy Making in Macdeonia, and a code of conduct from The Centre for Social and Economic Research in Poland.

The second guidebook, “How to win respect and influence policymakers”, was edited by PASOS Secretariat Director Jeff Lovitt. It likewise offers a set of 10 core principles for excellence in policy work at think-tanks. Many of the book’s ideas were spawned at a February 2010 gathering PASOS members in Prague.

“The result is a publication that draws on, and cites, a number of their approaches, codes, and methodologies, and we are indebted to those who attended and to others who have provided input and comments”, Lovitt said. “This gives the initiative a greater sense of ownership by the practitioners to whom it is addressed.”

The publications were made possible with the support of the Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative (LGI) of Open Society Foundations.

Download: Thinking Ethically

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The Right Approach to Europe. An Advocacy Handbook for Civil Society: Understanding and Influencing EU Policymaking is the newest publication released by PASOS, as part of the “Understanding and Influencing EU Policymaking” project.

The 112-page publication, released January 30, is primarily targeted at think-tanks and other policy-focused civil society organisations or networks.

Written and peer-reviewed by analysts from the PASOS network with indepth experience of the workings of EU policy, The Right Approach to Europe includes a guide to EU institutions, updated in line with the Lisbon Treaty, and incorporates new developments, such as the European Transparency Initiative and Transparency Register, and the European Citizens’ Initiative.

It also features two advocacy case studies: EU Financial Instruments in Support of Democracy and Human Rights, and Migration and Visa Policies.

The authors and their PASOS-affiliated institutions are:

–Tereza Hořejšová, an associate research fellow at EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy in Prague

–Piotr Kaźmierkiewicz, a policy analyst at the Institute of Public Affairs in Warsaw

–Jeff Lovitt, the PASOS Secretariat in Prague

–Věra Řiháčková, a Senior Research Fellow at the EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy in Prague

“Understanding and Influencing EU Policymaking” was funded in 2011 by the Local Government and Public Services Reform Initiative (LGI) of Open Society Foundations.

The Right Approach to Europe. An Advocacy Handbook for Civil Society: Understanding and Influencing EU Policymaking

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Two new PASOS policy briefs focus on developments on the topics of visa-free travel in Europe and the possibility of EU enlargement in the Western Balkans.

Time to De-link Visas and Migration: What can we Learn from the EU’s Success in the Past? and Has An Impasse Been Reached? Regional Co-operation and EU Enlargement in the Western Balkans were written as part of the PASOS project “Open Government, Deeper Democracy.”

Written by Piotr Kaźmierkiewicz of the Institute of Public Affairs in Poland, Time to De-link Visas and Migration takes a critical look at the factors that have slowed down efforts at visa liberalization and calls on civil society, national governments and the EU to reconsider the roles they have played in the process.

Has An Impasse Been Reached?, written by  Zhidas Daskalovski, president of the Center for Research and Policy Making in Macedonia, issues a series of recommendations to help restart the stalled progress of European integration in the Western Balkans.

“Open Government, Deeper Democracy” was made possible by funding from the Robert Bosch Stiftung.

Download: Time to De-link Visas and Migration

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