M.Gorny

Centers for public policy in the Baltic Sea Region and their role in promoting cross- sectoral dialogue

A b s t r a c t s

1. Public policy – the activity of power authorities directed for solving socially significant problems and implemented with the participation of civil society structures (citizens, NGOs, business structures).

Centers for public policy (CPP) – think tanks which:

· are independent NGOs

· contribute to public participation efficiency improvement when solving problems

· offer new ideas, independent solutions for those problems

· insist on power bodies’ consideration of the offered solutions.

The main functions of CPP are the follows:

· intermediary (mediatorial) function (civil society – administration, citizens, NGOs – scientists)

· educational function (NGOs, officials, etc.)

· research function.

CPP and think tanks in the Baltic Sea Region:

· St.Petersburg: Center “Strategy”, “Leontief Center”, Citizen Watch, Norden, CIRP, etc.

· Latvia: TI - Latvia “Delna”, LATO, etc.

· Lithuania: TI-Lithuania, School for Democracy and Management, Free Market Institute, etc.

· Estonia: Institute of Social-Economic Analysis, etc.

· Finland: Finish Committee on European Security, Tampere Peace Research Institute, etc.

· Denmark: Dialogue Development, etc,

and many others.

2. Cross-sectoral dialogue.

Transition from “hard” security (state-centric security) to “soft” security (human security, overall security). “Soft” security – socio-economic and humanitarian basics of common secure life. So “soft” security based on cross-sectoral dialogue inside country and between countries.

Main conditions of the “soft” security:

· Transparency which means openness (to information, to decision making procedures, etc.), this information, procedures, etc. are understandable, one can influence on information, procedures, etc.

· Public participation – participation of citizens and civil society structures in the decision making process

· Human rights protection

· Prevention of corruption.

Example of transition from “hard” to “soft”:

Estonia – Russian community from the object of foreign politics (2-3 years ago) became the subject of internal affairs (today).

Main problems (obstacles) faced to “soft” security:

· Lack of information both inside and outside country concerning sectoral activity (weak access to information, lack of communications – cross countries communication specifically)

· Lack of trust

· Lack of common terms (transparency, tolerance, etc.).

New approaches to increase efficiency of cross-sectoral dialogue:

· Epistemic communities

· Networking

· Learning region

· Benchmarking

· Policy transfer.

3. Real practice of St.Petersburg CPPs to promote cross-sectoral dialogue.

Conducting international seminars and conferences:

· NGO Forum of the Council Sea States (CBSS) – St.Petersburg, 2002 (Norden)

· International Conference “Development of the Democracy and Security in the Baltic Sea Region” – St.Petersburg, 2002 (Strategy, CIRP, Dialogue Development)

· International Conference “Baltic Think-Tanks: Strategies for Active Involvement of Lager Civil Society. The case on Baltic Security” – St.Petersburg, 2003 (Strategy)

· Conference “Development the Security Environment and Cooperation Across Russia’s Northwest” – Pskov, 2003 (CIRP).

4. So, the role of CPP is:

· to be mediators between civil society and power bodies, i.e. to assist to provide communication between NGOs, NGOs and government both inside country and between countries

· to educate NGOs and administration to respect each other

· to conduct seminars and conference (local, regional, national and international) such as this one.