Civil Society as Agent of Public Policy

Civil Society as Idea and Civil Society as Process : The Case of Ghana

The idea of civil society contains a set of assumptions about the unity of civil society, the civility of civil society, the ‘separateness’ of civil society and the state, and the intrinsic relationship between civil society and democracy. All of these assumptions can be questioned by examining civil society in a specific country context. In the case of Ghana, processes in civil society have al...

EU Public Policies and the Participation of Organized Civil Society

Agent-based modeling as organizational and public policy simulators.

Agent-based models are an increasingly powerful tool for simulating social systems because they can represent important phenomenon difficult to capture in other mathematical formalisms. But, agent-based models have provided only limited support for policy-making because their distinctive abilities are often most useful in situations where the future is unpredictable. In such situations, the tra...

Societal Innovation ( OSI ) for Politics , Public Administration , and Civil Society

This paper introduces the notion of Open Societal Innovation (OSI). OSI refers to the adaptation and subsequent sustainable use of appropriate open innovation approaches from business, adapted and utilized by state and society to solve societal challenges. Examples that match the understanding of OSI are discussed in order to gain a broader understanding for this phenomenon.

Civil Society Participation as a Tool for Formulating Social Policy at the Local Level

This paper seeks to emphasize that civil society participation is a participatory process whereby consensus-building, open dialogue and the promotion of an active participation are all key ingredients to spur the transformation that can result in long-term sustainable development. Given the importance of forming consensus, there is a strong need to create and build the capacity of those within ...