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TOWARDS REGIONAL ADVOCACY FOR COOPERATION IN THE BALKANS VIA EUROPEAN BEST PRACTICES

This publication includes findings of research, contributions, and proceedings of the regional conference “Towards Regional Advocacy for Cooperation in the Balkans via European Best Practices” organized by Institute for Democracy and Mediation in (March 2009) in cooperation with Institute of Public Affairs, Warsaw (Poland), International Centre for Democratic Transition, Budapest (Hungary), EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy, Prague (Czech Republic), Slovak Foreign Policy Association, Bratislava (Slovakia), with the support of International Visegrad Fund and Open Society Foundation for Albania. Positions expressed belong to the authors and do not necessarily reflect donors’ point of view..

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COMMUNITY POLICING - Philosophy and the Challenge of Implementation

Under its Series II of policy documents (2009) IDM is launching for public debate two separate papers focusing on some very sensitive policy issues of the general framework of security sector. Namely, the Policy Brief focuses on the key concerns and challenges for the implementation of the community policing strategy in Albania. Based on a comprehensive analysis of the progress and through emphasizing the guiding principles for community policing it further outlines a set of recommendations aiming to improve the policy framework and the performance of actors involved in this undertaking.

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INTERCEPTION OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS IN ALBANIA

The Backgrounder is intended to trigger more informed debate, now through a new format, on the legal, policy and institutional challenges related to the interception of communications. This work was based and "provoked" by the series of amendments in the past years to the legal framework regulating such a sensitive issue. The Series II of IDM policy work, supported by OSI Think Tank Fund, follows the success of the first year's series of policy documents (2008) through which IDM provided a valuable contribution in a number of areas such as decentralisation, police - local government relations and especially in relation to the debate on the timing of Albania's EU membership application.

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Building Citizen Centered Policy-Making

IDM – Institute for Democracy and Mediation would like to thank the OSI Think Tank Fund’s Institutional Support program for enabling the publication of this policy paper which, in line with IDM’s strategic approach and the philosophy of the project, is likely to have a positive impact on the policy areas and documents adopted by relevant state institutions. In this context, the policy options presented in this paper and the policy debate it intends to promote demonstrate not only the organization’s commitment to enhancing its research capacities in public policy analysis but most importantly its commitment to supporting policymaking in partnership with many governmental institutions at national or local level.

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Moving Towards Consolidated Interactions Between the Local Government and Central Institutions at Local Level

This study is a product of a one-year research work carried out by the Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM) and the Institute for Development Research and Alternatives (IDRA) under the joint project “Monitoring the interactions between the local government and the central institutions at local level in their joint competencies” which was implemented in August 2007 – July 2008 through the support of the Open Society Foundation for Albania (Soros).

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Regional Best Practices on Community Participation in the Local Governance Decision-Making Process

Institute for Democracy and Mediation –IDM1, has been for a long time working closely with local government and civic structures throughout Albania struggling to promote participatory governance at the local level. Following the preparation of a particular theoretical and operational foundation for the elaboration of specific schemes of community mobilization through the set up of Community Based Groups and the promotion of the Community Liaison structure, IDM is encouraging local government to build linking and interactive bridges with the citizens.

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RELATIONS OF ALBANIA WITH THE EU

Paper prepared in the framework of the project: „Integration Perspectives and Synergic Effects of European Transformation in the Countries Targeted by EU Enlargement and Neigborhood Policies”. Albania’s EU integration process represents perhaps one of the most debated matters in the national public and political discourse. Being considered as the strongest incentive to move forward in the democratization process, the EU integration struggle and political actors’ performance therein has attracted the attention of civil society representatives, private sector, as well as the public’s attention at large.

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Justice and Home Affairs

The bulletin is a product of IDM’s specialized department - Center for Security Studies, which aims at advancing security studies, consolidating institutional capacities and supporting security sector reforms. The bulletin’s target audience involves civil servants and officials, scholars, experts, researchers and other individuals who are striving to expand their knowledge on EU’s policy on home affairs.

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COSTS AND BENEFITS OF NATO MEMBERSHIP

This publication comprises summaries of the speeches held during the regional conference as well as recommendations emerged in relation to Albanian and regional challenges. The overall aim of the conference was to offer an analysis on the costs and benefits that these countries encounter to successfully coordinate and reform their policies on regional security issues and to face the challenges of NATO membership.

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Moving towards consolidated interactions between the local government and central institutions at the local level

This study is a product of a one-year research work carried out by the Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM) and the Institute for Development Research and Alternatives (IDRA) under the joint project “Monitoring the interactions between the local government and the central institutions at local level in their joint competencies” which was implemented in August 2007 – July 2008 through the support of the Open Society Foundation for Albania (Soros). While aiming at improving the cooperation between the target institutions in their joint competencies/delegated authority through assessing their performance and the respective legislative solutions as well as through drafting alternative solutions to ensure good governance and high-quality services closer to the community.

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Developing National Security Strategy

This publication is a result of the National Workshop on the “National Security Strategy, which was organized by Geneva Center for Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) and the Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM), in coordination with the Government and the Parliament of Albania, on September 21st 2007. The publication includes the comments and suggestions of local and foreign experts on the importance and the multiplicity of dimensions of the Strategy, thus offering a valuable contribution to the Governmental Working Group in their work to draft the new NSS

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Albanian Perceptions on NATO Integration

The publication consists of the  findings of a survey, conducted by IDM in the period March-May 2007, on the perceptions of Albanian public on the process of NATO integration.   

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An Albanian agenda for regional security

In this publication are included speeches and recommendations of the national conference “An Albanian Agenda to Regional Security, supported by the NATO Public Diplomacy Division in Brussels. The conference called for the drafting of a national agenda of regional security that will serve to orient the cooperation of Albania with regional and international partners and will be in the disposition of the Euro-Atlantic integrations of the country. The publication contains English abstracts of the speeches.

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Local Plan on Development of the Municipality of Kukës

This development plan for the city of Kukes is drafted by the Municipality, in cooperation with specialists from civil society and interest groups. It was accomplished in the framework of the pilot project “Regional Cross-Border Cooperation Kukes-Prizren-Dragash-Gostivar”, implemented by: Macedonian Center for International Cooperation (Skopje), Institute for Democracy and Mediation (Tirana) and Kosova Development Center (Gjakova). The Plan is published in three languages: Albanian, English and Macedonian.

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Security Issues journal

The objectives of Security Issues are: (1) informing a specialized public on issues of national security; (2) informing the public at large on NATO; (3) creating a discussion forum on national and global challenges to human security in Albania and developing efficient strategies to meet them. The journal is published every three months in Albanian with English abstracts.

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Community Liaison in Local Democracy

The idea of the community liaison occupies an important part in the objectives of IDM to sensitize and integrate the possible attention of all actors at the local and national levels, to evaluate the existing practices, especially in municipality units of Tirana and Shkodra and to rearrange the structure of community liaison in order o better face the challenges of Albanian reality at community level. This publication argues for the implementation in Albanian municipalities of the model of community liaison developed by IDM. It includes a summary in English.

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Public Trust – A Challenge for the Police (5)

This book includes the papers of the Fifth National Conference “Public Trust – A Challenge for the Police”. This is an annual event of IDM, in cooperation with the General Directory of State Police, to analyze the activities implemented in the framework of the project “Improving the Law Enforcement at the Local Level”, supported by National Endowment for Democracy. The achievements of the project during the latest year have been the drafting of the Local Strategy for Crime Prevention in some regions and the institutionalization of the Boards for Crime Prevention in police commissariats.

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Police-Media Relations

The communications with the public of the State Police remain at the base of the efforts to open up the police structures, the strengthening of the cooperation between police and community, strengthening of the public trust to the police and coordination of the struggle for crime prevention...

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