Interaction between civil society the BRD and the Russian Federation in 2000-ies.: from problem statement to projects

During the 2000s the civil society started to act as an agent of management. Developed countries used its potential for formulating social agendas and specifying priorities of social development. Civil society acted noticeably in the world arena as well, which found its reflection in the German-Russian relations. Forms of civil engagement were defined by the principle of effectiveness, aiming to act as a channel of regular interaction between members of the public in Germany and Russia. Cooperation between civil societies of Germany and Russia was institutionalized when the German-Russian Forum appeared in 1993, and in 2000 the initiative was put forward to create a civil forum "Petersburg Dialogue". The German-Russian Forum performed educational activities, encouraged partnership relations between cities of the two countries, organized cultural events. The mission of the "Petersburg Dialogue" was to draw the German and the Russian public nearer on the basis of common interests, to help in overcoming some prejudices of mutual perception and to deepen mutual understanding between Germany and Russia. The guidelines imposed obligations on both sides and required a liberal interpretation of cooperation between the German and Russian civil societies to be offered to its target audience. Accordingly, the "Petersburg Dialogue" can be considered to have become an open, representative forum with the paramount value of human rights and liberties. Urgently important issues of Russian-German relations were discussed in the context of the world problems. A two-level model of social partnership was tested by the "Petersburg Dialogue" which provided a framework for interaction between representatives of the civil societies in Germany and Russia and also made all the results achieved by the forum participants immediately available to the public authorities. The implementation of the first aspect supposed close contacts between community leaders of Germany and Russia, as well as the co-financing of the forum which was carried out by private foundations and commercial organizations. Members of the public expressed their opinions on acute current issues to the public authorities of both countries. The concept of the "Petersburg Dialogue" provided for those kinds of joint German-Russian activities which proved to be an effective means of identifying problems in bilateral relations. The main part of the work was done by the working groups of the forum, and the most efficient of them were groups on media, education, politics, economics and the "Workshop of the future" group.

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