German Political Foundations and Their Contribution to the International Dialog

The German political foundations are peculiar research objects in political science. Formally considered, as non-governmental organisations,they are associated with the German political parties and with the German foreign policies through the Ministry of Foreign Affairsund the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. Created mainly in the post-war years, they were traditionally committedto run political education projects, to encourage civic involvement in political life and to promote pluralism in the post-war Federal Republicof Germany. Unlike most NGOs, the six political foundations are financed by state and the amount each foundation receives dependson the number of each political party represented in the Bundestag. In Germany, political foundations play an important role in shaping civilsociety. The foundations, however, have also committed themselves to strengthen democratic political and societal structures abroad and todevelop the cultural dialog with the third countries in order to foster the progress and society and Germany's good relations with foreigncountries. This article is an attempt to map and describe the activities of the German political foundations in the international field, whichplay complimentary, consultative and instrumental functions (in the process of political transformation in several countries). Having a verygood connection in the political system of Germany, they compliment the official German foreign policy, choosing for it their own prioritiesand strategies. The methodology for this article was a combination of the information of general nature provided by the foundations in theirpublications and strategic papers as well as conducted interviews with representatives of all the political foundations in Moscow.

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