"CIVIL SOCIETY" FOUNDATION
 

The  "Civil Society" Foundation is an organisation with a cultural, scientific and educational profile, independent and non-patrimonial, founded on October 16, 1992, through the initiative of a distinguished group of writers, journalists, lawyers, politologists, artists, and so on.

The aim of the Foundation is to contribute to the development and consolidation of the civil society and the rule of law in Romania, through its own endeasiours as well as through supporting all theinitiatives that pursue similar objectives.

In order to fulfill its goals, the Foundation will:

• support scientifically, financially and organisatorically the appearance and development of specific forms of manifestation of the Romanian civil society:
  -civic, cultural or professional associations and trade unions,
  -human rights associations,
  -organisations aiming at extending the sphere of self-governement and local administration.
• contribute to the development of an independent intellectual and artistic life, free from any administrative constraints, by supporting in various ways literary circles, independent research groups in the socio-political domain, publications, and so on.
• support projects aiming at improving the authonomy of the universities, encouraging the private institutions of education and bolstering the initiatives whitc attemptto modernise the Romanian education and research systems.
• contribute to the dissemination of the notions of democracy, civil society, market economy and rule of law, this facilitating the progress of the Romanian socio-political thinking, and publishing books or translations of the fundamental works dealing with these topics.
• conduct studies on democratisation and the development of the civil society; organise seminars and conferences for experts, academia and students.
• supports others cultural, scientific, political or unionist organisations that have a profile similar to that of the Foundation.

One of the running programmes is the publishing of the Sfera Politicii monthly, a political science review. Sfera Politicii is the first such review appared in Romania after 1989. Its contributors belong to a broad spectre of orientations, the publication being open towards the most diverse opinions and political attitudes.

Sfera Politicii aims at contributing to the crystallization of a modern political culture, ofering the policy-makers the theoretical grounds for increasing the rationality of their decisions.

The editorial board includes outstanding political scientists who are well-known for their work dealing with the East-European transitions in general, and the Romanian one in particular, such as Daniel Chirot (Seattle University), Kenneth Jowitt (University of California, Berkeley), Vladimir Tismăneanu (University of Maryland), Gail Kligman (UCLA), Gáspar Miklos Támas (University of Budapesta), Dennis Delletant.

The texts are in Romanian and address a wide audience made up of politicians, business-people, journalists, diplomats, experts and analysts, students of social sciences and any other person interested in the last political developments in Europe or worldwide.

Up to date, Sfera Politicii received assistance from: The Soros Foundation for an Open Society, The Foundation for Civil Society Development and the Program for Central and East European Book Projects.