Razumkov Centre was represented at the two-day Conference of think tanks and think tank partners from all over Europe in Berlin on October 19–20, 2022, organised by the German Council of Foreign Relations (DGAP).
European think tanks are facing increasing challenges: crisis-driven politics, growing public distrust and a fragile economic situation, to name just a few. The growth of authoritarianism in Europe also means the narrowing of the civic space in which think tanks operate. These developments lead to fragmentation of the system of European think tanks.
The search for effective practices and new approaches in the following key areas is extremely relevant for everyone:
Management and financing of think tanks;
Trends in policy analysis;
Political communication and advocacy;
Networking and cooperation.
According to experts, in this situation, think tanks in Europe should use the potential for collective action and urgently take measures to ensure a sustainable and inclusive format of cooperation.
Razumkov Centre used its participation in the conference to draw more attention to the impacts of the Russo-Ukrainian war, the role of think tanks in impartial assessment of events and finding optimal ways of post-war recovery. A leading expert on energy and infrastructure programmes Svitlana Chekunova took part in several sessions, in particular, "The state of think tanks in the sector", which focused on the key problems of think tanks, regional differences, the vision of the political context and funding. A separate discussion was held with the Director of Research and Learning (On Think Tanks) Andrea Baerti about potential participation in a collective study next year.
During the discussion of the Cast From Clay think tank presentation on public perception of experts, democracy and the information environment, Svitlana Chekunova commented on the Centre’s activity for promoting civil society awareness in the era of information warfare.
The subject of the interactive session of the conference on the future of political communications deserves mention. As digital technologies continue to evolve, think tanks need to take a closer look at the combination of emerging technologies, such as AI, Metauniverse, blockchain, etc. All this is interconnected and is about how we as experts interact with technology and each other in the digital space. Short presentations were combined with the participants filling in cards with opinions and assessments regarding the possibilities and risks of new technologies for political communications.
