This book presents a series of studies on organizations across Europe, displaying new perspectives on institutional resilience of affected governance structures during crisis. Such an approach to governance studies not only aims to provide readers with conceptual and practical knowledge on crisis experience of organizations, but also to equip them with necessary cognitive tools to perform well in a similar crisis context in the future. The book highlights knowledge on institutional resilience and delivers an enduring resource for researchers and students on a time of unprecedented crisis. Cross-national/sectorial interdependences in Europe are multiplying, while institutional reaction and international collaboration mechanisms are falling behind. The studies presented here aim to shape a conceptual understanding of students, academics, and practitioners considering these contemporary challenges and opportunities. They provide a valuable resource in the field of governance, sustainability, crisis management, innovation, and leadership.  

The field of public participation is developing fast, with phenomena such as citizen science and crowdsourcing extending the resource base of research, stimulating innovation and making science more accessible to the general population. Promoting public participation means giving more weight to citizens and civil society actors in the definition of research needs and in the implementation of research and innovation. As yet, there is limited understanding of the implications of widespread use of public participation and as a result, there is a risk that it will become a burden for research and an obstacle to bridging the gap between research and society. This volume presents the findings of a three-year international study on innovative public participation. The resulting work studies the characteristics and trends of innovative public participation through a global sample of 38 case studies. It provides theoretical generalisations on the dynamics of public participation, suggestions for an evaluation framework and clear empirical examples of how public participation works in practice. Illustrated by best practice cases, the authors identify characteristics which contribute to successful public participation. The book is aimed primarily at scholars and practitioners of public participation, as well as research managers, policy makers and business actors interested in related issues. There is also a secondary market for students and scholars of European governance studies, sociology and political sciences.

The field of public participation is developing fast, with phenomena such as citizen science and crowdsourcing extending the resource base of research, stimulating innovation and making science more accessible to the general population. Promoting public participation means giving more weight to citizens and civil society actors in the definition of research needs and in the implementation of research and innovation. As yet, there is limited understanding of the implications of widespread use of public participation and as a result, there is a risk that it will become a burden for research and an obstacle to bridging the gap between research and society. This volume presents the findings of a three-year international study on innovative public participation. The resulting work studies the characteristics and trends of innovative public participation through a global sample of 38 case studies. It provides theoretical generalisations on the dynamics of public participation, suggestions for an evaluation framework and clear empirical examples of how public participation works in practice. Illustrated by best practice cases, the authors identify characteristics which contribute to successful public participation. The book is aimed primarily at scholars and practitioners of public participation, as well as research managers, policy makers and business actors interested in related issues. There is also a secondary market for students and scholars of European governance studies, sociology and political sciences.

The development of democracy in Central and Eastern Europe has become a predominant subject of research since the collapse of the USSR, whereas much amount of research on democratic processes in Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia or even Russia has given a comprehensive understanding of such processes in these countries, the Baltic States have been less explored, even less analysis on the relationship between civil society and democracy, and the ways in which non-governmental organizations, as a part of civil society, influence democracy. The book "Civil Society in the Baltic States.Impact on Democracy" analytically and empirically evaluates the impact of non-governmental organizations on democracy in the Baltic States, analyses the theoretical framework of relations between civil society, democracy and non-governmental organizations. This study is a valuable input into research of social sciences, and is in the interest of researchers, students and civil servants.