Timokhin, K.M., Kabulinskiy, B.V. The think tanks as a potentially productive direction of development of civil society in Russia (taking the Association of Importers and Distributors of Construction and Decoration Ceramics as an example)

Abstract: The Russian non-commercial organizations, and associations of distributors and importers in particular have some potential in the sphere of optimization of the state decision-making. The article evaluates the perspectives for the development of civil society in Russia taking think tanks as an example. The intermediary functions, expert evaluation and facilitation of communication processes among small-scale and medium-scale businesses, which are performed by non-commercial organizations, are key characteristic features of think tanks. At the same time it is obvious that the forming institutions should correspond with the Russian national, cultural and historical experiences. In fact, functioning of the think tanks in Russia is a form of lobbying activity, which may be institutionalized in the future. The authors have a goal to make an impact on the overcoming of the existing skeptical evaluations of the dynamics of development of the civil society. Taking a specific example of the Association of Distributors and Importers of Construction and Decoration Ceramics, the authors prove that non-commercial organizations in Russia have certain potential in the sphere of state decision-making and making the democratic transit as a whole more efficient.

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