Russia's Public Sphere and Public Policy

The University of Calgary – the Gorbachev Foundation (UCGF), a Russian-Canadian project, was launched in 1993 with the aim of promoting democratic reforms in Russian society. During the subsequent years, with support from Canadian International Development Agency, over 40 projects were carried out in Moscow and in various regions of the Russian Federation. Each of them addressed specific public policy issues in the economy, the social sphere, culture, education, relations between the state and civil society and between Russia’s federal and regional authorities, and gender and information problems. The studies’ findings were discussed at numerous Round Tables, seminars and conferences and have been the basis for published monographs and collected articles. The project’s decennary was summarized in the monograph Russia’s Public Policy (2005)