Civil diplomacy: political foundations in east central and eastern Europe

Political foundations have an important role to play in civil diplomacy, the Federal Republic of Germany's informal foreign relations. These foundations see their task as the organization of political dialogue between parliamentary, societal, and academic elites from Eastern and East Central Europe, Germany, and other EU states. It is hoped that European ways of thinking and seeing the world will in this way be able to put down lasting roots in the political culture of the post-communist countries. The success of these efforts to promote democracy depends on developments in the post-Soviet states and on domestic political interest in the work the foundations carry out abroad.