Balkan Think Tank: Balkans Policy Research Group

The same researchers who used to work for the now closed International Crisis Group’s Balkans and Kosovo projects established the Prishtina-based Balkans Policy Research Group (BPRG) in 2016.

While the ICG’s legacy is fully acknowledged, the BPRG staff stresses the differences between the two think tanks, with the latter focusing on research and policy recommendations on peacebuilding and statebuilding in Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Albania and Serbia.

BPRG stiles itself as a non-governmental, non-profit think tank whose funds are provided by the governments of Norway, Switzerland and Finland.

Balkan Think Thanks: Center for Advanced Studies

The Center for Advanced Studies is a Bosnian think tank characterised by a distinctive Muslim identity.

Its founder and director is Ahmet Alibasic, an assistant professor at the Faculty of Islamic Studies, University of Sarajevo, educated at Kuala Lumpur in Islamic Studies and in Arabic in Riyadh.

Alibasic is also chairman of Gazi Husrev Bey Mosque Library (Sarajevo) and one of the editors of the Journal of Muslims in Europe. From 2003 to 2007 he served as deputy president of the Association of Islamic Scholars in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Seen as a progressive Islamic scholar, he was once also considered as an anti-establishment candidate to the position of Grand Mufti of Bosnia.

Turkey figures prominently among the Center’s donors, through the Balkans Civilisation Center (BALMED), the Turkish Development Agency (TIKA) and the Presidency for Turks Abroad of the Turkish Prime Ministry.

Balkan Think Tanks: Albanian Institute for International Studies (AIIS)

The Albanian Institute for International Studies (AIIS) is a non-governmental, non-profit research centre focusing mostly on the functioning of democratic institutions in Albania, Tirana’s EU perspectives and its relations with Kosovo and Serbia.

As an apparently non-profit entity, AIIS totally relies on a conspicuous number of international donors: US, Germany, France, Spain, UK, the European Commission, the Balkan Trust for Democracy, the National Endowment for Democracy, the Open Society Foundation, UNDP and NATO.

Balkan Think Tanks: Balkan Insight

Balkan Insight is one of the leading news services from the region, providing both news and analysis on the political, economical and social developments from the Western Balkans’ states from a rather civic perspective.

It was established by the Balkan Investigative Report Network (BIRN), a group of media organisations put together in 2005 by the Balkan programme of the London-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting.

Balkan Insight – whose pieces are both for free and for subscription – enjoys a wide range of private and institutional donors from Austria, UK, US, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, along with the OSCE, the European Commission, the Visegrad Fund, the Open Society Institute and the Rockefeller Fund

Balkan Think Tanks: The Belgrade Centre for Security Policy

The Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP) was founded in 1997 as the Centre for Civil-Military Relations.

It advocates “human, national, regional and international security based on democracy and respect for human rights” while supporting “the consolidation of security sector reform and integration of Western Balkan countries into the Euro Atlantic community”.

Assessment and reform of security legislation and institutions within Serbia, regional cooperation among security agencies in the Balkans, the country’s accession to EU and NATO and support for the Serbia-Kosovo dialogue are among the issues and activities dealt by the BCSP.

The Think Tank is mostly funded by Western donors, such as the Norwegian government and the Open Society Institute.