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The Budapest Analyses was launched in 2002 with the collaboration of policy analysts, economists and social scientists, dedicated to sharing, protecting and disseminating a common value system. The value system is closest to the values of the moderate centre-right of the European political palette, which aims to protect and entrench the pillars of human and minority rights, political pluralism, the democratic constitutional state, social market economy, as well as the protection of national heritages into the European system of cooperation. It has considered and continues to consider its duty to interpret and evaluate events affecting Hungary, Central Europe and its region in accordance with its value system.
The Budapest Institute was founded in the end of 2008 as a partnership of young economist and political scientist sharing theoretical and hands-on experience in research and government administration.
CEPA is a non-profit organisation that provides technical assistance to policymakers (government agencies, local government and stakeholder groups) in the education field. CEPA’s activities include policy research and analysis. CEPA also makes strategic policy recommendations with the purpose of developing the content of education policy in a framework of open dialogue. In this way, CEPA aims to assist in the development of policy co-ordination mechanisms and in the whole of the policy making process. CEPA maintains the importance of open dialogue, horizontal co-operation and inter-policy co-ordination as central to this goal.
The Center for Policy Studies (CPS) works for better government and administration in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union through public policy teaching and research. Based at the Central European University, CPS carries out research projects, develops materials for teaching and training, offers a masters degree in public policy and, in conjunction with the Open Society Institute, sponsors policy research in transition and emerging democracies. The Center is committed to the development of indigenous policy capacities and offers an on-line library of policy research papers from the region. An active member of several policy networks, CPS organises conferences, workshops and public events to encourage interaction between academics, policy institutes and policy makers and to promote exchange of expertise and best practice. The Masters course and the research projects are inter-disciplinary, comparative and geared towards policy recommendations and practical outcomes.
In response to a widespread suspicion that the quality of democracy in recently re(emerged) and established democracies is increasingly low, the Center for the Study of Imperfections in Democracy (DISC), a research center at Central European University, was established in 2007 to develop and encourage research that reaches across traditional academic and geographic boundaries that exist in the study of democracy by connecting researchers from distinct world regions and from various fields and perspectives. DISC aims to advance the state of research and teaching on democracy to address the challenges faced in present-day democracies through research projects, educational programs, lecturer series, and conferences.
The goal of the DEMOS Hungary Foundation is to act as a bridge between academia and political decision-makers, developing new policy solutions that meet the social, economic and political requirements of our age. DEMOS is committed to revitalising public thinking and policy decision-making through its exploration of new issues, fresh ideas and policy recommendations which also lend themselves to practical implementation. Thereby it helps to create structures and institutions that are capable of responding to the challenges posed by a continuously changing world. DEMOS Hungary is an independent foundation established by private individuals. As a think- tank – following the model of similar Anglo-Saxon institutions – it undertakes research projects based on proposals submitted by outside parties, and also on its own initiative. The results of DEMOS research projects are generally available to the public. In addition to conducting research and analyses, the Foundation also organises conferences in order to promote such subject areas to the public.
The Ecopolis Foundation is a highly autonomous and independent legal entity and organization, whose mission is to function as a background institution for its parent party, LMP. They are to proclaim the ecopolitical ideas and approaches of the party with the help of important public figures who share the party’s views. Also, the organization is to generate an open society or social background, increase the number of party sympathizers and enlarge the party’s potential voter base.
The Eotvos Karoly Institute was created in January 2003 by the Soros Foundation in order to establish a novel, unconventional institutional framework for shaping democratic public affairs in Hungary. Acting hand in hand with other entities, including advocacy groups, watchdog organizations, and other institutions, the Eötvös Károly Institute wishes to contribute to raising professional and general public awareness and to shaping the political agenda in issues with an impact on the quality of relations between citizens and public power. The Institute is deeply committed to the liberal interpretation of constitutionality, constitutional democracy, and individual rights, and labors to support initiatives instrumental in bringing about a civil political culture inspired by the spirit of solidarity. Thus the Institute is ready to join forces with any organization or individual working to improve the destiny of a democratic Republic of Hungary founded on the principle of equality, no matter where they place the emphasis and what worldview guides them in their pursuit.
The foundation strives to contribute to the emergence of an enterprise-friendly legal and economic environment through research, the adaptation of international experience, and the creation of awareness of the social and economic importance of small- and medium-sized companies.
Furthermore, the foundation aims to contribute to shaping public opinion on market economy. To this end, workshops are organized, lectures are delivered at international conferences and articles are regularly published. The foundation's primary task is the research of problems resulting from the spread of market economy. Furthermore, it aims to use research results in the preparation of legislature, economic and training policies and public relations. Research carried out and initiated by the foundation is utilized by legislative and government entities as well as by SME advocacy organizations when making and implementing decisions.
The foundation strives to contribute to the emergence of an enterprise-friendly legal and economic environment through research, the adaptation of international experience, and the creation of awareness of the social and economic importance of small- and medium-sized companies.
Furthermore, the foundation aims to contribute to shaping public opinion on market economy. To this end, workshops are organized, lectures are delivered at international conferences and articles are regularly published. The foundation's primary task is the research of problems resulting from the spread of market economy. Furthermore, it aims to use research results in the preparation of legislature, economic and training policies and public relations. Research carried out and initiated by the foundation is utilized by legislative and government entities as well as by SME advocacy organizations when making and implementing decisions.GKI Co. is the market leader in the Hungarian market of independent economic research and forecasts. It continues and renews the best traditions of the former Economic Research Institute, builds on the most modern foreign and domestic research results, uses the methods developed in the European Union. It considers the unconditional objectivity a main requirement of its research activity. Regularly revises and openly corrects its forecasts in the light of the most recent developments. GKI Economic Research Co. continuously renews and expands its activity and by 2002 it developed into a group of firms.
The Central Statistical Office is a professionally independent administrative organ of nation-wide authority operating under the direct supervision of the government. Currently the number of permanent staff in the central office is 800, while the total number of people employed at regional offices is 900. The main tasks of the HCSO are designing and conducting surveys, recording; processing and storing data, data analyses; and dissemination, protection of individual data. The Office provides data for the parliament and public administration, social organizations, local authorities, scientific bodies, economic organizations, the general public and the media as well as for international organizations and users abroad. Official data regarding the socio-economic situation as well as the changes in the population of the country are published by the HCSO.
The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union is a law reform and legal defense organization created in 1994. It works independently of the Government and of any political parties. HCLUs aim is to promote in Hungary the case of fundamental rights and principles laid down by the Constitution and by international conventions. The HCLU is a nonprofit organization. It works independently of the Government and of any political parties. Its financial resources are largely provided by foundations.
The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union is a law reform and legal defense organization created in 1994. It works independently of the Government and of any political parties. HCLUs aim is to promote in Hungary the case of fundamental rights and principles laid down by the Constitution and by international conventions. The HCLU is a nonprofit organization. It works independently of the Government and of any political parties. Its financial resources are largely provided by foundations.The Hungarian Helsinki Committee monitors the enforcement in Hungary of human rights enshrined in international human rights instruments, provides legal defence to victims on human rights abuses by state authorities and informs the public about rights violations. The HHC strives to ensure that domestic legislation guarantee the consistent implementation of human rights norms. The HHC promotes legal education and training in fields relevant to its activities, both in Hungary and abroad. The HHC's main areas of activities are centred on protecting the rights of asylum seekers and foreigners in need of international protection, as well as monitoring the human rights performance of law enforcement agencies and the judicial system. It particularly focuses on the conditions of detention and the effective enforcement of the right to defence and equality before the law.
CEPA is a non-profit organisation that provides technical assistance to policymakers (government agencies, local government and stakeholder groups) in the education field. CEPA’s activities include policy research and analysis. CEPA also makes strategic policy recommendations with the purpose of developing the content of education policy in a framework of open dialogue. In this way, CEPA aims to assist in the development of policy co-ordination mechanisms and in the whole of the policy making process. CEPA maintains the importance of open dialogue, horizontal co-operation and inter-policy co-ordination as central to this goal.
The Economic Research Division has two broad functions: the analysis of micro-level effects of budgetary revenues and expenditures, and the development of analytical tools for micro and macro level analysis and planning at the ministry. The division publishes a working paper series with an aim to disseminate the results of research carried out or commissioned by the Ministry of Finance. The series focuses on fiscal policy and empirical studies of relevance to policy making.
The Institute for World Economics has operated in its present form since 1973. Its predecessor was the Afro-Asian Research Centre, founded in 1965. The Institute conducts independent, policy-oriented research. It draws up research-based conclusions and recommendations for Hungarian political decision-makers, the business world and international organizations, designed to determine the main lines of economic policy and development, with special attention to processes in Europe - within the EU and Central Eastern Europe - and to the challenges of globalization.
The ICDT is a non-profit organization based in Budapest, Hungary which collects the experiences of recent democratic transitions and shares them with those who are determined to follow that same path. Instead of promoting democracy in general, the ICDT sets more concrete and pragmatic goals. The Centre strives to show how dozens of young democracies have made, and are making, the transition, so that those who set off on this difficult journey from dictatorship to democracy in the future may learn from the successes as well as from the failures.
Established in 1997, LGI supports the OSI mission by working to promote democratic and effective local government and public administration, and by advancing policy analysis as a tool for decision making in public affairs. LGI supports governmental reform, in collaboration with its civil society partners, by monitoring and benchmarking government performance on the one hand and providing analytical and technical support to government on the other. While LGI works primarily in the transition countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, it has now formed a strategic partnership with the Revenue Watch Institute to collaborate on fiscal transparency and accountability projects in Indonesia and Peru. Here LGI will compliment RWI's strong monitoring agenda with a training and capacity building role for civil servants. LGI was closed in 2011.
As a result of the First World War, the Austro-Hungarian Empire crumbled and the Austro-Hungarian Bank was dissolved. The functions and responsibilities of the central bank were assumed by the Royal Hungarian State Bank, which was established on July 11, 1921. The first independent Hungarian central bank, the National Bank of Hungary, commenced operations on June 24, 1924, in the form of a company limited by shares. Following the nationalisation of the Hungarian-held stocks of the large banks and the central bank at the end of 1947, the banking system was rapidly restructured: commercial banks and saving banks were liquidated and the banking system was reduced to a single-tier system. Starting from the second half of 1948, the National Bank of Hungary also conducted commercial banking activities, in addition to its responsibilities as the central bank. As a nationalised central bank, its management was a responsibility of the government.
Metropolitan Research Institute (MRI), established in 1989, is an internationally recognized independent research, planning and consultancy company based in Budapest, Hungary. In the core of the interest of MRI research is the development and performance of European cities. The Institute participated for a long time in the planning of Budapest (concept for urban renewal and Strategic Development Concept of the city). Since the 1990s growing number of international projects followed through involvement in UN Habitat, UN ECE, Council of Europe, World Bank, USAID programmes addressing the problems of the transition process of the Central and Eastern European post-socialist countries towards democratic, market-based urban development systems. Since the 2000s MRI intensified its contacts to EU programmes (FP programmes, URBACT, ESPON, INTERREG) and European city networks (EUROCITIES). These activities covered the whole of Europe giving the opportunity to put the original east-central European knowledge and experiences into a whole-European perspective.
The Foreign Ministry manages the country’s foreign relations and actively endeavours to shape direct relations with members of society - with citizens just as much as with civil organisations. Internal and external affairs are often blurred together and external factors have an ever greater impact on our everyday lives, which necessitates moulding the development of international processes. One key for social acceptance of foreign policy is the transparency of the Foreign Ministry’s activities and its openness to civil initiatives and suggestions. Representing and defending national interests depends on what kind of social basis there is for foreign policy as well as society’s acceptance and general support. All these trends led the Foreign Ministry to put into effect organisational changes in support of social dialogue. In spring 2005, it set up the Foreign Ministry Public Relations Office which is a part of the Communications and Public Relations Department.
From June 2006 there is a new government and government structure in Hungary. The ministry, thus, is responsible for health issues.
The activities of the MARD are providing central governance functions for the agriculture, game management and fisheries, the food sector, forest management and forest conservation, primary timber production, and the associated services, research and development, agricultural product turnover, agri-environmental management, plant protection, plant health, animal health, conservation of the quality of agricultural lands, cartography and land issues, as well as agricultural water management. MADR provides central governance for rural development and for the associated research and development efforts. It organises the agricultural markets, and discharges the duties associated with the quality control of agricultural, food, forestry and primary timber products. The MARD discharges the government tasks associated with the central stockpiling of agricultural and food products and develops proposals for sector support schemes and contributes to the formulation of the sector taxation and financial policy systems.
The government set up the agency by merging the National Development Office and authorities managing the implementation of the National Development Plan, in order to form an increasingly effective and transparent institution system to support the efficient use of European Union funding. They are setting up a website where is it possible to access the daily statistics of the use made of funding ensured within the framework of National Development Plan I, the core data of all approved applications, as well as the outcomes of the social reconciliation of development policy documents. The services offered on the website equally provide assistance for potential applicants and applicants hosting approved projects in the development of a new, European Hungary.
The National Office for Research and Technology was established and is supervised by the Minister of Education and the Minister of Economy and Transport. The office is responsible for implementing the government’s science and technology policy. Its duties are to provide a new framework for the national innovation system and to promote research and development that will boost Hungarian economy.
Political Capital Policy Research and Consulting Institute (Political Capital) offers indispensable services to political and economic decision-makers and analysts. Its goal is not only to supply information and analyse events, but also to help its clients make strategic decisions, diminish the risk of such decisions, and prepare for upcoming socio-political and economic changes. Political Capital is member of the London-based, British-Swiss Communications First Consulting Ltd group.
Amending the Employment Act last year The Parliament of the Republic of Hungary, thereby establishing a new middle management agency of the Budapest and County Labour Centres: the Central (or National) Employment Office and the Public Employment Service. This Office is the centre of the Service. This new agency was built on the basis of the former National Centre for Labour Research and Methodology (previously known as the National Labour Centre). The employment service has operated under the supervision of various ministries over the past decade, depending on the government structure of the time. It turned out in a few years that the strategic management required by the Government could not be combined appropriately in the Ministry with the operative responsibilities related to the functioning of the Labour Centres. This is why the need arose to adopt the above act and to establish the new Office with appropriate powers. In conjunction with the Ministry of Economic Affairs, they have already elaborated the division of powers and responsibilities.
The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe is a non-partisan, non-advocacy, not-for-profit international organisation with a mission to assist in solving environmental problems in Central and Eastern Europe. The center fulfils this mission by promoting cooperation among non-governmental organisations, governments, businesses and other environmental stakeholders, and by supporting the free exchange of information and public participation in environmental decision-making. The REC was established in 1990 by the United States, the European Commission and Hungary. Today, the REC is legally based on a charter signed by the governments of 28 countries and the European Commission, and on an international agreement with the government of Hungary. The REC has its head office in Szentendre, Hungary, and country offices and field offices in 16 beneficiary countries which are: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey.
TARKI has more than 20 years' experience of empirical social science research in Hungary. Its background includes research on a wide range of issues related to social stratification, labour markets, income distribution, consumption and lifestyle patterns and attitudes, and it has increasingly focused on market research applications. There are various types of research activities that TÁRKI carries out for its clients, but social research is the most important part of its work.
The Tocqueville Research Center (T-RC) is a nonpartisan institute specializing in comparative political analysis at the subnational level.
The center's activities can be organized under two broad categories: a)
Conducting research on local democratic governance in Central and Eastern Europe. The T-RC's main project is the Indicators of Local Democratic Governance in CEE, which is funded by the Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative (LGI) and the Fiscal Decentralization Initiative. The project aims to help decision-makers and researchers assess and explain the level of local democracy in the post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
b) Serving as an information resource base on local democracy. Avaiable resources include original data on local government, the Indicators Project's first volume of country reports entitled the State of Local Democracy in Central Europe, and the T-RC Newsletter.
