Public and Private Institutions: Educating Civil Society about European Security Concerns

• Main Author: Rafael Bardají
• Format: Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB) 1997-12-01
• Series: Revista CIDOB d'Afers Internacionals
• Online Access: http://www.cidob.org/es/content/download/5707/55335/file/38-39bardaji_cast.pdf

As an specialist in strategic studies and political adviser, the author developes three basic ideas in his speech: 1) the objective necessity of strategic thinking to increase defense awareness, with the goal of ameliorating the relations between civil society and the Armed Forces, and to create a strategic culture to help to make more permeable the Administration decision-making process; 2) public and private institutions have to understand each other, despite the fact that tradition and time pressures do negatively weigh on Administration decision-making; 3) both parts –Administration and specialists in security– have to make the effort of becoming more flexible, on the one hand, and more capable of producing relevant studies in political terms, on the other.