Center for Strategic Research

The Center for Strategic Research was established in 2000 as a scientific organizational unit of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts. It is managed by an Academician – member of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts. The Council of the Center is composed of members of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts (from different departments of the Academy), as well as renowned researchers from the academic community of the Republic of Macedonia. The Center employs: one senior scientific adviser, two researchers – collaborators and a technical secretary. The Center has a broad base of regular associates (from the economic community, i.e. state and private universities in the Republic of Macedonia) and associates in separate projects – renowned experts in the areas to which the projects refer.

The fact that the Center exists and operates as an organizational scientific unit within the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, gives it a specific scientific significance in terms of the independence, unbiasedness and academic freedom in the research of the strategic issues of special interest to the Republic of Macedonia. The basic objectives and tasks of the Center are defined as follows:

• The Center organizes and conducts national and international scientific and research projects of strategic interest for the Republic of Macedonia in the field of social sciences;
• The Center organizes scientific meetings (conferences, symposia, round tables, seminars, public debates, lectures, etc.) on problems and issues of strategic interest for the Republic of Macedonia, which are studied in historic, geopolitical, economic, legal, social and security context;
• In the realization of its objectives and tasks, the Center collaborates with other scientific centers within the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, as well as similar institutions in the country and abroad;
• The Center presents the results of the scientific and research activity to the wider expert and scientific community in its publications, public appearances, press conferences etc.

The Center has an extensive international scientific cooperation: with several centers in the Republic of Turkey, with the Turkish Development Agency – TIKA, with the Institute of Economic Research of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, with the Institute of Sociology of the Romanian Academy and with the centers for strategic research of the Balkan countries which are members of the Balkan Communications Network. The Center has signed agreements on cooperation with: the National Center for Development of Innovation and Entrepreneurial Learning, the Center for Economic Analysis, the Institute of Geostrategic Research and Foreign Policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Macedonia, etc., and actively cooperates with the Macedonian Chambers of Commerce.
During its existence the Center has initiated and implemented 10 scientific and research projects on problems and issues of strategic interest for the Republic of Macedonia, 5 international conferences and has organized many roundtables, workshops, presentations etc. The research activity is positioned in many scientific fields – economics, law, Euro-Atlantic integration (especially harmonization of the legal system of the Republic of Macedonia with the European Union acquis and the evaluation of the judicial reform), higher education and science, history, political science, culture, relationships with neighboring countries and Turkey, demographics and more. Part of the results of the scientific and research activity have been published in special issues (15), which are regularly distributed to the relevant governmental departments and institutions to serve as a basis for policy making in the areas to which they relate. The associates of the Center present the results of the scientific and research activity on international conferences and they publish them in international journals.

The realization of the following research projects at the Center is in progress:

1. Harmonization of the legal system of the Republic of Macedonia with the European Union acquis: evaluation of the judicial reform;
2. Fiscal multipliers – the case of the Republic of Macedonia;
3. Bulgarian – Macedonian Cross Border Cooperation for Capacity Building for Competitiveness and Innovation, project funded by the EU IPA Program.