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Analytical Communities as Resource for Strategic Planning on Local Level in Russia (Case Studies of Saratov, Karelia, and Tatarstan)
Analytical communities for the goal of this paper can be defined as loosely united clusters of professionals doing joint or related work in policy analysis, research and development, who frequently work together on common analytical goals and clients, while not necessarily form a special organizational structure which differ them from think tank. Examples of analytical communities could be university research departments, regular authors of one analytical journal, members of certain intellectual clubs, or regularly meeting informal research groups, including individual intellectuals working together on the regular basis. The goal of this paper is to show an important connection between regional and local analytical communities and local administrations of the Russian regions to specify a unique role the analytical communities can play in strategic planning, providing local administrations both with data, ideas, solutions, and scenarios of social developments, which local authorities are interested to get the answers to.