Searching for successful strategies of change

The peaceful transition to democracy and a market economy remains one of the most demanding political, economic and societal challenges facing the world's nations today. By providing a knowledge base of factors leading to success or failure in development and transformation, the BTI project aims to facilitate learning amongst decision makers and help to improve future strategies.

Despite decades of success and failure in applied development and transformation policies, there had been no systematic analysis of the experiences for the management of change. The BTI project analyzes and compares transformation processes and management performance worldwide to make this rich base of knowledge available for use.

The search for viable solutions to manage and support development and transformation processes lies at the heart of the project, which focuses on the following questions:

• Through which strategic orientation and under which circumstances is successful political management of transformation possible?
• Which countries are undergoing transformation and to what success? Can good practices be identified?
• What are successful strategies for external support?

The project analyzes development and transformation processes toward democracy and a market economy in international comparison. The Transformation Index BTI is a global study that combines qualitative, in-depth country assessments with quantitative scores for the performance of 137 countries in transition. International dialogue on strategies of transformation and leadership in change processes complements the anayltical part of the project.

International exchange of knowledge and experience and strategic reflection with experienced of change agents is a key to successfully managing transformation. Building personal relationships between young leaders who make the transition to democracy and a market economy their personal mission simultaneously supports a global community of democrats.