"Civil society and the petroleum sector: "Public brainpower" in the case of Azerbaijan" by Kenin Aslanli - Policy Paper 64

What is the “Public Brainpower” Concept?

In November 2017, the new book entitled “Public Brainpower: Civil Society and Natural Resource Management” (initiated by Dr.Indra Overland from the Norwegian Institute of international affairs - NUPI) was published by Palgrave Macmillan. The book discusses “how civil society, public debate, and freedom of speech influence on the management of natural resources”. The book puts forward the theoretical and the case-based applicabe framework of the “public brainpower” concept. Overland (2017: 3) explains polycentricity, or the coexistence of different actors (individual citizens, political parties, trade unions, charities, companies, research institutes, religious institutions, mass media), freely expressing their views, as the main pillar of “public brainpower”. The author emphasizes that “the more polycentric a society is, the greater is its ‘brainpower’: its memory becomes more comprehensive and multifaceted, the various actors can perform quality control on each other’s ideas and arguments, and it is more difficult to repress challenging thoughts” (Overland 2017: 3). The “public brainpower” concept underlines the importance of creativity and free public debate for the successful long-term governance of natural resources. Effective governance of resource revenues also necessitates open public discussion for new institutional settings as well as checks and balances on existing institutions. The book explores the case studies of 18 oil and gas-producing countries including the case of Azerbaijan, the findings and conclusions for which I will briefly introduce in this paper, together with some necessary updates.

Read the complete Policy Paper here.

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