Barcelona Centre for International Affairs

The foundation is headed by its chairman, Carles A. Gasòliba. The centre itself consists of a management team made up of the director, Jordi Bacaria, an executive coordinator, Anna Estrada, a managing director and coordinator for research, Eduard Soler. The working staff is made up of researchers and specific staff responsible for the sections of information and web services, publications, activities, press, and administration. As of June 2013, 30 people work at CIDOB.

The foundation's board is made up of the following institutional trustees, whose financial contributions represent most of the centre's annual budget:

• Generalitat of Catalonia
• Barcelona City Council
• Barcelona Provincial Council
• Barcelona Metropolitan Area
• Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation
• Spanish Ministry of Defence
• Interuniversity Council of Catalonia

Casa dels Infants Orfes

CIDOB's offices are divided between two historic buildings – nearby but not adjoining – on calle Elisabets in Barcelona's Raval district, very close to La Rambla and Plaça de Catalunya. They are Casa de la Misericòrdia (Elisabets, 12) and Casa dels Infants Orfes (Elisabets, 24).

The Casa de la Misericòrdia has, since 1988, housed the centre's main installations, including the official head office, the archives and library, as well as Sala Maragall, the hall used for events. Originally, the building (which includes the old church) formed part of the School of St William of Aquitaine, founded by the Augustine Order in 1587, and later on it was used as a municipal primary school. During the Napoleonic invasion, it served as the clandestine headquarters of the citizen's movement against the French occupation. In more recent times, in 1910, it became the home of the Institute of Culture and People's Library for Women; later still, in 1940, the building became the head office of the Institute for Theatre, as well as being home to the Adrià Gual Chair.

The Casa dels Infants Orfes also dates back to the 16th century. It was built as the head office of the institution founded by Guillem dez Pou in 1370 to provide a home for orphans in the Diocese of Barcelona. It has an adjacent chapel, commissioned by Claudi Cosal in 1680 and redesigned in 1785. Among the building's later uses, it was a school run by the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul (1848) and a convent for the Carmelites of Charity (1875). The chapel lost all its religious furnishings and fittings during the Spanish Civil War.

Over the past decade, CIDOB has systematised its areas of research by maintaining its traditional subjects/regions of interest and adding other, more specific ones. Currently, CIDOB operates three major programmes: People and Frontiers; A more secure life; and Democratic Governance. Under these generic premises, research works cover both thematic and geographical areas. In the first group, the major topics are: Development; Environment; Energy; Human Security; Intercultural Dynamics; Migrations; Conflicts; Local Government; State, Democracy and Foreign Policy; and Regionalism. CIDOB has a particular focus on "six fields of excellence",[1] namely: European Foreign Policy and Neighbourhood Relations; Security Sector Reform; Intercultural Dynamics; Migration Policy in Europe; International relations of cities and regions; and EU Enlargement.

As for geographical specialisation, CIDOB follows in particular political issues from Europe (including the post-Soviet realm), the Mediterranean and Middle East, Latin America, and Asia (especially Central Asia). Four regional powers, one in each continent, receive priority: Brazil, China, Russia, and Turkey.[1] The international political situation, world human development indicators, and Spanish international cooperation and foreign relations are also monitored on an ongoing basis.

At a structural level, eight "issues/regions" are defined at the moment: Asia; Development; Europe; Intercultural Dynamics; Latin America; Mediterranean and Middle East; Migrations; and Security. Each issue/region is directed by a researcher or senior research fellow who works with other analysts, assistants, associate or visiting specialists, and external contributors. Some programmes also have a project manager. Research teams work with interdisciplinary scholar networks and generate their own academic activities, publications, and documentary collections.

CIDOB's research work is conceived to be disseminated as widely as possible, and thus it is aimed not only at specialists and scholars but also at public organisations, mass media, NGOs, businesses, university students, and the public in general. Direct dissemination requires seminars, conferences, debates, and workshops. Also, CIDOB regularly announces calls for papers, issues policy papers, and introduces new publications. In its own words, CIDOB's vision consists of "promoting good global governance based on democratic practices at the local, national, and supranational levels in order to ensure people’s basic needs for freedom and a life without fear". Meanwhile, the centre's mission is to "offer information and ideas that help to shape policies that promote a safer, freer, and more just world for all".[1]

Every year, CIDOB and the City Council of Barcelona jointly hold the international seminar War and Peace in the 21st Century, a series of debates attended by leading personalities from public functions, governments, and international academia. Other important annual events include the International Seminar on Security and Defence in the Mediterranean, organised jointly with the Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies (IEEE, which reports to the Spanish Ministry of Defence), and the Seminar on the Ibero-American Development Agenda (ADI), run with the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB). These three seminars have been held in 2002 and 2005 at the Palace of Pedralbes in Barcelona.

CIDOB edits and publishes a wide range of analytical and documentary material in different formats, in print edition and online.

Available on hard copy and/or in electronic format, published either exclusively by CIDOB or as joint publications:

• CIDOB International Yearbook. This is probably the centre's best-known publication. Published since 1990, it features four main sections: Spain's Foreign Relations; Europe; International Situation and (since the 1997 edition), Country Profile, which analyzes from different views a relevant country on the international stage. The countries highlighted to date have been: India (1997); Turkey (1998); Russia (1999); China (2000); Mexico (2001); Morocco (2002); South Korea (2003); Brazil (2004); South Africa (2005); Portugal (2006); Algeria (2007); Nigeria (2008); United States (2009); Russia (2010); and Turkey (2011). The International Yearbook consists of analytical articles by experts and policy makers in the field as well as several appendices, which are documentary in form (numerical tables, graphs, chronologies, balance sheets, maps, etc.) The print edition is fully available and free of charge over the internet. The International Yearbook, covering the year before, is usually published in July each year. The presentation is held at the Llotja de Mar, the head office of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, and is attended by the Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs, together with an academic or political figure from the country to which that particular year's Yearbook is dedicated.
• Asia-Pacific Yearbook. Focuses on this specific geographical area, and is jointly published with two other Spanish think-tanks, Casa Asia and Real Instituto Elcano. The first yearbook was published in 2005.
• Immigration in Spain Yearbook. Analyzes the main characteristics and trends of immigration and Spain's immigration policies, through a collection of studies carried out from sociological, economic, and legal perspectives. Published since 2007.
• Mediterranean Yearbook. Jointly published with the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed); the Yearbook appeared between 2004 and 2008.

• CIDOB Journal of Afers Internacionals. Academic journal about issues of international relations and cooperation, published since 1983 every four months. Articles provide different perspectives of the topics in focus, combining in-depth analysis and information.
• dCIDOB. Monographic studies in the Catalan language. Published from 1983 to 2009 (111 issues), appeared on a four-monthly basis.

• Documentos CIDOB. Collection of thematic studies linked to the research projects. Published in print edition and electronic format: Languages: Spanish and Catalan.
• Notes Internacionals CIDOB. Single, medium-size articles on current issues of international affairs. Published on the web since 2009, exclusively in digital format. Languages: English and Spanish.
• Opinion. Short, journalistic-style articles on current issues of international affairs. Published on the web since 2008 in digital format. Languages: English and Spanish.
• Qüestions CIDOB. Short articles on current issues of international affairs. Published on the web since 2011 in digital format. Languages: Catalan and English.
• Spain in Focus. Digital magazine, hosted on the web and started in 2012, with articles and information graphics covering a particular topic of Spanish present reality. This publication is served online and via email based on subscription. As it's aimed at an international audience, Spain in Focus is only published in English.
• Conversations with. Opinions on international issues by a public figure. Published on the web since 2013 in digital format. Language: English.
• Sources of Tension in Afghanistan & Pakistan: Regional Perspectives (STAP-RP).
• Policy Briefs.

• Interrogar la actualidad (Questioning the present). Collection of volumes of essays, only in print edition for commercial distribution.
• Monographs. Publications deriving research work done by the CIDOB. They may be jointly published in hard copy format and online.
• CIDOB-CEPAL'. Collection of essays including lectures, recommendations, and debates organized by the two institutions since 2005 within the framework of the Ibero-American Development Agenda (ADI). Only in print edition for commercial distribution.

In 1989, CIDOB began providing training programmes for university postgraduate students, in collaboration with the University of Barcelona. The courses available were:

• Diploma in Development Cooperation.
• Diploma in International Relations.
• Master in International Studies.
• Master in Development Studies.

Currently, CIDOB's teaching activities take place within the academic programmes of the Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals (Barcelona Institute for International Studies, IBEI), a private foundation created by CIDOB in March 2004, whose members include the five Catalan universities (UB, UAB, UPC, UPF, and UOC) who sit on the Board of Trustees of CIDOB. This inter-university institute offers two postgraduate courses: Masters in International Relations and the Erasmus Mundus Masters Programme in Public Policy (Mundus MAPP); the latter is provided in association with the Central European University (CEU) of Budapest, the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Rotterdam, and the University of York. The IBEI also holds two summer courses: Barcelona Summer School in International Politics and the Summer School of the Mediterranean. Furthermore, CIDOB is a member of the network of organising centres for the Master en Affaires Euro-Méditerranéennes/Master in Euro-Mediterranean Affairs (MAEM-MEMA).

Since it was founded, one of CIDOB's basic services has been the maintenance of an extensive documentary collection specializing mainly in international relations and development, which is open to the public. These documentary and bibliographical collections are collectively known as the Biblioteca Internacional de Barcelona (International Library of Barcelona, BIBA); the library was created to support the teaching and research activities done by CIDOB and IBEI, as well as to provide a service to the university and research community as a whole, to journalists and other professional people interested in the subject.

At present, CIDOB's documentation, library, and information area is organised for users into four sections:

The Library contains a documentary collection specializing in international relations and development, particularly in the geographical and subject areas deemed to be priorities for CIDOB. The documents are the following: the approximately 400 international periodical publications to which CIDOB is a subscriber; another 600 titles that are no longer received; more than 12,000 volumes and monographs; and a further 11,000 documents in other formats. The library also contains all the publications published by the foundation. The online catalogue for the documentary collection enables users to browse lists of all the items acquired since 1985.

The Documentation Centre analyzes the periodical publications that it receives in accordance with a list of its own descriptors, as well as managing specific databases of periodical publications and acronyms. The Documentation Centre also helps to create documentary appendices for some of CIDOB's own publications.

Set up in 2011, this is an online database with a search engine that enables users to access all content produced by CIDOB: maps, chronologies, acronyms, biographies, news and activities, dossiers, articles, and monographs on subjects under study.

A non-periodical online publication focusing on international political current affairs. The dossiers are monographic studies of specific events of a national or international scope, created by the centre's researchers and information specialists. They contain analytical articles produced by CIDOB, links to external articles and news items and to official reference documents, as well as support material produced ex profeso. This information tool has been available exclusively through the web since 2009.

Biographical information service, online since 2001. Country leaders’ profiles are situated "in context", by presenting and explaining the historical, political, economic, and social circumstances surrounding them. As of 2011, this web service features more than 600 biographies of political leaders from around the world. As with the Dossiers, the texts are designed so that they can be updated at any time.

CIDOB maintains an extensive network of memberships and affiliations with academic organisations in Spain and abroad. These include: Spanish Council for Ibero-American Studies (CEEIB); European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI); European Information Network on International Relations and Area Studies (EINIRAS); Europe's Forum on International Cooperation (EUFORIC); Euro-Mediterranean Study Commission (EUROMESCO); International Peace Research Association (IPRA); International Studies Association (ISA); Latin American Studies Association (LASA); One World Online; and the European Network of Information and Documentation on Latin America (REDIAL).

CIDOB also has collaboration agreements with the following institutions and centres: Agència Catalana de Cooperació; Banco Santander Central Hispano; British Council; Barcelona Chamber of Commerce; Casa Amèrica Catalunya; Casa Árabe; Casa Asia; Diputació de Barcelona; Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC); Diplomatic School of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation; Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE); Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies (IEEE); European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed); University Institute of European Studies of the Autonomous University of Barcelona; Spanish Ministry of Culture; Spanish Ministry of Defence; Real Instituto Elcano; Autonomous University of Barcelona.

Some of CIDOB's agreements and affiliations have generated specific products and services aimed at the general public:

• Access to the BIBA for students at the IBEI.
• In association with IEMed, CIDOB published the above-mentioned Mediterranean Yearbook between 2004 and 2008.
• Within the framework of the EINIRAS Database Network (EDN), CIDOB publishes a database of articles from online periodical publications.
• Together with Casa Asia and Real Instituto Elcano, the centre manages the Observatory on Central Asia (OAC), set up in 2007* Together with IEEE, CIDOB manages the web portal Security and Defence in the Mediterranean (SEDMED).

Likewise, CIDOB (together with seven other international research centres from countries in Europe) participates in the academic consortium EU4SEAS Project, a research network on cooperation based around the Black, Baltic, Caspian, and Mediterranean seas, and which is funded by the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development of the European Union. CIDOB also contributes to the Migrant Integration Policy Index III (MIPEX III) and, as mentioned above, organises the Ibero-American Development Agenda (ADI), together with ECLAC.