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A planning system should be organised in order to guarantee a constant process. The literature defines planning (also called forethought) as the process of thinking about and organising the activities required to achieve a desired goal. Planning is deciding in advance what to do, how to do it, when to do it, and who should do it. In a complex system it is critical to engage the stakeholders in the planning process.
The organisation of the planning system inevitably reflects the institutional context of the country and is strongly affected by the current regulations on the subject, that often defines the centralism/ decentralism of the process, the involved actors, and the approach to be followed (top–down / bottom-up).
Countries are different in terms of the structure of government, in particular whether the country has a centralized or federal structure, and the role played by non-governmental organisations.
Also, the involvement of the stakeholders, when it’s considered useful to the decision making process, is different depending on the institutional context and the role assigned by the law or by the national regulation to different stakeholders.
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