Can foreign donors help build new democracies? In the 1990s, public and private organizations such as USAID and the Soros Foundation poured huge amounts of money and expertise into Russia to help build the dream of a vibrant democratic society. Sarah L. Henderson argues that despite the altruistic intentions of foreign assistance agencies and domestic activists, foreign aid designed to spur civic growth has had unintended consequences. Drawing on extensive field work, survey research, and work experience for several funding agencies in Moscow in the late 1990s, Henderson focuses on donor efforts to support the emerging community of nongovernmental organizations and, in particular, on efforts to build a functioning women's movement in Russia. Her intimate knowledge of Russia's growing NGO community informs a worrisome finding: foreign aid has made a tremendous difference, but not in altogether expected or positive ways. New Russian civic groups serve either the needs of an indigenous clientele or the demands of the foreign aid bureaucracy—but rarely both. Henderson's research and experience show that while aid has kept a fledgling civic community alive, it is a civic community that is disconnected from its own domestic audience. The book suggests that large flows of foreign aid have in some ways damaged the long-term prospects for democratization in Russia.

This thesis explores the themes and tropes of democracy that appear in Russian Presidents' Federal Assembly Addresses from 2008-2013. Based on its analysis of these important political texts, the thesis argues that Presidents Medvedev and Putin's democratic discourse places more value on economic security as a marker of citizens' ability to participate in society than on Western liberal values such as free speech, fair elections, etc. Additionally, the thesis suggests that this conception of democracy as a regime defined by the values of economic security and socio-political stability is fueled by a sense of nostalgia for the Soviet era.

Reflects current events and developments in the country

This book examines civic activism, democratization and gender in contemporary Russian society. It describes the character and central organizing principles of Russian democratic civic life, considering how it has developed since the Soviet period, and analyzing the goals and identities of important civic groups - including trade unions - and the meanings they have acquired in the context of wider Russian society. In particular, Suvi Salmenniemi investigates the gender dimensions, both masculine and feminine, of socio-political participation in Russia, considering what kinds of gendered meanings are given to civic organizations and formal politics, and how femininity and masculinity are represented in this context. Exploring the role of state institutions in the development of democratic civic life, the volume shows how, under the increasingly authoritarian Putin regime and its policy of 'managed democracy', independent civic activism is both thriving yet at the same constrained. Based on extensive fieldwork research, it provides much needed information on how Russians themselves view these developments, both from the perspective of civic activists and the local authorities.

This book explores the idea of civil society and how it is being implemented in Eastern Europe. The implosion of the Russian empire fifteen years ago and the new wave of democratization opened a new field of inquiry. The wide-ranging debate on the transition became focused on a conceptual battle, the question of how to define "civil society". Because totalitarian systems shun self-organization, real existing civil society barely existed East of the Elbe, and the emergence of civil society took unusually complex and puzzling forms, which varied with national culture, and reflected the deep historical past of these societies. This insightful text relates the concept of civil society and developments in Eastern Europe to wider sociological theories, and makes international comparisons where appropriate. It discusses particular aspects of civil society, and examines the difficulties of establishing civil society. It concludes by assessing the problems and prospects for civil society in Eastern Europe going forward.

Has the Russian state managed to lay the institutional groundwork for long-term stability and democratic governance? In Building the Russian State , Valerie Sperling assemblies a group of cutting-edge scholars to critically assess the crises in Russia's transitional institutions. Part I of the book shows that Russia's political elites are less focused on serving public interests than on enriching themselves, and examines how these elites are ruling Russia. Part II focuses on the growth of organized crime, the decay of the military, the precariousness of the Russian Federation, the weakness of the labor movement, the corruption of the courts, the challenges facing international reformers, and the authoritarianism of the super-presidential political system. By focusing on the challenges, failures, and occasional successes of the Russian political system, this volume offers upper-level undergraduates and other scholars valuable insight into post-Soviet politics, state-building, and transitions to democracy.