The Ministry of Civil Society?

Richter, James

doi:10.2753/ppc1075-8216560602

Cited by 50 publications

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“…With sovereign democracy, the Russian government has proposed a vision of civil society, which is linked to state sovereignty (gosudarstvennost') and in which self and nation are indivisibly connected (Hemment 2012;Richter 2009b). Western civil society development projects in the 1990s emphasized the importance of free civil society in the democratization process, and the concept of civil society has continued to circulate in Russia even after the international foundations withdrew their activities (Hemment 2012, 244).…”

Section: The Official View On Democracy: Sovereign Democracymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Putin's vision of civil society, in which social organizations are under the firm authority of the state as the highest executive leadership, has been called quasi-civil society or even pseudo-civil society (Evans 2006a, 149). Furthermore, Richter (2009a) suggests that 'Putin and his entourage adopted the rhetoric of civil society and bent it to their own purposes ' (2009a, 41). These evaluations are often made from the perspective of comparing Russian civil society to the normative western liberal ideal of what civil society and civic participation should be, and seeing these as universally applicable.…”

Section: The Official View On Democracy: Sovereign Democracymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The ideal of a unified civil society is also found in the state's vision of civil society. According to Richter (2009b), the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, which was created by the government in 2005 to support the dialogue between civil society actors and the state organs (however, excluding the dissenting voices), is structured around the idea of 'civil society as a unified public sphere serving the interests of the whole'. In his view, the Public Chamber wants to present a unified voice and avoids questions that are likely to provoke divisions and dissent within the Chamber (Richter 2009b, 12).…”

Section: Unified Civil Society and The Strong Leadermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The key themes of these studies are state-civil society relations (Evans, Henry, and Sundstrom 2006;Chebankova 2013;Kulmala 2013;Richter 2009a;Richter 2009b;S. White 2008), western funding of Russian civil society initiatives (Henderson 2003;McIntosh Sundstrom 2006), women's NGOs and the role of gender in democratization (Kay 2000;Hemment 2007;Salmenniemi 2008), and recently, how the Internet and new technologies shape activism (Lonkila 2012;Lonkila 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Performing Political Opposition in Russia

Lyytikäinen¹

2016

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Russian civil society is often described as weak and Russians as politically apathetic. However, as a surprise for many, tens of thousands of people gathered on the streets of Moscow to protest the fraud in the parliamentary elections in December 2011. Nevertheless, this 'awakening' did not last for long as Vladimir Putin took hold of the Presidency again in 2012. Since then, the Russian State Duma has passed new legislation to restrict civic and political activism. This, together with the fragmentation of the opposition movement, has hindered large-scale and sustained mobilization against the government. In 2013, the number of protests has plummeted when the risks of demonstrating are high and the benefits to participate in political activism appear non-existent.Why is it impossible for the Russian opposition to find a common voice and to sustain contentious action? This book analyzes how political opportunities and restrictions in contemporary Russia have affected the opposition activists' activities at the grassroots level. The book examines Russian civil society, contemporary activist strategies, and democratization from the perspective of the young activists participating in the liberal youth movement Oborona (Defense) in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Before its dissolution in 2011, Oborona was an active participant in the Russian opposition movement, and thus it is an interesting case study of the living activist traditions in Russia.The research illustrates how the Soviet continuities and liberal ideas are entangled in Russian political activism to create new post-socialist political identities and practices. In Russia, the group of dissenters is small, and the political elite in power do not leave much room for voices of dissent in order for the opposition to grow and diverge. However, the study argues that one of the reasons of Oborona's demise came from inside the movement: The group's solidarity was based on personal ties instead of political connectedness. Furthermore, the movement suffered from the lack of common ideological goals and leader-centeredness. The research suggests that these problems can be found in Russia's liberal opposition in general and explain why it is inefficient to mobilize large amounts of people for public demonstrations and to sustain protests.The research draws on sociological theories on identities, social performance, and politicization as well as class, gender and generation studies. The data is derived from thematic interviews and ABSTRACTThis book examines Russian civil society and democratization from the perspective of the oppositional youth activists in Moscow and St. Petersburg. It takes the Russian youth movement Oborona (Defense) as its case study. Before its dissolution in 2011, the movement was an active participant in the 'non-systemic' opposition, and thus it is an interesting case study of the 'actually existing' activist traditions in Russia. The book analyses how youth activists use the tools applicable in today's Russia to resist and reinterpret the cultura...

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Section: The Official View On Democracy: Sovereign Democracymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Official View On Democracy: Sovereign Democracymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Unified Civil Society and The Strong Leadermentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Performing Political Opposition in Russia

Lyytikäinen¹

2016

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“…At the same time, he has celebrated, revived, and promoted elements of the Soviet past to articulate a contemporary "national idea." 10 These contradictions, still apparent in the Putin-Medvedev era, 11 are particularly manifest in the sphere of social welfare (Hemment 2009, Richter 2009, Cook 2007, Chandler 2004, throwing issues of governing into question.…”

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confidence: 99%

Redefining Need, Reconfiguring Expectations: The Rise of State-Run Youth Voluntarism Programs in Russia

Hemment¹

2012

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This article investigates the restructuring of the Russian social welfare system by interrogating Putin-era state-run projects to promote youth voluntarism. Set up in the aftermath of liberalizing social welfare reform, these organizations are interesting hybrids: at the same time as they honor the Soviet past and afford symbolic prominence to Soviet era values, they simultaneously advance distinctively neoliberal technologies of self-help and self-reliance. In dialogue with recent studies in the anthropology of neoliberalism and the anthropology of postsocialism, I consider the implications of these intertwined logics. Focusing on the interpretive work undertaken by one provincial voluntary organization, I argue that it offers a symbolic salve and a measure of recompense to those most disaffected by neoliberal reform, while at the same time inculcating new models of subjectivity and citizenship. In so doing, it encodes a new vision of the common good that has interesting hybrid features and draws on the models that the Putin administration ostensibly disparages.

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Domestic Funding for Civil Society in a Non-Democratic Context: The Example of the Presidential Grants in Russia

Skokova

Fröhlich

2022

Palgrave Studies in Third Sector Research

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This chapter examines the nature of governmental support of civil society in a non-democratic context, taking the example of Russia. Russian civil society organizations exist in dual realities when the state sets up a structure of supporting measures but at the same time limits the scope of their activity. While limiting measures and their effects on Russian civil society have been well analyzed, this chapter considers the issue of how state support for civil society actors actually shapes the sector and contributes to regime legitimacy. We argue that governmental support for civil society organizations in non-democratic regimes not only bolsters the state’s welfare function but also attempts to intertwine non-governmental welfare provision with elements of a state-led legitimation discourse.

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The Ministry of Civil Society?

Cited by 50 publications

References 0 publications

Performing Political Opposition in Russia

Performing Political Opposition in Russia

Redefining Need, Reconfiguring Expectations: The Rise of State-Run Youth Voluntarism Programs in Russia

Domestic Funding for Civil Society in a Non-Democratic Context: The Example of the Presidential Grants in Russia

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