Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T07:22:13.114Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

17 - Nonprofits as Sources of Authoritarian Regime Stability

from Part III - New Directions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2024

By
Yulia Skokova  and
Irina Krasnopolskaya
Edited by
Eva Witesman  and
Curtis Child
Eva Witesman
Affiliation:
Brigham Young University, Utah
Curtis Child
Affiliation:
Brigham Young University, Utah
Get access

Summary

This chapter discloses the functions of the nonprofit sector in non-Western democratic national contexts and argues that a state’s political regime is related to the hierarchy of functions performed by the nonprofit sector in that state. The authors focus on the function of legitimacy and the ways the nonprofit sector performs it in a non-democratic context, with Russia as an example. They construct a theoretical model that explains why nonprofits instead of other organizations fulfill certain functions in nondemocratic regimes. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the model’s relevance to other nondemocratic contexts.

Keywords

regime legitimationregime stabilitynonprofitsgovernment–nonprofit relationshipauthoritarian regimeRussia
Type
Chapter
Information
Reimagining Nonprofits
Sector Theory in the Twenty-First Century
 , pp. 333 - 352
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agentstvo strategicheskikh initsiativ. (2017). Standart podderzhki dobrovol’chestva (volonterstva) v regionakh Rossiyskoy Federatsii. https://edu.dobro.ru/upload/uf/394/39486b5504fcc7bf61053fc966ce815a.pdfGoogle Scholar
Alava, J. (2021). Russia’s young army: Raising new generations into militarized patriots. Nexus of patriotism and militarism in Russia: A quest for internal cohesion. Helsinki University Press. https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/333718Google Scholar
Atalay, Z. (2018). Authoritarian neoliberalism and Islamist civil society in Turkey. In Kamruzzaman, P. (Ed.), Civil society in the Global South (pp. 176–192). Routledge.Google Scholar
Bederson, V., & Semenov, A. (2021). Political foundations of state support for civil society: Analysis of the distribution of presidential grants in Russia. Post-Soviet Affairs, 37(6), 544–558. https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2021.1976575CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belokurova, E. (2010). Civil society discourses in Russia: The influence of the European Union and the role of EU–Russia cooperation. Journal of European Integration, 32(5), 457–474. https://doi.org/10.1080/07036337.2010.498630Google Scholar
Brass, J. N. (2022). Do service provision NGOs perform civil society functions? Evidence of NGOs’ relationship with democratic participation. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 51(1), 148–169. https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764021991671Google Scholar
Bromley, P., Schofer, E., & Longhofer, W. (2020). Contentions over world culture: The rise of legal restrictions on foreign funding to NGOs, 1994–2015. Social Forces, 99(1), 281–304. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soz138CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carothers, T., & Brechenmacher, S. (2014). Closing space: Democracy and human rights support under fire. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.Google Scholar
Cavatorta, F. (2015). Civil society activism under authoritarian rule: A comparative perspective. Routledge.Google Scholar
Cianetti, L., Dawson, J., & Hanley, S. (2018). Rethinking “democratic backsliding” in Central and Eastern Europe – Looking beyond Hungary and Poland. East European Politics, 34(3), 243–256. https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2018.1491401Google Scholar
Crotty, J., Hall, S. M., & Ljubownikow, S. (2014). Post-Soviet civil society development in the Russian Federation: The impact of the NGO law. Europe-Asia Studies, 66(8), 1253–1269. https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2014.941697CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daucé, F. (2014). The government and human rights groups in Russia: Civilized oppression? Journal of Civil Society, 10(3), 239–254. https://doi.org/10.1080/17448689.2014.941087Google Scholar
Dupuy, K. E., Ron, J., & Prakash, A. (2015). Who survived? Ethiopia’s regulatory crackdown on foreign-funded NGOs. Review of International Political Economy, 22(2), 419–456. https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290.2014.903854Google Scholar
Enjuto Martinez, R., Qu, Y., & Howell, J. (2022). Effects of government contracting of services on NGOs in China: Convergence and divergence with international experience. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 33(4), 685–695. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-021-00383-1Google Scholar
Evans, A. B. (2011). The failure of democratization in Russia: A comparative perspective. Journal of Eurasian Studies, 2(1), 40–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euras.2010.10.001Google Scholar
Federal Law No.212-FZ “On basic principles of public control in the Russian Federation.” July 21, 2014.Google Scholar
Flikke, G. (2018). Conflicting opportunities or patronal politics? Restrictive NGO legislation in Russia 2012–2015. Europe-Asia Studies, 70(4), 564–590. https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2018.1455806CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fröhlich, C., & Skokova, Y. (2020). Two for one: Public welfare and regime legitimacy through state funding for CSOs in Russia. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 31(4), 698–709. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-020-00203-yGoogle Scholar
Fukuyama, F. (1992). The end of history and the last man. Free Press.Google Scholar
Fung, A. (2003). Associations and democracy: Between theories, hopes, and realities. Annual Review of Sociology, 29, 515–539. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.29.010202.100134Google Scholar
Geddes, B., & Zaller, J. (1989). Sources of popular support for authoritarian regimes. American Journal of Political Science, 33(2), 319–347. https://doi.org/10.2307/2111150Google Scholar
Gel’man, V. (2015). Authoritarian Russia: Analyzing post-Soviet regime changes. University of Pittsburgh Press.Google Scholar
Gerschewski, J. (2013). The three pillars of stability: Legitimation, repression, and co-optation in autocratic regimes. Democratization, 20(1), 13–38. https://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2013.738860Google Scholar
Gilbert, L. (2020). Regulating society after the color revolutions: A comparative analysis of NGO laws in Belarus, Russia, and Armenia. Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization, 28(2), 305–332. www.muse.jhu.edu/article/754564Google Scholar
Hasmath, R., Hildebrandt, T., & Hsu, J. Y. J. (2019). Conceptualizing government-organized non-governmental organizations. Journal of Civil Society, 15(3), 267–284. https://doi.org/10.1080/17448689.2019.1632549CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hellmeier, S., & Weidmann, N. B. (2020). Pulling the strings? The strategic use of pro-government mobilization in authoritarian regimes. Comparative Political Studies, 53(1), 71–108. https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414019843559Google Scholar
Hemment, J. (2012). Nashi, youth voluntarism, and Potemkin NGOs: Making sense of civil society in post-Soviet Russia. Slavic Review, 71(2), 234–260. https://doi.org/10.5612/slavicreview.71.2.0234CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herrold, C. E. (2016). NGO policy in pre- and post-Mubarak Egypt: Effects on NGOs’ roles in democracy promotion. Nonprofit Policy Forum, 7(2), 189–212. https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2014-0034Google Scholar
Heurlin, C. (2010). Governing civil society: The political logic of NGO–state relations under dictatorship. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 21(2), 220–239. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-009-9103-2Google Scholar
Hsu, C. L. (2010). Beyond civil society: An organizational perspective on state–NGO relations in the People’s Republic of China. Journal of Civil Society, 6(3), 259–277. https://doi.org/10.1080/17448689.2010.528949CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hsu, C. L., & Jiang, Y. (2015). An institutional approach to Chinese NGOs: State alliance versus state avoidance resource strategies. The China Quarterly, 221, 100–122. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305741014001568Google Scholar
Hu, M., & Guo, C. (2016). Fundraising policy reform and its impact on nonprofits in China: A view from the trenches. Nonprofit Policy Forum, 7(2), 213–236. https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2016-0003Google Scholar
Jing, Y. (2015). Between control and empowerment: Governmental strategies towards the development of the non-profit sector in China. Asian Studies Review, 39(4), 589–608. https://doi.org/10.1080/10357823.2015.1090394CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalandadze, K., & Orenstein, M. A. (2009). Electoral protests and democratization beyond the color revolutions. Comparative Political Studies, 42(11), 1403–1425. https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414009332131Google Scholar
Katz, H., & Gidron, B. (2022). Encroachment and reaction of civil society in non-liberal democracies: The case of Israel and the New Israel Fund. Nonprofit Policy Forum, 13(3), 229–250. https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2020-0043CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krasnopolskaya, I., Skokova, Y., & Pape, U. (2015). Government–nonprofit relations in Russia’s regions: An exploratory analysis. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 26(6), 2238–2266. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-015-9654-3Google Scholar
Levitsky, S., & Way, L. A. (2010). Competitive authoritarianism: Hybrid regimes after the Cold War. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lewis, D. (2013). Civil society and the authoritarian state: Cooperation, contestation and discourse. Journal of Civil Society, 9(3), 325–340. https://doi.org/10.1080/17448689.2013.818767Google Scholar
Ljubownikow, S., & Crotty, J. (2016). Nonprofit influence on public policy: Exploring nonprofit advocacy in Russia. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 45(2), 314–332. https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764015583121Google Scholar
Ljubownikow, S., & Crotty, J. (2017). Managing boundaries: The role of non-profit organisations in Russia’s managed democracy. Sociology, 51(5), 940–956. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038515608111Google Scholar
Lorch, J., & Bunk, B. (2017). Using civil society as an authoritarian legitimation strategy: Algeria and Mozambique in comparative perspective. Democratization, 24(6), 987–1005. https://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2016.1256285Google Scholar
Ma, J. (2022). How does an authoritarian state co-opt its social scientists studying civil society? VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-022-00510-6CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malinova, O. (2022). Legitimizing Putin’s regime: The transformations of the narrative of Russia’s post-Soviet transition. Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 55(1), 52–75. https://doi.org/10.1525/j.postcomstud.2022.55.1.52Google Scholar
Matchanka, A. (2014). Substitution of civil society in Belarus: Government-organised non-governmental organisations. Journal of Belarusian Studies, 7(2), 67–94. https://doi.org/10.30965/20526512-00702004Google Scholar
Matejova, M., Parker, S., & Dauvergne, P. (2018). The politics of repressing environmentalists as agents of foreign influence. Australian Journal of International Affairs, 72(2), 145–162. https://doi.org/10.1080/10357718.2017.1421141Google Scholar
Mercer, C. (2002). NGOs, civil society and democratization: A critical review of the literature. Progress in Development Studies, 2(1), 5–22. https://doi.org/10.1191/1464993402ps027raGoogle Scholar
Njoku, E. T. (2022). Strategic exclusion, co-option and containment: Towards an integrative theory of state–CSOs relations. Critical Studies on Terrorism, 15(4), 917–944. https://doi.org/10.1080/17539153.2022.2111776CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ONF. (2022). Region zaboty. https://onf.ru/region-zabotyGoogle Scholar
Owen, C. (2020). Participatory authoritarianism: From bureaucratic transformation to civic participation in Russia and China. Review of International Studies, 46(4), 415–434. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210520000248Google Scholar
Pape, U., & Skokova, Y. (2022). Nonprofit advocacy in Russia’s regions. Journal of Civil Society, 18(1), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/17448689.2022.2061545CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plantan, E. (2022). Not all NGOs are treated equally: Selectivity in civil society management in China and Russia. Comparative Politics, 54(3), 501–524. https://doi.org/10.5129/001041522X16258376563887Google Scholar
Popplewell, R. (2018). Civil society, legitimacy and political space: Why some organisations are more vulnerable to restrictions than others in violent and divided contexts. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 29(2), 388–403. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-018-9949-2Google Scholar
Pulsngo. (2022). Doing NPOs: Assessment of organizational environment. https://pulsngo.ru/resultsGoogle Scholar
Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Putnam, R. D., Leonardi, R., & Nanetti, R. Y. (1992). Making democracy work: Civic traditions in modern Italy. Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Reaves, A. (2018). The role of civil society in competitive authoritarian legitimation strategies: An analysis of Venezuela and Bolivia. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate School. https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/concern/dissertations/sq87bz928Google Scholar
Rosstat. (2020). Itogi vyborochnogo obsledovaniya sotsial’no oriyentirovannykh nekommercheskikh organizatsiy na osnove formy № 1-SONKO. Rosstat, 2020. rosstat.gov.ru›storage/mediabank/1-sonko2020.docGoogle Scholar
Skokova, Y., Pape, U., & Krasnopolskaya, I. (2018). The non-profit sector in today’s Russia: Between confrontation and co-optation. Europe-Asia Studies, 70(4), 531–563. https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2018.1447089Google Scholar
Spires, A. J. (2020). Regulation as political control: China’s first charity law and its implications for civil society. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 49(3), 571–588. https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764019883939Google Scholar
Strachwitz, R. G., & Toepler, S. (2022). Contested civic spaces in liberal democracies. Nonprofit Policy Forum, 13(3), 179–193. https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2022-0026Google Scholar
Stuvøy, K. (2014). Power and public chambers in the development of civil society in Russia. Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 47(3–4), 409–419. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postcomstud.2014.10.002Google Scholar
TASS. (2022). MER odobrilo kriterii dlya isklyucheniya sotsialʼnykh NKO iz svoyego reyestra. https://tass.ru/ekonomika/14881933Google Scholar
Teets, J. C. (2013). Let many civil societies bloom: The rise of consultative authoritarianism in China. The China Quarterly, 213, 19–38. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305741012001269Google Scholar
Tian, F., & Chuang, J. (2022). Depoliticizing China’s grassroots NGOs: State and civil society as an institutional field of Power. The China Quarterly, 250, 509–530. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305741022000157Google Scholar
Tocqueville, A. de (2004). Democracy in America (A. Goldhammer, Trans.). Library of America.Google Scholar
Toepler, S., Zimmer, A., Fröhlich, C., & Obuch, K. (2020). The changing space for NGOs: Civil society in authoritarian and hybrid regimes. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 31(4), 649–662. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-020-00240-7Google Scholar
Topoleva-Soldunova, Y. A., et al. (2019). Uchastiye NKO v okazanii uslug v sotsialʼnoy sfere. https://opuo.ru/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/doklad_uchastie_NKO_socuslugi05112019.pdfGoogle Scholar
Vu, A. N. (2019). NGO-led activism under authoritarian rule of Vietnam: Between cooperation and contestation. Community Development, 50(4), 422–439. https://doi.org/10.1080/15575330.2019.1642925Google Scholar
White, G. (1994). Civil society, democratization and development (I): Clearing the analytical ground. Democratization, 1(2), 375–390. https://doi.org/10.1080/13510349408403399Google Scholar
Wischermann, J., Bunk, B., Köllner, P., & Lorch, J. (2018). Do associations support authoritarian rule? Evidence from Algeria, Mozambique, and Vietnam. Journal of Civil Society, 14(2), 95–115. https://doi.org/10.1080/17448689.2018.1464707Google Scholar
Wischermann, J., Cuong, B. T., & Phuong, D. T. V. (2016). Vietnamese civic organisations: Supporters of or obstacles to further democratisation? Results from an empirical survey. Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 35(2), 57–88. https://doi.org/10.1177/186810341603500203Google Scholar
Yandex. (2022). Otkrytoye obrashcheniye liderov i aktivistov rossiyskikh NKO. https://forms.yandex.ru/u/621bac4b3fbbe6feb2610093/Google Scholar
Zhang, C. (2018). Nongovernmental organizations’ policy advocacy and government responsiveness in China. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 47(4), 723–744. https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764017705735Google Scholar
Zhang, Y. (2015). Dependent interdependence: The complicated dance of government–nonprofit relations in China. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 26(6), 2395–2423. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-015-9645-4Google Scholar
Zhao, R., & Lilly, A. G. (2021). The role of state mobilization for volunteerism in China. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1177/08997640211057458CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×