Modernising social service delivery in Russia: evolving government support for non-profit organisations

ABSTRACT

Russia has recently cracked down on politically active civil society, increasing regulation and undercutting foreign support. However, apolitical, service-oriented parts of civil society have not been subject to these restrictive policies. In contrast, since 2009 Russia has introduced a set of government tools to support socially oriented non-profit organisations. These tools present a framework akin to concepts of ‘third-party government’ and collaborative governance that have come to dominate Western public administration discourse. This article discusses the Russian government’s divergent positions towards civil society, the nature and extent of the supportive tool kit, and its prospects.

La Russie a récemment muselé la société civile politisée en renforçant la législation à son endroit et en réduisant ses moyens de financement étrangers. Cependant, les activités de la société civile, apolitiques et orientées vers la délivrance de services ne subissent pas ces politiques de restriction. En revanche, depuis 2009, la Russie a mis en place un ensemble d’outils d’appui gouvernemental aux organisations à but non lucratif orientées vers le soutien social. Ces outils présentent un cadre comparable aux concepts de « gouvernement tiers » et de gouvernance collaborative, devenus dominants dans les discours occidentaux de l’administration publique. Cet article aborde les divergences de points de vue du gouvernement russe concernant la société civile, la nature et l’étendue de l’ensemble des outils fournis, ainsi que leurs perspectives.

Recientemente, el gobierno ruso ha estado reprimiendo a la sociedad civil políticamente activa, aumentando regulaciones y debilitando el apoyo proveniente del extranjero que se destinaba a ésta. Tales políticas restrictivas no se han dirigido hacia los sectores de la sociedad civil considerados apolíticos y orientados a la prestación de servicios. Por el contrario, desde 2009 el gobierno ruso impulsó un conjunto de herramientas gubernamentales encaminado a apoyar a organizaciones sin fines de lucro de orientación social. Las mismas conforman un marco similar a los conceptos de “gobierno por terceros” y de gobernanza colaborativa que dominan el discurso de la administración pública occidental. El presente artículo analiza la política divergente que el gobierno ruso dirige hacia la sociedad civil, así como la naturaleza y el alcance del conjunto de herramientas comprensivas y su perspectivas.

KEYWORDS:

• Civil society – NGOs, Partnership
• Governance and public policy
• Social sector
• Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Vladimir B. Benevolenski is a Lead Research Fellow of the International Laboratory for Nonprofit Sector Studies at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation.

Stefan Toepler is a Lead Research Fellow of the International Laboratory for Nonprofit Sector Studies at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation and Associate Professor in the Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University, Arlington, VA, USA.

Additional information

Funding

The study was funded by the Russian Academic Excellence Project “5–100”.