Russian Non-Profit Organisations in Service Delivery: Neoliberal and Statist Social Policy Principles Intertwined

Abstract

The essay examines the social policy principles underlying state funding schemes that shape the functioning of non-profit organisations in service delivery in Russia. Scrutinising federal and regional financial tools, the analysis reveals that some non-profit organisations are engaged with a neoliberal logic promoting state funding based on competitive grant processes and a means-tested approach to clients, while others seek privileged access to state resources to secure a statist and stratified service provision for their members. The essay argues that neoliberal principles are extended through contracting-out and are undermining statist practices; however, a situation is emerging within competitive outsourcing procedures in which selected organisations are still receiving privileged treatment from the state.

This study was initially supported by the research project ‘New Political Groups and the Russian State’ (NEPORUS), Norwegian Research Council project number 228205. At the final stage, it obtained support from the research project ‘A Child’s Right to a Family: Deinstitutionalisation of Child Welfare in Putin’s Russia’. I would like to thank all my colleagues for their fruitful discussions, comments and advice.

Notes

¹ Drawing on both qualitative and quantitative data, the study examines federal and regional legislation covering outsourcing, direct subsidising and contracting-out procedures, as well as their outcomes. Official reports of the Audit Chamber of the Russian Federation and Transparency International in Russia were used to estimate the actual procedures and outcomes of the distribution of budget resources among non-profit organisations. Characteristics of NGOs that won funding competitions and benefited from direct subsidies were examined, drawing on their official websites and evaluations of their activity. Data on NGOs and social entrepreneurs registered as official providers of social services in 66 Russian regions in 2016 and 2017 provided regional examples of the implementation of contracting-out.

² ‘Kontseptsiya Dolgosrochnogo Sotsial’no-ekonomicheskogo Razvitiya Rossiiskoi Federatsii na Period do 2020 Goda’, adopted 17 November 2008, available at: http://government.ru/info/6217/, accessed 26 March 2018. See also Mau and Kuz’minova (2013).

³ Federal’nyi Zakon 7-FZ ‘O nekommercheskikh Organizatsiyakh’, adopted 12 January 1996, available at: http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_8824/, accessed 26 March 2018.

⁴ ‘Ofitsial’naya Statistika, Gosudarstvo, Obshchestvennye Organizatsii, Sotsial’no Orientirovannye Nekommercheskie Organizatsii, Federal’naya Sluzhba Gosudarstvennoi Statistiki’, available at: http://www.gks.ru/wps/wcm/connect/rosstat_main/rosstat/ru/statistics/state/, accessed 20 December 2017.

⁵ Fond Prezidentskikh Grantov, available at: https://xn--80afcdbalict6afooklqi5o.xn--p1ai/, accessed 26 March 2018.

⁶ ‘Ministerstvo Ekonomicheskogo Razvitiya, Sotsial’no Orientirovannye Nekommercheskie Organizatsii’, available at: http://economy.gov.ru/minec/activity/sections/SocOrientNoncomOrg/index, accessed 26 March 2018.

⁷ Fond Prezidentskikh Grantov, Popediteli Konkursa, available at: https://xn--80afcdbalict6afooklqi5o.xn--p1ai/Project?orderStatus=16&grant=2&region=&status=8&k=&pageNumber=1&search=&sortBy=&asc=false, accessed 26 March 2018.

⁸ ‘Prikaz Ministerstva Ekonomicheskogo Razvitiya ot 24 Oktyabrya 2014 No678’, available at: http://economy.gov.ru/minec/activity/sections/socorientnoncomorg/201411131, accessed 26 March 2018.

⁹ Data provided by the Ministry of Economic Development, available at: http://economy.gov.ru/minec/activity/sections/socorientnoncomorg/201409262, accessed 29 November 2016.

¹⁰ The bulletin of the Audit Chamber of the Russian Federation No. 8 (August 2015), available at: http://audit.gov.ru/activities/bulleten/854/23287/, accessed 18 March 2017.

¹¹ Federal’nyi Zakon 83-FZ, ‘O Vnesenii Izmenenii v Otdel’nye Zakonodatel’nye Akty Rossiiskoi Federatsii v Svyazi s Sovershenstvovaniem Pravovogo Polozheniya Gosudarstvennykh (munitsipal’nykh) uchrezhdeny’ , adopted 8 May 2010, available at: http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_100193/, accessed 26 March 2018.

¹² Federal'nyi Zakon 44-FZ, ‘O Kontraktnoi Sisteme v Sfere Zakupok Tovarov, Rabot, Uslug dlya Obespecheniya Gosudarstvennykh i Munitsipal’nykh Nuzhd’, adopted 5 April 2013, available at: http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_144624/, accessed 26 March 2018.

¹³ Federal’nyi Zakon 442-FZ ‘Ob osnovakh sotsial’nogo obsluzhivaniya grazhdan v Rossiiskoi Federatsii’, 28 December 2013, available at: http://base.garant.ru/70552648/#ixzz52yytcQ1P, accessed 20 December 2017.

¹⁴ SOS Children’s Villages International, available at: https://www.sos-childrensvillages.org/, accessed 26 March 2018.

¹⁵ ‘Invalidy po slukhu v Arkhangel’skoi oblasti smogut poluchat’ sotsial’nye uslugi v obshchestvennoi organizatsii’, available at: http://sousnko.ru/unity/vog/sobyitiya/invalidyi-po-sluxu-v-arxangelskoj-oblasti-smogut-poluchat-soczialnyie-uslugi.html, accessed 20 March 2017.

¹⁶ Federal’nyi Zakon 181-FZ, ‘O Sotsial’noi Zashchite Invalidov v Rossiiskoi Federatsii’, available at: http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_8559/, accessed 22 March 2018.

¹⁷ The press release of the All-Russian Society of the Blind of the Red Labour Flag, available at: http://www.vos.org.ru/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=112&Itemid=272, accessed 19 March 2017.

¹⁸ The official website of the All-Russian Society of the Disabled, available at: http://www.voi.ru/organizations/regionalnye_organizaci, accessed 19 March 2017.

¹⁹ The report on social programmes implemented by societal organisations prepared by the Federal Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development, No. 30-6/10/1-364, adopted 26 January 2012, available at: http://d.120-bal.ru/pravo/40514/index.html, accessed 27 March 2018.

²⁰ The All-Russian Societal Organisation of the Disabled of the Red Labour Flag, available at: http://www.vos.org.ru/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=298&Itemid=350, accessed 14 December 2017.

²¹ Regulation of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Defence, adopted 1 February 2013, No. 38n, available at: https://rosmintrud.ru/docs/mintrud/orders/38, accessed 27 March 2018.

²² ‘Pravila Priema v Chastnoe Obrazovatel’noe Uchrezhdenie Dopolnitel’nogo Professional’nogo Obrazovaniya “Tsentr Reabilitatsii Slepykh” Obshcherossiiskoi Obshchestvennoi Organizatsii Invalidov “Vserossiiskoe Ordena Trudovogo Krasnogo Znameni Obshchestvo Slepykh”’, available at: http://crcvoc.ru/page5.html, accessed 30 December 2017.

²³ The Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, available at: http://www.rosmintrud.ru/docs/mintrud/protection/172, accessed 18 March 2017.

²⁴ The official issue of the Audit Chamber of the Russian Federation No. 8 (August 2015), available at: http://audit.gov.ru/activities/bulleten/854/23287/, accessed 18 March 2017.

²⁵ See also Cox and Gallai (2014, p. 54).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anna Tarasenko

Anna Tarasenko, Postdoctoral Researcher, Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 42 (Unioninkatu 33), FI-00014, Finland; Lecturer, Department of Political Science, National Research University Higher School of Economics, St Petersburg, Russian Federation. Email: [email protected].