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Abstract
This article examines how socially oriented non-governmental organisations (SO NGOs) in Russia conceptualise the state’s role in guaranteeing social rights and negotiate relations with the state. It demonstrates that these organisations see the state as playing a key role in guaranteeing social rights. This facilitates a degree of agency in their relationship with the authorities, who are increasingly keen to use the experience SO NGOs provide for service delivery. This challenges the dominant view of compliant social NGOs which fully cooperate with the authorities and highlights the need for a more nuanced understanding of Russia’s state–civil society relations.
Keywords:
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributor
Dr Eleanor Bindman is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the School of Politics and International Relations at Queen Mary, University of London where she specialises in Russian politics and social policy.
Notes
1. The Russian Constitution of 1993 outlined the state's commitment to social rights.
2. See Article 7, Chapter 2 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, Konstitutsiya Rossiiskoi Federatsii (Citation1993).
3. Interview with Yevgeniy Gontmakher by Yevgeniy (Yershov Citation2012).
4. At present, 63 of Russia's 87 regions have a local human rights ombudsman (“Stanovlenoye instituta Upolnomochenniye po pravam chekoveka”, Official site of the Human Rights Ombudsman in the Russian Federation 2014). Candidates for the post of regional human rights ombudsmen are approved by the region's local legislature (Roudik Citation2007). Similar to the federal-level ombudsmen, the regional ombudsmen are expected to deal with individual and collective complaints concerning rights violations by the local authorities, monitor the human rights situation in their region and cooperate with local bodies such as the prosecutor's office and the courts (Gradskova Citation2012).
5. See the appendix for a full list of interviews conducted.
6. Interview, 24 February 2015.
7. Interview, 19 August 2014.
8. Interview, 20 May 2011.
9. Interview, 5 April 2011.
10. Interview with Katya, staff member for a regional human rights ombudsman, St Petersburg, 19 August 2014.
11. Interview with Nadya, human rights activist, St Petersburg, 25 April 2011.
12. Interview, 24 February 2015.
13. Interview, 26 February 2015.
14. Interview, 30 April 2015.
15. Interview, 16 April 2015.
16. Interview with Maria, disability NGO manager, St Petersburg, 11 March 2011; Interview with Lydia, healthcare NGO manager, Moscow, 5 April 2011.
17. Interview, 28 February 2011.
18. Interview, 24 April 2015.
19. Interview, 22 February 2011.
20. Interview, 5 April 2011.
21. Interview, 11 March 2011.
22. Interview with Masha, manager, disability NGO, St Petersburg: 16 April 2015; and Aleksandr, programme officer, homeless charity, St Petersburg: 17 April 2015.
23. Interview with Masha, manager, disability NGO, St Petersburg: 16 April 2015; and Aleksandr, programme officer, homeless charity, St Petersburg: 17 April 2015.
24. Interview with Yana, fostercare charity manager, St Petersburg, 28 February 2011.
25. Interview with Natasha, manager of a charity working with elderly people, St Petersburg: 24 April 2015.
26. Interview with Masha, manager, disability NGO, St Petersburg: 16 April 2015.
27. Interviews with Natasha, manager of a charity working with elderly people, St Petersburg: 24 April 2015; and Masha, manager, disability NGO, St Petersburg: 16 April 2015.
28. Interview with Natasha, manager of a charity working with elderly people, St Petersburg: 24 April 2015.
29. Interview with Aleksandr, programme officer, homeless charity, St Petersburg: 17 April 2015.
30. Interview, 19 February 2015.
31. Interview, 16 April 2015.
32. Interview, 17 April 2015.
33. Interview, 13 June 2011.
34. Interview, 13 June 2011.
35. Interview with Natasha, manager of a charity working with elderly people, St Petersburg: 24 April 2015.
36. Interview with Alina, Vera and Alla, programme officers for a disability charity, Moscow: 26 February 2015.
37. Interview, 11 June 2011.
38. Interview with Nadezhda, children's charity manager, St Petersburg: 22 February 2011; Alina, Vera and Alla, programme officers for a disability charity, Moscow: 26 February 2015; Natasha, manager of a charity working with elderly people, St Petersburg: 24 April 2015.