Bindman (2015) ‘The State, Civil Society and Social Rights in Contemporary Russia.’
Citation: Bindman, Eleanor (2015) ‘The State, Civil Society and Social Rights in Contemporary Russia,’ East European Politics, 31:3, pp. 342-360.
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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.
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Bindman (2015:342-343): NGOs engaged in social work tend to receive much less attention than those focused on political and civil rights, but are of much greater importance to the general public. Human rights organisations constitute only a small part of Russian civil society. The relationship between social NGOs and the state “is considerably more complex and nuanced than the largely antagonistic interaction which tends to take place between these same authorities and NGOs focusing explicitly on human rights issues.”