Civil Society in a Transitional Context: The Response of Health and Educational NGOs to Legislative Changes in Russia's Industrialized Regions

In 2006, the Russian state sought to rein in nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) by passing a law restricting their activities. This legislation drew considerable criticism at home and within the international community with regard to the development of civil society in Russia. In this article, we assess the impact of the NGO law on organizations that have received relatively little attention in the literature: Russian health and educational NGOs. The data suggest that these NGOs have acquiesced to the demands of this legislation, which undermines their independence and is currently stalling the further development of Russia’s civil society. Our findings also illustrate that these legislative changes have not resulted in the predicted effects. </jats:p

Managing Boundaries:The Role of Non-profit Organisations in Russia’s Managed Democracy

This article examines Russian human service non-profit organisations (NPOs) to investigate the nature of civil society in a managed democracy. Specifically the focus is on emerging vertical ties between NPOs and ruling and governing elites. Drawing on qualitative data collected from health and education NPOs in three industrial regions, we find that in establishing such vertical ties the role of organisations and individuals within is changing – they have moved away from ignored outsiders towards accessing the circles of power and being tasked with managing the boundary between the state and civil society. In exploring these arrangements this article highlights that in the post-Soviet space, NPOs and the state are closely intertwined resembling co-optation. As a result the democratisation potential of human service NPOs is constrained. In discussing these insights we also draw parallels to contexts in which the state has outsourced welfare service to human service NPOs

Participation and Influence in Public Policy: Exploring the Advocacy of Non-Profit Organizations in a Managed Democracy’

This paper examines the advocacy tactics of Russian NPOs. While Russian NPOs and their activities have been widely researched, specific insight into their use of advocacy tactics remains limited. In this paper we address this gap by broadening the understanding of how NPOs engage in advocacy. To do so we operationalize both Mosley’s (2012) indirect/insider framework and qualitative data collected from health and education NPOs (HENPOs) in three industrial Russian regions. We demonstrate that Russian HENPOs, whilst having access to various advocacy tactics, fail to employ these tactics effectively vis-à-vis influencing of ruling and governing elites. They are instead used for organizational maintenance and case/client advocacy. In concluding, we discuss a potential typology of advocacy tactics in Russia, the usefulness of Mosley’s framework in this context and the implications of the failure to advocate for democratization within the Russian Federation

Creating Organisational Strength from Operationalising Restrictions: Welfare Non-profit Organisations in the Russian Federation

The work of non-profit organisations (NPOs) in non-democratic country contexts tends to be judged on their contribution to the democratisation process rather than the activities they undertake. This neglects the potential impact NPOs have on societies within such contexts. In this study, we highlight that NPOs can influence public policy deployment in the Russian Federation even if they cannot affect public policy itself. By operationalising the very restrictions placed upon them, NPOs use their relationships with the state to effect change within their immediate environment and scope of their operational remit, even if they cannot hold authorities to account or influence policy development. Key to this is strong organising capabilities and engagement with the Russian public. We reflect on the implications of our findings to the understanding of civil society development and NPOs in Russia and in other similar nondemocratic contexts

Investing in conflict zones:a firm-level analysis

The purpose of this paper is to examine, using panel data econometric techniques, the determinants of a firm’s strategy to invest in a conflict location. To the best of our knowledge this has not been done before. We use a large database of firm-level data that includes 2858 multinational firms that have a subsidiary in a developing country (during 1999-2006). Out of these firms 290 are classified as having a subsidiary in a conflict location. The choice of a conflict location is based on data from the Inter Country Risk Guide (ICRG). We start with the population of multinationals who have chosen to invest in low income countries with weak institutions. Our analysis then proceeds to explain the decision of those firms to invest in conflict locations. We have four hypotheses: (1) Firms with concentrated ownership are more likely to invest in a conflict region; (2) Firms from countries with weaker institutions are more likely to invest in conflict regions; (3) Firms and Countries with less concern over corporate social responsibility are more likely to invest in conflict countries; and (4) that there is large sector level differences in the propensity to invest in a conflict region. The results suggest that all of these hypotheses can be confirmed

Civil Liberties and Volunteering in Six Former Soviet Union Countries

To contribute to the debate as to whether volunteering is an outcome of democratization rather than a driver of it, we analyze how divergent democratization pathways in six countries of the former Soviet Union have led to varied levels of volunteering. Using data from the European Values Study, we find that Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia—which followed a Europeanization path—have high and increasing levels of civil liberties and volunteering. In Russia and Belarus, following a pre-emption path, civil liberties have remained low and volunteering has declined. Surprisingly, despite the Orange Revolution and increased civil liberties, volunteering rates in Ukraine have also declined. The case of Ukraine indicates that the freedom to participate is not always taken up by citizens. Our findings suggest it is not volunteering that brings civil liberties, but rather that increased civil liberties lead to higher levels of volunteerin

Trade unions and the challenge of fostering solidarities in an era of financialisation

This articles re-examines evidence that trade unions in the UK have struggled to renew themselves despite considerable investment of time and effort. It argues that financialisation in the realms of capital accumulation, organisational decision making and everyday life has introduced new barriers to building the solidarities within and between groups of workers that would be necessary to develop a stronger response to the catastrophic effects on labour of financialisation in general, and the financial crisis specifically. The crisis highlighted the weaknesses of trade unions as institutions of economic and industrial democracy, but has also given some opportunities to establish narratives of solidarity in spaces and platforms created within a financialised context

You don't see the world through the same eyes any more: The impact of sexual offence work on police staff

This paper examines the experiences of Police staff in England who work with sexual offence material (SOM). Eleven officers completed a questionnaire then took part in semi-structured interviews. The data were analysed in two stages: Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to illuminate the ‘lived experience’ of participants, and establish a theme structure. Clinical models of workplace trauma were then employed to explore the theme ‘Impact of working with sexual offending’. Impact includes cognitive intrusions and increased suspiciousness. The authors identify where officers’ accounts intersect with nascent symptoms of both Vicarious Traumatisation (McCann and Pearlman, 1990) and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Resistive Plate Chambers performance with Cosmic Rays in the CMS experiment

The Resistive Plate Chambers are used in the CMS experiment as a dedicated muon trigger both in barrel and endcap system. About 4000 square meter of double gap RPCs have been produced and have been installed in the experiment since more than one year and half. The full barrel system and a fraction of the endcaps have been monitored to study dark current behaviour and system stability, and have been extensively commissioned with Cosmic Rays collected by the full CMS experiment