NGOs and Social Policy-Making in Russia’s Region

Problems of Post-Communism. 2006. Vol. 53. No. 5. P. 28–41.

Cook L. J., Vinogradova E.

THE political transition in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union has generated a great deal of interest in the development of post-communist civil society—the autonomous sphere of activity between society and the state that provides the means for groups and organizations to build trust, articulate collective interests, and hold political authorities accountable. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs, or the “third sector”) are considered one of the core forms of civil society. First granted legal status in Russia in the early 1990s, NGOs have proliferated across the country. There are 450,000 NGOs registered in Russia, and according to expert estimates, about twenty or twenty-five percent of them are genuinely active.1 Most research until now has focused on women’s or environmental groups, but 30 percent of the country’s NGOs—the largest single category—are involved in social welfare.2 Many of these organizations provide services to the most vulnerable groups in Russian society, including the disabled, the chronically ill, migrants, and street children. The project described in this article has contributed to our knowledge about the activities, character, and influence of NGOs in the social sector

Keywords: социальная политика, Российская Федерация, НКО, Russia, social policy, NGOs