Koszalin Institute
of Comparative European Studies (KICES)

ul. Zielona 13/1
75664 Koszalin
 
Poland

info@kices.org
www.kices.org

Anti-Corruption Advocacy in Contemporary Russia - Domestic NGOs between the International Community and the State
Researcher responsible: Dr Diana Schmidt
Duration: 2003 - 2006 

Research question and analytical framework

International anti-corruption activities have experienced a boom over the last decade, with much attention paid to the post-communist world, and Russia in particular, as well as to fostering civil society involvement. In Russia to date, several billion of democratisation assistance have been invested, much of it devoted to civil society formation and anti-corruption initiatives. However, the situation only seems to worsen with corruption on the rise and civil society development being increasingly restrained by the government. Given a growing anti-corruption fatigue or even frustration in this case, it is time to re-examine the role of NGOs as part of ongoing transnational efforts to curb corruption in Russia.

Investigating transnational anti-corruption advocacy and related domestic activities in contemporary Russia, the project seeks to explore how Western principles and practices concerning civil society and anti-/corruption affect the behaviour and identities of local NGOs as intermediaries, given that the Russian government is increasingly deterring such Western efforts and restraining Russian NGO activities. With a focus on the changing operational conditions for civil action within Russia, this research project thus analyses the compromised advocacy potential of domestic NGOs, considering their position between the international community promoting good governance principles and practices, on the one hand, and the increasingly authoritarian government on the other.

The project seeks to scrutinise and refine existing scholarly approaches towards transnational advocacy networks (TANs) reaching into a domestic context which is of post-communist and increasingly authoritarian character. In order to do so, it explores in more detail evident mismatches between agendas and expectations on the international level and failing civic anti-corruption activities on the domestic level in Russia. The central question is to what extent NGOs, which are part of TANs but situated within a post-communist context, can function as carriers of global ideas, given that they are torn between two network poles that are both vital to their existence. It is argued that the behaviour and identities of advocacy NGOs are influenced by both international institutions and the government as well as by their embeddedness within local milieus where corruption is entrenched and popular support for civic initiatives lacking. The main interest of this research is less in the success of anti-corruption advocacy, but rather in investigating their changing activist practices and transforming identities as part of internal network dynamics. The research is therefore concerned with four interrelated questions:

Q1. How are agendas and actions of domestic NGOs influenced by the domestic milieu where corruption remains entrenched and popular legitimisation of civil society institutions absent?
Q2. How are agendas and actions of domestic NGOs influenced by international actors?
Q3. How are agendas and actions of domestic NGOs influenced by the consolidation of an authoritarian government?
Q4. How do these influences manifest themselves in the changing behaviour and identity of domestic NGOs working in the anti-corruption realm?

The project starts from the assumption that the very existence of Russian NGOs in their current form depends on support coming from both the international community and their government, and that their agendas are significantly shaped by their interrelations with both kinds of network actors. In addition, they are forced to agitate in local environments where corruption is part of the system. They are thus torn between the need to acquire financial means from abroad through democratisation and good governance projects and involvement in the increasingly non-democratic state-building agenda at home. It is therefore argued that TAN influence not only shapes relations between international institutions and states, but also, and in contrary to common assumptions, between international institutions and domestic NGOs on the one hand and the Russian government and domestic NGOs on the other. In this light, NGOs need to be understood as responsive rather than presumably pro-active elements of transnational networks. Furthermore, given contended conceptions of both corruption and civil society in the post-communist context, it is argued that NGO responses are subject to fluctuation in connection with tensions between international and domestic principles, making mechanisms of network formation more complex in practice and analysis.

The findings on NGO involvement within the domestic context shall further be assessed with a view to the implications for the anti-corruption efforts on the transnational level. In particular the proposition of “flexible identities” (e.g. Tarrow) of non-state actors within such multi-level opportunity structures remains to be reconsidered for its potential effects on the commitment of such actors towards the multiple levels and how this may affect transnational advocacy over the long term.

Progress report

The project began in January 2003 at the Institute of Governance, Public Policy and Social Research, Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, supported by a SPUR (Support Programme for University Research) Scholarship (2003-2005). More than 7 months of fieldwork have been conducted in Russia throughout the project period, with main assistance of the Centre of Independent Social Research (CISR), St. Petersburg, the Centre for Independent Social Research and Education (CISRE), Irkutsk, and a number of organisations in Moscow. Interviews with international actors have been conducted in Berlin, Germany (2004/2005) and Brussels (2005). The final stage of conceptualising the results and writing up the final monograph was completed in autumn 2006.

Publications

Diana Schmidt: Auf dem Weg in die zweite Amtszeit – Korruptionsbekämpfung auf der Agenda, in: Russlandanalysen 18/2004 (www.russlandanalysen.de)

Diana Schmidt: Anti-corruption studies – what do we know?, in: Political Studies Review, forthcoming 2007

Diana Schmidt: Local Anti-corruption advocacy in Russia: international or domestic agendas?, in: L. de Sousa, B. Hindess, P. Larmour (eds.), The New Integrity Warriors: The vices and virtues of governmental and non-governmental anti-corruption, Routledge, forthcoming 2007.

Diana Schmidt: Anti-Corruption Advocacy in Russia? Local Civil Society Actors between International and Domestic Contexts, in: S. Fischer, H. Pleines, H. Schröder (eds), Movements, Migrants, Marginalisation. Challenges of Societal and Political Participation in Eastern Europe and the Enlarged EU, ibidem, forthcoming 2007.


 

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