Transnational aid for civil society development in post-socialist Europe: Democratic consolidation or a new imperialism?

Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics

Volumn 22, Issue 1, 2006, Pages 115-134

  Fagan, Adam ^a  

^a QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CIVIL SOCIETY; DEVELOPMENT AID; NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION; POST-COMMUNISM;

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA; EURASIA; EUROPE; SOUTHERN EUROPE;

EID: 33644858255     PISSN: 13523279     EISSN: 17439116     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/13523270500508437     Document Type: Article

References (47)

1. See Kevin F.F. Quigley, 'Lofty Goals, Modest Results: Assisting Civil Society in Eastern Europe', in M. Ottaway and T. Carothers (eds.), Funding Virtue: Civil Society Aid and Democracy Promotion (Washington, DC: Carnegie, 2000), pp.191-216.
2. This is an extensive literature. See, in particular, R. Mandel, 'Seeding Civil Society', in Chris M. Hann, Postsocialism: Ideals, Ideologies and Practices in Eurasia (London: Routledge, 2002)
3. J. Wedel, Collision and Collusion: The Strange Case of Western Aid to Eastern Europe, 1989-1998 (New York: St. Martin's, 2001)
4. B.A. Cellarius and C. Staddon, 'Environmental Nongovernmental Organizations, Civil Society and Democratization in Bulgaria', East European Politics and Societies, Vol.16, No.1 (2002), pp.182-222
5. S. Sampson, 'The Social Life of Projects: Importing Civil Society to Albania', in C.M. Hann and E. Dunn (eds.), Civil Society: Challenging Western Models (London: Routledge, 1996), pp.121-42
6. Quigley, 'Lofty Goals, Modest Results'.
7. C.M. Hann, 'Introduction' in Hann and Dunn (eds.), Civil Society
8. see also M. Kaldor, 'Civil Society and Accountability', Journal of Human Development, Vol.4, No.1 (2003), pp.5-27.
9. This information is based on interviews with representatives of the Soros foundation (Open Society) in the Czech Republic in 1998, and an interview with Hrvoje Batinic, Programme Director (Roma and civil society), Open Society Fund, Sarajevo, 24 March, 2004.
10. Quigley, 'Lofty Goals, Modest Results', p.192.
11. D. Chandler, Bosnia: Faking Democracy after Dayton, 2nd edn (London: Pluto Press, 2000), p.143.
12. See R. Caplan, International Governance of War-torn Territories: Rule and Reconstruction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005).
13. D. Chandler, 'From Dayton to Europe', in D. Chandler (ed.), 'Peace Without Politics? Ten Years of International State-building in Bosnia', International Peacekeeping, special issue, Vol.12, No.3 (2005), pp.336-49.
14. This assertion is based on the pronouncements of various officials and staff members of international donor agencies working to support NGOs in BiH. It is frequently asserted that civil society development has to begin from scratch. That the rationale of NGO development pursued by the main donors is indistinguishable from country to country is evidence of a 'one-model' approach. The information on and the opinions expressed regarding donor funding of NGOs are based on empirical research carried out in the Czech Republic by the author during the period 1993- 2003.
15. A. Fagan, Environment and Democracy in the Czech Republic: The Environmental Movement in the Transition Process (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2004).
16. D. Petrescu, 'Civil Society in Romania: From Donor Supply to Citizen Demand', in Ottaway and Carothers (eds.), Funding Virtue, pp.223-7.
17. R. Kay, Russian Women and their Organizations: Gender, Discrimination and Grassroots Women's Organizations, 1991-96 (London: Macmillan and New York: St. Martin's, 2000), pp.202-3.
18. While some NGOs in certain sectors have begun to develop strategies for financial independence and self-sufficiency, the vast majority of NGOs across the region remain dependent on foreign donors: See T. Anderson and J. Stuart (eds.), The 2003 NGO Sustainability Index for Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia (USAID, 2004).
19. Fagan, Environment and Democracy in the Czech Republic, p.90.
20. Donors include: Atlantic Philanthropies, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Ford Foundation, German Marshall Fund of the United States, Open Society Institute, Pfizer Foundation, and Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
21. M. Wyatt, 'New Approaches to Governance in CEE', The CEE Trust (News and Analysis section), at .
22. Anca Giurgiu, 'Strengthening the Basis for NGO-Government Cooperation in Romania', The CEE Trust (News and Analysis section), at .
23. Anderson and Stuart (eds.), The 2003 NGO Sustainability Index, p.179.
24. The information on BiH included in this paper was obtained as part of a British Academy research grant on civil society development in BiH, January 2004-May 2005.
25. Bosnia-Herzegovina is divided into two entities, the Muslim (Bosniak)-Croat Federation (FBiH), and Republika Srpska (RS). The federation is divided further into ten cantons, broadly reflecting majority ethnic communities within particular areas.
26. B. Deacon and P. Stubbs, 'International Actors and Social Policy Development in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Globalism and the New Feudalism', Journal of European Social Policy, Vol.8, No.2 (1998), pp.99-115,
27. J. S. Sorensen, 'Pluralism or Fragmentation', War Report, May 1997, p.35.
28. Michael Ignatieff, Empire Lite: Nation-Building in Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan (London: Vintage, 2003).
29. D. Chandler, 'The Problems of "Nation-Building": Imposing Bureaucratic "Rule from Above"', Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Vol.17, No.3 (2004), p.589.
30. See Quigley, 'Lofty Goals, Modest Results'.
31. Figures obtained from EU CARDS Program review, 2004 (pp.2-3).
32. Interview with Paolo Scialla, team coordinator, Democratic Stabilization Programme, Delegation of the European Commission to BiH, Sarajevo, 24 March 2004.
33. Interview with Goran Tinjic, operations officer, World Bank Country Office Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, 8 Nov. 2004.
34. Initial studies of civil society development in Bosnia include D. Chandler, Bosnia: Faking Democracy, p.143
35. Y. du Pont, 'Democratization Through Supporting Civil Society in Bosnia and Herzegovina', Helsinki Monitor, 2000, No.4, pp.11-25
36. S. Freizer and M. Kaldor, 'Civil Society in Bosnia and Herzegovina', unpublished paper, 2002
37. B. Deacon and P. Stubbs, 'International Actors and Social Policy Development in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Globalism and the New Feudalism', Journal of European Social Policy, Vol.8, No.2 (1998), pp.99-115.
38. Not surprisingly, such linkage between local politicians and NGOs has occurred mostly within Sarajevo and Tuzla, where international donors are prominent and NGOs are most developed.
39. Interview with Goran Tinjic (see note 27).
40. For a full and detailed analysis of the OSCE's early vision of civil society and NGOs in BiH, see Chandler, Bosnia: Faking Democracy, pp.135-53.
41. Interviews with Caroline Cliff, information officer, Zinaida Delic, deputy spokesperson, and Nikola Yordanov, civil society coordinator, OSCE, Sarajevo, 24 March and 8 Nov. 2004.
42. The Tuzla Reference Group is a local support network for NGOs operating in the Tuzla region.
43. Interview with Milan Miric, network coordinator, ICVA (International Council for Voluntary Associations), Sarajevo, 24 March 2004.
44. Information on SGG is based on interviews with Kenan Muftic, co-ordinator, SGG, 21 Feb. 2005.
45. M. Diani and P. Donati, 'Organizational Change in Western European Environmental Groups: A Framework for Analysis', Environmental Politics, Vol.8, No.1 (1999), pp.13-34.
46. Caplan, International Governance of War-torn Territories, p.5.
47. For a discussion of the extent to which notions of civil society at the heart of democratization in post-communist Europe have departed from normative models, and indeed from the conception held by dissidents prior to 1989, see Gideon Baker, 'The Taming of the Idea of Civil Society', Democratization, Vol.6, No.3 (1999), pp.43-71.