Exporting civil society the post-communist experience

Problems of Post-Communism

Volumn 55, Issue 2, 2008, Pages 3-13

  Matveeva, Anna ^a  

^a LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 42549165130     PISSN: 10758216     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2753/PPC1075-8216550201     Document Type: Article

References (46)

1. Author interview with a development worker on a U.S.-sponsored project in Georgia, April 2003.
2. Strategies for Achieving the International Targets: Making Government Work for Poor People (London: DFID Information Department, 2000), glossary.
3. Hakan Seckinelgin, "Civil Society as a Metaphor for Western Liberalism," London School of Economics, Centre for Civil Society, Working Paper no. 21, January 2002, www.lse.ac.uk/collections/CCS/pdf/CSWP/CSWP21.pdf.
4. White House, "National Security Strategy" (March 2006), www. whitehouse.gov/infocus/nationalsecurity/.
5. Outlined by Jonathan Di John in "Conceptualising the Causes and Consequences of Failed States: A Critical Review of the Literature," London School of Economics, Crisis States Research Centre, Working Paper no. 25, 2008, www.crisisstates.com.
6. See, for example, Magüi Torres and Michael Anderson, "Fragile States: Defining Difficult Environments for Poverty Reduction," Department for International Development, Poverty Reduction in Difficult Environments Team, Working Paper no. 1, London, 2004.
7. Robert Rotberg, State Failure and State Weakness in a Time of Terror (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2003).
8. World Bank, "Fragile and Conflict-Affected Territories: What's New," www1.worldbank.org/operations/licus/.
9. "Crisis, Fragile, and Failed States: Definitions Used by the CSRC, Phase 2 Research Framework 2006-2010" (London School of Economics and Political Science, Development Studies Institute, Crisis States Research Centre, 2007), www.crisisstates.com/research/phase2.htm.
10. See more at European Commission, "Enlargement," http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/.
11. Michael Mann, "The Autonomous Power of the State: Its Origins, Mechanisms, and Results," in The State: Critical Concepts, ed. John Hall (London: Routledge, 1994), pp. 331-53.
12. On governance indicators, for instance, see Verena Fritz, "Central Asia: Governance, Geopolitics, and Development Challenges," Overseas Development Institute, Briefing Paper no. 20, May 2007.
13. For development of this argument, see Jan Koehler and Christoph Zürcher, "Conflict and the State of the State in the Caucasus and Central Asia: An Empirical Research Challenge," Free University of Berlin, East European Institute, Working Papers in Politics and History, 2004.
14. See, for instance, Kathleen Collins, "The Logic of Clan Politics: Evidence from the Central Asian Trajectories," World Politics 56, no. 2 (2004): 224-61.
15. Anna Matveeva, "Democratisation, Legitimacy, and Political Change in Central Asia," International Affairs 75, no. 1 (January 1999): 23-44.
16. Thomas de Waal and Anna Matveeva, "Central Asia and the Caucasus: A Vulnerable Crescent," International Peace Academy, Coping with Crisis Working Paper Series, New York, February 2007.
17. Francis Fukuyama, "Stateness First," Journal of Democracy 16, no. 1 (January 2005): 84.
18. Herbst puts the emphasis on weak taxation systems in discussing African cases, but the point has wider significance. Jeffrey Herbst, Power and States in Africa: Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000).
19. Author interview with Raya Kadyrova, president of Foundation for Tolerance International, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, May 2006.
20. Author interview with Tolekan Ismailova, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, November 2005.
21. A specific case was brought to the author's attention in Kyrgyzstan in 2005. Two CBOs funded by international donors (USAID and the World Bank, respectively) agreed to build a school together. One organization obtained funding for the foundation and walls, the other, for roof and windows. The first organization completed its part of the project, but the other CBO did not receive the grant because the overall program had run out of money. In a year's time, the half-finished structure had been damaged by the elements, while enterprising villagers had taken whatever they could. It was a total waste. When another CBO tried to initiate another community project, enthusiasm was lukewarm.
22. See, for example, "USAID Awards $22.2 Million for New Community Action Investment Program in Central Asia" (USAID Press Release, July 11, 2002), www.usaid.gov/press/releases/2002/pr020711_2.html.
23. The population of Tajikistan is 24.2 percent urban. The figures for Kyrgyzstan, Albania, Azerbaijan, and Georgia are, respectively, 33.7 percent, 45 percent, 49.9 percent, and 51 percent.
24. See United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), "Population, Health, and Socioeconomic Indicators/Policy Developments," www.unfpa.org/profile/ tajikistan.cfm.
25. Scott Radnitz, "What Really Happened in Kyrgyzstan?" Journal of Democracy 17, no. 2 (April 2006): 139.
26. Adam Fagan, "Transnational Aid for Civil Society Development in PostSocialist Europe: Democratic Consolidation or a New Imperialism?" Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics 22, no. 1 (March 2006): 118.
27. Thomas Carothers, "The Backlash Against Democracy Promotion," Foreign Affairs 85, no. 2 (March/April 2006): 55.
28. See, for instance, "Under Secretary Burns Meets with Belarusian Civil Society Representatives," U.S. Department of State, Office of the Spokesman, Media Note, Washington, DC, February 13, 2006, www.state.gov/r/pa/ prs/ ps/2006/61045.htm.
29. Dan Rosenblum, the State Department deputy coordinator in the Office of the Coordinator for U.S. Assistance to Europe and Eurasia, in remarks to a Ukrainian delegation, described the role of the State Department and other agencies as follows: "Even more important than the short-term initiatives in the run-up to the election was the sustained effort that was made over 10 to 15 years to give training, provide grants, and expose people to new ideas through training programs, exchange programs. That's what made an important contribution to creating the vibrant civil society that was really the key ingredient in the Orange Revolution. The Community Partnerships Project was part of that process" ("CPP Conference Celebrates Accomplishments and Looks to the Future," USAID Europe and Asia Bulletin [September 2005], www.usaid. gov/locations/europe_eurasia/press/success/cpp_conference. html).
30. Quoted in Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Newsline (January 10, 2005).
31. See, for instance, "Central Asian NGOs Under Fire," IWPR Reporting Central Asia, no. 439 (March 18, 2006).
32. Åse Berit Grodeland, "Public Perceptions of NGOs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia," Journal of Communist and Post-Communist Studies 39, no. 2 (June 2006): 221-46.
33. For more on Proryv, see www.proriv.org.
34. Remarks of Pyotr Svoik, "Kazakhstan: NGOs Fear Losing Independence," IWPR Reporting Central Asia, no. 460 (August 11, 2006).
35. Olivier Roy, "The Predicament of 'Civil Society' in Central Asia and the 'Greater Middle East'," International Affairs 81, no. 5 (October 2005): 1011.
36. For an interesting study of NGOs in Transnistria, see "The Third Sector in Transnistria: Public Opinion and Cross-Sector Cooperation," report by Chisinau: Choice of Youth NGO.
37. On the role and stance of NGOs in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, see Avaz Hasanov and Armine Ishkanian, "Bridging Divides: Civil Society Peacebuilding Initiatives," in The Limits of Leadership: Elites and Societies in the Nagomy Karabakh Peace Process, ed. Laurence Broers,
38. special issue of Accord: An International Review of Peace Initiatives 17 (London: Conciliation Resources, 2005), pp. 44-47.
39. Consider, for instance, "The Tolerant Person of the Year" prize, established through USAID's Ethnic Integration project, www.usaid.gov/locations/europe_eurasia/press/success/2006-02-06.html.
40. Fagan, "Transnational Aid for Civil Society Development."
41. Author field research in Abkhazia, July/August 2005.
42. Author interviews in Pristina with former and present employees of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the United Nations Development Programme, July 2007.
43. Note, for example, Counterpart's $90 million portfolio of civil society programs since 1993 in Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Georgia, the five Central Asian republics, Russia, Ukraine, Vietnam, and Burundi. See www.counterpart. org/dnn/Default.aspx?tabid=32/.
44. European Commission, European Initiative for Human Rights and Democracy, "Generating Impact Indicators" (March 2005), http://ec.europa. eu/comm/europeaid/projects/eidhr/pdf/impact_indicators_channel_en.pdf.
45. Michael Ignatieff, Empire Lite: Nation-Building in Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan (Toronto: Penguin Canada, 2003).
46. They also sometimes employ unconventional techniques against the state, which repays them in kind. For instance, in Uzbekistan before the Andijan events of May 2005, some human rights NGOs used to pay people seeking day work in the city to participate in protest demonstrations, while the government drafted students who needed passing grades on exams to participate in proregime demonstrations (author interview with Kudrat Babajanov, Institute of War and Peace Reporting journalist, Tashkent, March 2005).