Barriers to Development of Government Watchdog Organizations in Russia: the Case of Centre for Anticorruption Research and Initiatives "Transparency International - Russia"

<p>Government watchdog organizations in Russia represent a very important sector of civil society in Russia. Being the driving force of civil society in Russia, they now face significant problems caused by changes in law on non-profit organizations.</p><p>Amendments to the Federal Law of January 12, 1996 N 7-FZ &quot;On non-commercial organizations &quot; obliged NGOs receiving foreign funding and engaged in political activities to register as an organization acting as a foreign agent. As a result, some non-governmental organizations has been suspended [1] , for others - checks carried out by supervisory authorities and court proceedings diverted a lot of resources from fulfilling their statutory objectives. Is it only the limiting legislation (the factor of external organizational environment) that impedes the development of watchdog organizations? Or do factors of internal environment also constrain growth? &nbsp;</p><p>In this paper, the author considers the case of the Center for Anti-Corruption Research and Initiative &quot; Transparency International -Russia &quot;. After the entry into force of the law &ldquo;about Foreign Agents&quot; Transparency International - Russia, despite the long-term agreements with donors, was forced to withdraw from foreign grants and is currently being re-orientating to Russian funding. Previously, the main share of budget revenues of the organization consisted of foreign funds, and after ceasing to receive foreign funding, the organization was under the threat of liquidation. &nbsp;However, after a year the organization has recovered and become even stronger.</p><p>The aim of this work is to identify existing barriers to the development of the Centre &quot; TI-R &quot; and determine the impact of these barriers on the organization.</p><p>The author hypothesizes that :</p><p>1) the stability of the internal environment and accumulated internal reserves allowed the organization to survive under the conditions of the existing barriers ;</p><p>2) several factors of internal and external environment of the organization continue to hinder the development of the Centre &quot; TI-R .&quot;</p><p>According to the survey results, it is due to high employee commitment the organization&#39;s mission, adequate leadership, and understanding the organization&#39;s ability to influence the external environment and to build partnerships with other organizations, the organization managed to survive under the difficulties associated with the rejection of foreign funding.</p><p>However, further development of the organization, from the point of view of the author, would be difficult if the organization don&rsquo;t overcome internal barriers - lack of strategy development, strategic planning and financial stability. Effective achievement of organizational goals will be impossible in the absence of a clearly formulated set of activities and programs, as well as steps to implement them.</p>