Third Sector Throttled: A Comparative Study of Russian Civil Society 2011-2017

Russian civil society and how circumstances over the period since 2011 have affected it is a charged and knotty topic about which few can agree. Critics have maintained that the government has inhibited the third sector’s development, and the Kremlin has countered with arguments about “sovereign democracy” and nefarious foreign influence in the guise of NGOs. This paper does not adopt either side’s approach, but instead relies on the impartial and comprehensive means of assessment based on the methodology developed by CIVICUS. As such, the analysis utilizes five distinct dimensions to assess how well the third sector performs: Civic Engagement, its Level of Organisation, its Space, the Perception of its Impact, and the External Environment. These five pieces are given numerical value based upon twenty-four subunits of measure consisting of forty-two unique empirical indicators, the ultimate result of which is illustrated visually through the CSI Diamond model. Addressing criticism and support, we find mixed results, indicating that although the space has indeed been limited, structural capacity has grown along with public faith in the third sector. Additionally, data also illustrates that although positive sentiment and trust has increased, involvement in organised civil society has remained, at best, sporadic, with people having little regard for formal groups’ influence, and unwilling to donate their time to participate. The conclusion then, is that despite a willingness by citizens, the third sector has indeed been throttled, though it remains unclear if increased state involvement is related.