Anti-corruption discourses of civil society actors in Russia in a context of legitimacy deficit
The project explores the legitimization strategies of anti-corruption civil society actors directly or indirectly engaged in anti-corruption in Russia. The analysis of the data collected shows how the international and national anti-corruption discourses, mirrored in the available scholarship, limit the understanding of the Russian context by applying the dichotomy liberal/pro-government civil society.
The project introduces the question of the value pluralism explaining how more neutral civil society actors engage with a more conservative audience in order to gain legitimization in a shrinking politicized space and, therefore, providing evidence of the limits of the depoliticized discourse they represent when applied in non-western contexts. By widening the focus of anti-corruption research, the project provides further evidence of an anti-corruption discourse from the bottom created by urban grassroots initiatives. The work is based on semi-structured interviews collected in different Russian cities with representatives of organizations and grassroots initiatives, and experts.
May 27th at 3.00.
Антикоррупционные дискурсы акторов гражданского общества в России в условиях дефицита легитимации / Anti-corruption discourses of civil society actors in Russia in a context of legitimacy deficit
Supervisor: Lili di Puppo
Reviewers: Christian Fröhlich and Arnab Roy Chowdhury
Research Assistant