Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T07:02:37.680Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Foreign Assistance, International Norms, and NGO Development: Lessons from the Russian Campaign

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2005

Lisa McIntosh Sundstrom
Lisa McIntosh Sundstrom
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Why have Western donors' efforts to encourage development of Russian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) varied dramatically in two different NGO sectors, despite similar levels of assistance? I forward a norms-based explanation for varying success in bolstering the Russian women's and soldiers' rights movements. Where foreign assistance is employed to promote norms that are universally embraced, it is highly likely to lead to a successful NGO movement. In contrast, when foreign assistance pursues norms that are specific to other societal contexts, it will fail to develop an NGO movement, regardless of the amount of funding foreign donors devote. NGOs and foreign donors have succeeded by articulating a universal norm against physical harm in the cases of soldiers' rights and domestic violence, but have failed by voicing specifically Western norms of gender equality and feminism in the case of women's rights.I wish to thank Kathleen Collins, Elisabeth Friedman, Kathryn Hochstetler, David Holloway, Stephen Krasner, Gail Lapidus, Michael McFaul, and especially Richard Price, Lisa Martin, and two anonymous reviewers for their close readings and comments on versions of this article. Thanks also to Kimberly Swanzey for excellent research assistance and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for financial support of the research.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Organization , Volume 59 , Issue 2 , April 2005 , pp. 419 - 449
Copyright
© 2005 The IO Foundation and Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abubikirova, N. I., et al. 1998. Zhenskie nepravitel'stvennye organizatsii Rossii i SNG: Spravochnik. Moscow: Eslan.
Baskakova, Marina. 1998. Ravnye vozmozhnosti i gendernye stereotypy na rynke truda. Moscow: Moscow Center for Gender Studies.
Baskakova, Marina. 2000. Gender Aspects of Pension Reform in Russia. In Making the Transition Work for Women in Europe and Central Asia, edited by Marina Lazreg, 61–68. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.
Basu, Amrita, ed. 1995. The Challenge of Local Feminisms: Women's Movements in Global Perspective. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press.
Bridger, Sue, Rebecca Kay, and Kathryn Pinnick. 1996. No More Heroines? Russia, Women, and the Market. London: Routledge.
Buckley, Mary. 1989. Women and Ideology in the Soviet Union. Toronto: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
Bunch, Charlotte. 1990. Women's Rights as Human Rights: Toward a Revision of Human Rights. Human Rights Quarterly 12 (4):486–98.Google Scholar
Caiazza, Amy. 2002. Mothers and Soldiers: Gender, Citizenship, and Civil Society in Contemporary Russia. New York: Routledge.
Carothers, Thomas. 1999. Aiding Democracy Abroad: The Learning Curve. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). 2002. The World Factbook 2002. Available at 〈http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/kn.html〉. Accessed 24 June 2003.
Checkel, Jeffrey T. 1999. Norms, Institutions and National Identity in Contemporary Europe. International Studies Quarterly 43 (1):83–114.Google Scholar
Clark, Ann Marie, Elisabeth J. Friedman, and Kathryn Hochstetler. 1998. The Sovereign Limits of Global Civil Society: A Comparison of NGO Participation in UN World Conferences on the Environment, Human Rights, and Women. World Politics 51 (1):1–35.Google Scholar
Consortium of Women's Nongovernmental Organizations. 2004a. O Konsortsiume. Available at 〈http://www.wcons.org.ru/ru/page.php?page_id=131&page_up=0〉. Accessed 18 January 2005.
Consortium of Women's Nongovernmental Organizations. 2004b. Zamechaniia zhenskikh nepravitel'stvennykh organizatsii k trudovomu zakonodatel'stvu. Photocopy.
Cortell, Andrew P., and James W. Davis Jr. 2000. Understanding the Domestic Impact of International Norms: A Research Agenda. International Studies Review 2 (1):65–87.Google Scholar
Della Porta, Donatella, and Mario Diani. 1999. Social Movements: An Introduction. Oxford, England: Blackwell.
European Commission. European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights. 2004. Projects. Available at 〈http://europa.eu.int/comm/europeaid/projects/eidhr/projects_en.htm〉. Accessed 18 January 2005.
Finnemore, Martha, and Kathryn Sikkink. 1998. International Norm Dynamics and Political Change. International Organization 52 (4):887–917.Google Scholar
Ford Foundation. 2004. Grants Database. Available at 〈http://www.fordfound.org/grants_db/view_ grant_detail1.cfm〉. Accessed 18 January 2005.
Gerber, Theodore P., and Sarah E. Mendelson. 2003. Strong Public Support for Military Reform in Russia. Program on New Approaches to Russian Security Policy Memo 288 (May). Available at 〈http://www.csis.org/ruseura/ponars/〉. Accessed 18 January 2005.
Gurowitz, Amy. 1999. Mobilizing International Norms: Domestic Actors, Immigrants, and the Japanese State. World Politics 51 (3):413–45.Google Scholar
Henderson, Sarah L. 2003. Building Democracy in Contemporary Russia: Western Support for Grassroots Organizations. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.
Henry, Laura A. 2001. The Greening of Grassroots Democracy? The Russian Environmental Movement, Foreign Aid, and Democratization. BPS Working Paper Series. Berkeley, Calif.: Berkeley Program in Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies.
Henry, Laura A. Forthcoming. Russian Environmentalists and Civil Society. In Russian Civil Society: A Critical Assessment, edited by Alfred B. Evans, Laura A. Henry, and Lisa McIntosh Sundstrom. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe.
Human Rights Watch. 1997. Russia—Too Little, Too Late: State Response to Violence Against Women. New York: Human Rights Watch. Available at 〈http://www.hrw.org/reports97/russwmn〉. Accessed 18 January 2005.
Information Center of the Independent Women's Forum (ICIWF). 2001. Diskriminatsiia zhenshchin v sfere ekonomiki (po materialam ofitsial'noi statistiki). Informatsionnyi listok, 17 April. Available at 〈http://www.owl.ru/win/infolist/2001/index.htm〉. Accessed 18 January 2005.Google Scholar
Information Center of the Independent Women's Forum (ICIWF). 2002. Diskussiia v Gosudarstvennoi Dume po voprosu o predstavitel'stve zhenshchin v zakonodatel'nykh organakh vlasti. Informatsionnyi listok, 3 May 2002. Available at 〈http://www. owl.ru/win/infolist/2002/v18_02.htm#duma〉. Accessed 18 January 2005.
Inglehart, Ronald, Miguel Basáñez, and Alejandro Menéndez Moreno. 1998. Human Values and Beliefs: A Cross-Cultural Sourcebook. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
International Institute for Strategic Studies. 2002. The Military Balance 2002–2003. London: Oxford University Press.
Ivankovskaia, Svetlana. 2001. Soldaty—zhertvy nasiliia v Rossiiskoi armii. Available at 〈http://www. hro.org/docs/reps/spbmoth.htm〉. Accessed 18 January 2005.
Jepperson, Ronald, Alexander Wendt, and Peter J. Katzenstein. 1996. Norms, Identity, and Culture in National Security. In The Culture of National Security: Norms and Identity in World Politics, edited by Peter J. Katzenstein, 33–75. New York: Columbia University Press.
Johnson, Janet Elise. 2004. Sisterhood versus the “Moral” Russian State: The Postcommunist Politics of Rape. In Post-Soviet Women Encountering Transition: Nation Building, Economic Survival, and Civic Activism, edited by Kathleen Kuehnast and Carol Nechemias, 217–38. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Jurna, Irina. 1995. Women in Russia: Building a Movement. In From Basic Needs to Basic Rights: Women's Claim to Human Rights, edited by Margaret Schuler, 477–94. Washington, D.C.: Women Law and Development International.
Kay, Rebecca. 2000. Russian Women and their Organizations: Gender, Discrimination, and Grassroots Women's Organizations, 1991–1996. New York: St. Martin's Press.
Kay, Rebecca. 2004. Meeting the Challenge Together? Russian Grassroots Women's Organizations and the Shortcomings of Western Aid. In Post-Soviet Women Encountering Transition: Nation Building, Economic Survival, and Civic Activism, edited by Kathleen Kuehnast and Carol Nechemias, 241–61. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Keck, Margaret, and Kathryn Sikkink. 1998. Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.
Khotkina, Zoya, ed. 1996. Seksual'nye domogatel'stva na rabote. Moscow: ABA-CEELI.
Malyakin, Ilya, and Marina Konnova. 1999. Voluntary Organizations in Russia: Three Obstacle Courses. Jamestown Foundation Prism 8, 23 April. Available at 〈http://www.jamestown.org/publications_ archives.php?publication_id=7〉. Accessed 18 January 2005.
McAdam, Doug. 1996. Conceptual Origins, Current Problems, Future Directions. In Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements, edited by Doug McAdam, John D. McCarthy, and Mayer M. Zald, 23–40. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Mendelson, Sarah E. 2001. Democracy Assistance and Political Transition in Russia: Between Success and Failure. International Security 25 (4): 68–106.Google Scholar
Mendelson, Sarah E., and John K. Glenn, eds. 2002. The Power and Limits of NGOs: A Critical Look at Building Democracy in Eastern Europe and Eurasia. New York: Columbia University Press.
Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation. 1993. Glava 2: Vzaimootnosheniia mezhdu voennosluzhashchimi. Ustav vnutrennei sluzhby. Available at 〈http://www.mil.ru/print/articles/article4088.shtml〉. Accessed 18 January 2005.
Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation. 2004. Osobennosti prizyva grazhdan na voennuiu sluzhbu vesnoi 2004 goda. Available at 〈http://www.mil.ru/articles/article5379.shtml〉. Accessed 18 January 2005.
Oates, Sarah. Forthcoming. Media and Politics: A Comparative Perspective. London: Sage Publications.
Obraztsova, Liudmila. 1999. Stat'ia. Unpublished manuscript. Moscow.
Price, Richard. 1998. Reversing the Gun Sights: Transnational Civil Society Targets Land Mines. International Organization 52 (3):613–44.Google Scholar
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). 1999. “Illegal Draftees” File Suit Against Military Commission. RFE/RL Newsline, 23 August. Available at 〈http://www.rferl.org/newsline/1999/08/1-rus/rus-230899.asp〉. Accessed 18 January 2005.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). 2001. 5.9 Million Still in Uniform. RFE/RL (Un)Civil Societies 2 (21), 23 May. Available at 〈www.rferl.org〉. Accessed 18 January 2005.Google Scholar
Richter, James. 2002. Promoting Civil Society? Democracy Assistance and Russian Women's Organizations. Problems of Post-Communism 48 (1):30–41.Google Scholar
Risse, Thomas, and Kathryn Sikkink. 1999. The Socialization of International Human Rights Norms into Domestic Practices: Introduction. In The Power of Human Rights: International Norms and Domestic Change, edited by Thomas Risse, Stephen C. Ropp, and Kathryn Sikkink, 1–38. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rose, Richard. 1999. New Russia Barometer: Trends Since 1992. Studies in Public Policy no. 320. Glasgow, Scotland: Centre for the Study of Public Policy, University of Strathclyde.
Rossiiskoe obshchestvennoe mnenie i issledovanie rynka (ROMIR). 2000. Otnoshenie Rossiian k voennym vo vlasti. Available at 〈http://www.nns.ru/analytdoc/romopr210.html〉. Accessed 18 January 2005.
Russian Federation. 1994. Concept for the Improvement of the Status of Women in the Russian Federation. Moscow: Government of the Russian Federation. Available at 〈http://www.un.org/esa/gopher-data/conf/fwcw/natrep/NatActPlans/rusia.txt〉. Accessed 18 January 2005.
Schmitz, Hans Peter, and Kathryn Sikkink. 2002. International Human Rights. In Handbook of International Relations, edited by Walter Carlsnaes, Thomas Risse, and Beth A. Simmons, 517–37. London: Sage.
Snow, David A., and Robert D. Benford. 1999. Alternative Types of Cross-national Diffusion in the Social Movement Arena. In Social Movements in a Globalizing World, edited by Donatella Della Porta, Hanspeter Kriesi, and Dieter Rucht, 23–39. New York: St. Martin's Press.
Sperling, Valerie. 1999. Organizing Women in Contemporary Russia: Engendering Transition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sperling, Valerie. Forthcoming. Women's Organizations: Institutionalized Interest Groups or Vulnerable Dissidents? In Russian Civil Society: A Critical Assessment, edited by Alfred B. Evans, Laura A. Henry, and Lisa McIntosh Sundstrom. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe.
Sperling, Valerie, Myra Marx Ferree, and Barbara Risman. 2001. Constructing Global Feminism: Transnational Advocacy Networks and Russian Women's Activism. Signs 26 (4):1155–86.Google Scholar
Sundstrom, Lisa McIntosh. 2001. Strength from Without? Transnational Actors and NGO Development in Russia. Ph.D. diss., Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.
Union of Committees of Soldiers' Mothers (UCSMR). 2003. Annual Report 2002. Available at 〈http://www.ucsmr.ru/english/ucsmr/report/report2002.htm〉. Accessed 18 January 2005.
United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF). 1999. Women in Transition. MONEE Project Regional Monitoring Report. Florence, Italy: UNICEF ICDC.
United States Agency for International Development (USAID). 2000. Russia: FY 2001 Program Description and Activity Data Sheets. Washington, D.C.: USAID.
Vallance, Brenda J. 2000. “Russia's Mothers—Voices of Change.” Minerva: Quarterly Report on Women and the Military (Fall-Winter). Available at 〈http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m0EXI/2000_Fall-Winter/73063468/print.jhtml〉. Accessed 18 January 2005.
Vannoy, Dana, Natalia Rimashevskaya, Lisa Cubbins, Marina Malysheva, Elena Meshterkina, and Marina Pisklakova. 1999. Marriages in Russia: Couples During the Economic Transition. Westport, Conn.: Praeger.
Van Rooy, Alison, ed. 1998. Civil Society and the Aid Industry: The Politics and Promise. London: Earthscan Publications.
Voronina, Olga. 1993. Zhenshchina i sotsializm: opyt feministskogo analiza. In Feminizm: vostok, zapad, Rossiia (Feminism: East, West, Russia), edited by M. T. Stepaniants. Moscow: Nauka.
Vserossiiskii tsentr isucheniia obshchestvennogo mneniia (VTsIOM). 2002. Press-vypusk No 4, 21 February. Available at 〈http://www.wciom.ru/〉. Accessed 18 January 2005.
Zabelina, Tatiana, ed. 2002. Rossia: nasilie v sem'e—nasilie v obshchestve. UNIFEM. Available at 〈http://www.owl.ru/win/books/camp/book_camp.pdf〉. Accessed 17 August 2004.