As they travel about the NIS, or meet with visitors from those countries in the U.S., Americans are often asked about programs or re-sources they might know of in a very wide variety of fields. Our last issue of Civil Society: East and West focused on the field of nonprofit organizational development. The next issue will focus on programs in the fields of public health and medical care. This issue tells about programs and resources American organizations are offering in the fields of business educati on and management training. If readers know of additional items that deserve mention with those in the pages that follow, please contact us at CCSI.

When Yeltsin chose the Afghan war hero Aleksandr Rutskoi to be his vice-presidential running mate in 1991, Rutskoi declared, "I am a proponent of the renewal of the Communist Party." In a similar fashion, the Russian parliament (which elected Rutskoi "pr esident" this month in response to its dismissal by Yeltsin) has been a consistent proponent of the "renewal" of the huge state monopolies which for many years, like the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, have dominated the outlandish Soviet economic landscape.< P> But in most cases those monopolies need to be broken up and privatized, or at least allowed to die. "We have spent 70 years fighting monopoly capitalism, but we have the worst monopolies of all," said Mikhail Gorbachev back in the mid-eighties.

The huge state enterprises to which Gorbachev referred not only outlasted him; they have survived to threaten at different points Yeltsin and anybody else that tried to bring free markets and open competition to Russia. They are the grey eminences behind the political stalemate that has plagued the country since 1991 and that turned into another crisis in the middle of this month. They, together with their ex-communist allies in parliament, are the reason that privatization has advanced so slowly, while the ruble has depreciated so rapidly--hurting millions of pensioners and others on fixed incomes.

Yet despite all the economic and political turmoil, despite all the perversions of free enterprise by criminals and con artists, despite the need to make progress simultaneously on one thousand fronts, Russia is inching toward a modern economic system. T he rudiments of a banking system are being established. Transport companies such as Sea-Land report that cargo volumes to and from Russia are running at double last year's levels. Commersant magazine regularly publishes data on levels of privatization, some of which suggest greater progress than commonly thought. And simply reviewing any isssue of a magazine such as Delovie Lyudi will reveal many examples of the extent to which economic reform is going forward in Russia.

In this process, American NGOs are playing an important role. We sometimes think of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) as being, more or less, alternatives to capitalism: correctors of its defects or softeners of its sharp edges (by providing "safety n ets," etc.).

But in many ways voluntary associations and NGOs are as intrinsic to capitalism as corporations themselves. Firms create the wealth that funds most NGOs; NGOs in turn do much to in-sure that the legal, social and political environment in which firms func tion is stable but adaptable--and fundamentally humane. This is one reason that many foreign and domestic investors in the NIS also support a variety of charitable or philanthropic NGOs in their country or region of activity. They recognize that such o rganizations in the long run contribute to the general welfare and political stability of their markets. Further, indigenous NGOs are sometimes the only sources of crucial social services, whether because of the weakness, chaos or corruption in governmen t structures.

In short, the success of economic reform in the NIS presupposes the growth of institutions of education and public health; strong citizen organizations to safeguard minority rights and the environment, and provide essential human services; and fully in dependent religious bodies, whose spiritual activities enrich the moral perspectives and behavior of individuals.

Conversely, it goes almost without saying, only dynamic and growing economies generate the wealth and savings which institutions of the "third sector" need in order to develop. This is clearly demonstrated in the NIS, where in order to survive many NGO s have either developed a relationship with a profit-making enterprise, becoming "its NGO," or are themselves engaged in a side business in order to support their social service work. For such organizations, interest in programs offering business traini ng and education is particulary high, for they see no contradiction between receiving such technical assistance and the expansion of their social services.

--Holt Ruffin

Leaders and Laggards in Privatization in the Russian Federation (% of small enterprises privatized in selected regions as of June 1, 1993)

Leaders

Laggards

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