Documents

This section contains links to articles, studies, and other writings on themes related to civil society that are available online. If readers wish to suggest items that should be added, please notify us by e-mail: [email protected].

Index

1. Conference Reports
2. Civil Society
3. Education
4. Economic Transition
5. Environment
6. Human Rights
7. NGOs
8. Media & Technology
9. Philanthropy
10. Political Transition

    Conference Reports
    

    • A successful International Community Schools Conference was held in Omsk, Russia, October 9-13. "Over 130 people from 12 countries and 23 regions of Russia participated. The goal of the conference was to establish understanding and partnership between government education departments and the community school movement. Click here, for the full report on this unusual conference by Tatiana Buinovskaya ...

    • Report on Osh conference on Democracy and Religion, March 24-25, sponsored by Central Asian Media Support Project.

    • Kharkiv Declaration Adopted by the International Conference "Strengthening of Connections between NGO's for Increased Influence on the Democratization Process in Ukraine" that took place in October 27-30, 1999.

    Civil Society
    

    • The Big Chill. Civil Society in Russia in a New Political Season An article by Mary McAuley in the Ford Foundation Report, Winter 2001.
    • Is Bush A Communitarian? An article appearing in the February 1, 2001 edition of the Washington Post, discussing the difficulty in pinning an ideological tail on the nascent Bush White House.  The article notes, "His actions have less to do with the left vs. right, they say, than with his embrace of many of the ideas contained in the movement known as 'communitarianism,' which places the importance of society ahead of the unfettered rights of the individual." 
    • Address to the Saeima and the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Latvia Statement at the Conference of Parents of Latvia "To Study in Mother Tongue", which was organized by the NGO LASHOR, November 25, 2000.
    • Courageous Mothers Make Russia Quake, Government and War No Match for Russian Women Article by Kathy Lally appearing in the Baltimore Sun, November 20, 1999, about a leader of the Nizhny Novgorod section of the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers, and her work in Chechnya. Taken from the Johnson Russia List.
    • Faces and Places: Reflections on Ukraine's Civil Society Article by Myron Kuropas, columnist for the Ukrainian Weekly, reflects on the lack of a moral consensus in Ukrainian society and its involvement in the present problems in the development of civil society in Ukraine and the former Soviet Union. January 18, 1998

    Economic Transition
    

    • "What Is To Be Done?" An essay by Dr. Ron Pope of the Serendipity Project in Vladimir discussing strategies for improving the economic climate in Russia, favoring an increased emphasis on small business over large-scale projects.
    • Address by Václav Havel, President of the Czech Republic An English translation of an address Havel gave to the Czech Parliament in December 1997. It sums up the successes and failings of the Czech economic transformation and its attempt to build a civil society.

    Education
    

    • About Boards of Trustees--and More, A translation of an article by Tamara Epanchintseva, first published in the Russian magazine, "Teachers' Gazette" (Uchitelskaya Gazeta), on the emerging phenomenon of school-community foundations in Russia.

    Environment
    

    • Doors to Democracy - Current Trends and Practices in Public Participation in Environmental Decisionmaking in Central and Eastern Europe, June 1998

     Human Rights
    

    • Remarks by Ilyas Akhmadov, Foreign Minister of Chechnya At the National Press Club, March 23, 2001 
    • Press Conference with Sergei Kovalyov, Alexei Simonov, Lev Ponomaryov, and other human rights defenders [AIF News Agency, 12:00, January 17, 2001] Source: Federal News Service.
    • Hot Line Report No. 9, December 2000  Report from Azerbaijan Electoral Rights Protection Hotline on electoral abuses in the November 5, 2000 parliamentary elections. 
    • "Chechnya: the International Community and Strategies for Peace and Stability".  Full text online version of this recent publication.
    • The Los Angeles Times ran two excellent articles on Chechnya,  September 17-18, 2000, titled War Has No Rules for Russian Forces Battling Chechen Rebels, and Chechnya's Grimmest Industry. Links to a Russian-language version of the first article can be found at the pages above.
    • In After Kosovo and Chechnya, Russian Duma representative and former Human Rights Commission head, Sergei Kovalev, reflects on the two conflicts and their implications for world order. He calls on Council of Europe members to "utilize the international judicial mechanism they have at their disposal...[to] initiate a suit through the Strasbourg Court on Human Rights so that Europe and Russia could investigate the human rights abuses and violations of the humanitarian rules of war in Chechnya..."
    • Open Letter to the Council of Europe From Russian NGOs, on the subject of Russian military violations in Chechnya.
    • Human Rights in Russia A brief summary of ASI Special bulletin no. 24 covering various human rights issues in Russia. English or Russian translation available.
    • Al Decie, who is a major force in the "community schools movement" and helped organize the conference described above, has been denied the right to leave Russia, allegedly for tax law violations.  A recent story in his home newspaper, the Newburyport Daily News, reports on an interview with Decie's worried father. 
    • Defining Defamation, Principles on Freedom of Expression and Protection of Reputation, is London-based Article19's newest publication. It discusses and sets out legal standards for establishing an appropriate balance between protecting freedom of expression and protecting individual reputations against wrongful defamation.
    • Rights of Lawyers in Azerbaijan Two legal cases reached the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan in recent weeks that test the judiciary's will to defend the rights of lawyers who have increasing come under fire since a post-election government crackdown on the opposition begun last fall.

    NGOs
    

    • Restrictions on Belarusian NGOs by President Lukashenko A text version of Decree N8 "On Certain Measures of Regulation of the Procedure of Receipt and Use of the Foreign Gratuitous Aid".
    • David Neath's Definition of a Non-profit Organization It is argued that there is much confusion amongst academic and policy analysts, the policy makers of government and other institutions and the general lay public over what is meant by the various institutions that make up the private social welfare sector.  This paper concludes with a taxonomy of terminology reflecting this distinction. (Note:  This link will result in an automatic download of an eleven page document)
    • Sins of NGOs An excerpted article from The Economist discusses the drawbacks of NGOs.
    • How and Why NGOs are Created The result of a survey regarding the Moldovan third sector given to the general public, government agencies and NGOs themselves. In Russian and Moldovan.
    • How successful are NGOs and their funders in CEE? A brief introduction to a new report by the Regional Environmental Center in Hungary. Focuses on specific needs and problems of NGOs on a regional level, and on the national level in 15 CEE countries.
    • Directories of NGOs in Russia and Ukraine Collected by CSI volunteer, Catriona Logan, on her recent trip to Russia. Directories are in Russian and contact information is provided.
    • Cemetery Bombing: NGOs and the Mafia Analysis of November 10 cemetary bombing in Moscow by the Open Media Research Institute. Also includes information on OMRI publications.
    • NGOs Under Challenge: Dynamics and Drawbacks in Development, published by Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, 1998
    • The Rebirth of the Nonprofit Sector in Post-communist Eastern Europe An article by Randall J. Davis. The development of a strong, independent indigenous non-profit center is challenged by limited resources, inadequate legal structures, ideological remnants of communism, and attitudes of skepticism toward charitable endeavors.
    • Faces and Places: Will NGOs Survive in Ukraine? An article by Myron Kuropas, columnist for the Ukrainian Weekly, raises questions about the efficacy of US government policies supporting the creation of NGOs in post-Soviet societies. While he exaggerates the amounts of money ("billions of dollars") invested in this effort, many of the questions he raises are important ones. August 31, 1997

    Media & Technology
    

    • Making a Mesh of the Iron Curtain—the Networked PC in the FSU, An article by CSI director, Holt Ruffin, was the lead article in a special issue on Eurasian NGOs and the communications revolution, published by ISAR's quarterly journal, Give & Take (Fall-Winter 1999-2000).
    • The Third Sector Press in the Information Market Public's reaction to the "Third Sector Press" booth at the Information Market '97 Expo held in Moscow in March 1997. Booth sparked curious interest from businessmen who didn't know what a "Third Sector" was.
    • Report: Chemical Disarmament And Population Interests A report by Professor Lev A. Fedorov on chemical weapon disarmament, prepared as part of the Hearing on Chemical Weapons in Russia held 6-7 October, 1999 in Penza city.

    Philanthropy
    

    • Foreign Funding of Social Movements in Russia A paper by Valerie Sperling analyzing the impact of foreign funding on the internal dynamics of the Russian women's movement.
    • Charity of Strangers? Philanthropy in the Russian Commercial Sector Analytical report resulting from a detailed survey by Interlegal, Moscow focusing on the growing philanthropy of Russia's commercial sector.
    • Civil Society and the Aid Industry The fifth research update from the North-South Institute's research on Civil Society. Case studies on Hungary, Peru, Kenya and Sri Lanka.
    • Chronicle of Philanthropy A recent issue printed several stories about the difficulties facing the emerging charity sector in Russia. The following are the important points made by the article...
    • Ecologia Newsletter From November 1996 which focuses on philanthropy and the expansion of Civil Society. Topics include corporate giving in Central Europe, funding by private philanthropists, and the use of the Internet to encourage Philanthropy.
     

    Political Transition
    

    • "The Nature of the Russian Transformation: The Search for Legitimacy in a Time of Trouble." by James Billington, Librarian of Congress and noted Russian historian.
    • Documents on the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Published by the Danish United Nations Association, this collection of essays covers such topics as: military co-operation, civil society, organized crime, and energy and environmental security.
    • Speech by Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright Given April 17, 2000 at the University of World Economy and Diplomacy, Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
    • "Several Objections to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn" A commentary written by the Editor and Chief of the Russian-language human rights newspaper Express Khronika, Aleksandr Podrabinek, in response to an article by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn which appeared in Le Monde.

Last updated:    April 2001

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