Assessing civil society in Putin’s Russia: The plight of women’s crisis centers

• Published in: Communist and post-communist studies Vol. 44; no. 1; pp. 41 - 52
• Main Authors: Johnson, Janet Elise, Saarinen, Aino
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.03.2011; University of California Press; University of California Press, Journals & Digital Publishing Division
• Subjects: Activism; Authoritarianism; Authoritarianism (Political Ideology); Civil Society; Communism; Democracy; Domestic violence; Females; Gender; Management of crises; Non-governmental organizations; Participant Observation; Political action; Political power; Politics; Post-communism; Post-communist societies; Putin; Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich; Questionnaires; Russia; Russian Federation; Sex; Social Movements; Society; Surveys; Violence; Women; Russia; Domestic violence; Social movements; Putin; Post-communism; Civil society; Gender; Russia
• ISSN: 0967-067X; 1873-6920
• DOI: 10.1016/j.postcomstud.2011.01.002

The article assesses civil society in Putin’s Russia through the lens of the small social movement working against gender violence. Based on questionnaires distributed to movement organizations in 2008–2009, we find significant retrenchment among the NGO segment of the movement, adding evidence to the claim of Russia’s turn toward authoritarianism. However, this innovative, midlevel analysis--not the typical society-wide surveys nor the small number participant observation--also shows that the women’s crisis center movement has made some in-roads in transforming the state, revealing that some democratic opportunities remain at the local level.