Building Democracy in Contemporary Russia - by Sarah L Henderson (Hardcover)

About the Book

Can foreign donors help build new democracies? In the 1990s, public and private organizations such as USAID and the Soros Foundation poured huge amounts of money and expertise into Russia to help build the dream of a vibrant democratic society. Sarah...

Book Synopsis

Can foreign donors help build new democracies? In the 1990s, public and private organizations such as USAID and the Soros Foundation poured huge amounts of money and expertise into Russia to help build the dream of a vibrant democratic society. Sarah L. Henderson argues that despite the altruistic intentions of foreign assistance agencies and domestic activists, foreign aid designed to spur civic growth has had unintended consequences. Drawing on extensive field work, survey research, and work experience for several funding agencies in Moscow in the late 1990s, Henderson focuses on donor efforts to support the emerging community of nongovernmental organizations and, in particular, on efforts to build a functioning women's movement in Russia. Her intimate knowledge of Russia's growing NGO community informs a worrisome finding: foreign aid has made a tremendous difference, but not in altogether expected or positive ways. New Russian civic groups serve either the needs of an indigenous clientele or the demands of the foreign aid bureaucracy--but rarely both. Henderson's research and experience show that while aid has kept a fledgling civic community alive, it is a civic community that is disconnected from its own domestic audience. The book suggests that large flows of foreign aid have in some ways damaged the long-term prospects for democratization in Russia.

Review Quotes

Anyone interested in the development of civil society in Russia or other postcommunist states would do well to read Sarah Henderson's engaging, informative, and accessible book.... The findings presented in Building Democracy in Contemporary Russia and the questions that this work invites are of central importance to our understanding of democratization, civil society, development assistance, and women's mobilization.

Building democracy in countries emerging from totalitarian rule has been a learning process not only for the people of those countries but also for Westerners trying to assist them. In Building Democracy in Contemporary Russia, Sarah Henderson deals with Western efforts to promote democracy in postcommunist Russia, offering an indepth look at one sector in which such efforts have been focused.... Anyone concerned about foreign assistance will find it a thoughtful and useful work. One hopes particularly that it will be read and pondered by members of the Western donor community.

Sarah Henderson has written a fascinating account of Western intervention in Russia to facilitate creation of a functioning civil society.... Henderson's analysis... is provocative and insightful.

Since 1992, the U.S. government and U.S. foundations have spent tens of millions of dollars promoting nongovernmental organizations in Russia, in hopes of jump-starting a viable civil society. But has it worked? Henderson answers yes and no.... Henderson contributes a unique angle by comparing the performance of foreign-funded NGOs with those that survive on their own.

About the Author

Sarah L. Henderson is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Oregon State University. In Moscow, she served as a consultant to the Ford Foundation, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, and the Eurasia Foundation.