Government–Nonprofit Relations in Russia’s Regions: An Exploratory Analysis

Abstract

Government–nonprofit cooperation has been an issue of considerable debate in public management literature. Most studies have focused on Western countries where collaborative forms of government have become a core element in the provision of social services. Less is known about transitional countries such as Russia where government–nonprofit cooperation is a relatively new phenomenon that is taking shape in the ambiguous context of a hybrid political regime. This article studies the nature and extent of government–nonprofit relations in Russia’s regions. It focuses on the regional implementation of the Russian government’s program to enhance the cooperation with socially oriented nonprofit organizations enacted in 2010. The article aims to understand how this program has been realized on the ground, at the regional level, and how it is assessed by the actors involved. The article thereby contributes to a broader comparative understanding of the evolution of government–nonprofit relations by bringing the special case of Russia into systematic view.