This article explores how foreign funders may promote good governance in a country without a history of established democratic processes. It examines the travel of ideas of democracy and human rights from Sweden to Russia through transnational cooperation projects during the period 1991–2005. Considering these projects as forms of high-stakes translations, the study finds that many of them engaged with Russian society only on a superficial level without embedding ideas in local organizational practices. Identifying the weaknesses often found in such translations, the study points to the difficulty of contributing to a democratic transformation of Russia by means of foreign-funded projects lacking contextual anchorage.

The restructuring of public welfare provision across Europe in recent decades has brought new actors into the governance of welfare and social work practice, including non-profit organizations. In Sweden, the role of non-profit organizations in social service provision has been less significant than that of profit-oriented enterprises. Despite a continuing shift towards greater welfare pluralism, non-profit organizations engaging in social work find themselves struggling to find their own spaces and legitimacy. This article examines two organizations engaging in community work at the peripheries of the Stockholm metropolitan area, focusing on how they understand, perform, and communicate their roles as both civil society actors and social work providers. Our data demonstrate that the organizations have developed different legitimation strategies related to their understanding of what type of organization they are and what type of work they do. Furthermore, despite some differences in their perceptions of the underpinnings of community work, both organizations make an important contribution to developing community work in Sweden as a collective practice binding local communities together with mutual support and the sharing of knowledge and identity.

This article is based on a survey carried out among 2,428 ninth-graders from 64 high-performing schools in St. Petersburg, Russia. In the study, we examine the relationships between socioeconomic background, extracurricular participation, and educational outcomes. The findings demonstrate high levels of participation in out-of-school, compared to school-based, extracurricular activities. Extracurricular participation was also shown to be associated with better grades and, to some extent, with higher levels of university aspirations. The relatively small estimate sizes indicate, however, that extracurricular participation is not a major factor in differences in educational outcomes. Nevertheless, since participation was higher among socioeconomically more advantaged students, and grades and/or levels of university aspirations were higher among those who participated, we argue that extracurricular participation should be understood as part of social reproduction in Russia.

This chapter presents the conceptual framework of resourcefulness that brings together the contributions to this volume; it also establishes Poland, Russia, and Sweden as particularly relevant cases for understanding transformation in the relationships between civil society, the state, and the market. Here, we explore the organizational realities of civil societies in the three countries and their shared history of a strong state. We posit resources as a contrast medium, allowing us to distinguish between different types of resourcefulness in civil society organizations’ responses to various pressures. Finally, the overall thematic structure of this book and each of its contributions are highlighted.

This chapter traces the transformation of volunteer work as an organizational resource in the context of the transformation of Russian civil society over the past 30 years. Utilized by voluntary associations as well as by professionalized NGOs, this type of resource can serve as a vehicle for building personal relationships and commitments with corporate partners while also eliciting individual work and financial contributions. By examining a charity organization and a community-based association and a charity organization operating in St. Petersburg since the late 1980s and early 1990s, respectively, this study links the structures and processes that integrate volunteering into the organizational fabric to an overall structure of resource mobilization patterns at the local, national, and transnational levels.

This chapter explores human rights organizations resisting the illiberal reconfiguration of Polish society that has been spearheaded by the country’s ruling political party since 2015. By decreasing financial support, launching smearing campaigns, and engaging in intimidation practices, the political regime aims to influence the scope of economic, symbolic, human, and social resources available to human rights organizations. Using data from representative surveys and in-depth interviews with representatives of human rights organizations and other civil society organizations, we systematically examine opportunities and limitations in navigating such institutional pressures. Our study demonstrates that organizations’ characteristics and environmental conditions determine the action repertoire, including diversification of resources, coalition building, and public campaigns, that sustains an organization’s legitimacy and (re)generates various forms of support.

Ekonomiskt stöd från det offentliga är i dag en central intäkt för såväl politiska partier som andra politiska aktörer. Sedan 2014 ska dessutom staten tillse att medborgarna har insyn i de politiska partiernas finansiering. Vad anser då medborgarna om det offentliga stödet till politiska aktörer och statens reglering av donationer till politiska partier – och på vilka sätt finansierar medborgarna själva olika politiska aktörer? Våra resultat visar på ett starkt stöd för regleringen av donationer till politiska partier och det offentliga stödet till ideella organisationer. Däremot är opinionen kring statens partistöd splittrad. Resultaten om medborgarnas egna donationer till politiska aktörer visar att drygt hälften skänkt till socialt och humanitärt inriktade organisationer och var fjärde till mer politiska organisationer i det civila samhället, men bara en av tjugo till ett politiskt parti.