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The state of civil society in post-socialist Russia and other former socialist countries is of great interest to social scientists, policy makers, and development-oriented practitioners. Numerous theoretical assumptions and methodological approaches have been used by researchers to describe, analyze, and assess the state of civil society in Russia, for example. One of the key issues addressed has been the influences on citizens’ civic and social activities and the historical conditions and cultural environments that have generated – and continue to generate – these activities. This critique focuses on the concept of “communist legacies” which has been applied at the individual level to explain people’s preferences, attitudes, and forms of behavior in Russia and other post-socialist countries. The concept is influential, in large part, because it has been supported by empirical research, especially the highly influential empirical research of Marc Howard. This paper takes a critical look at this research, including its theoretical frame and the methodology associated with the frame.

The iconic Ukrainian poem, “Contra Spem Spero,” with its theme of resilience in the face of enduring hardships, appears as salient for the Ukrainian people today as when it was composed more than a hundred years ago. Political instability and a far from favorable legislative system have affected Ukraine’s society in a variety of ways since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. How have Ukraine’s nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) been shaped by these conditions? A review of academic and applied literature, as well as governmental reports and legislative texts, reveals that the political and legislative environment in Ukraine is highly unstable and, at times, antagonistic to NGOs. However, indicators of sector activity and interviews with Ukrainian nonprofits suggest that the sector, overall, has not changed significantly during the last decade of substantial political and legislative changes. This paper suggests that Ukrainian nonprofits (much like Ukrainian society in general) appear to exist in a parallel universe with the governmental and legislative world. Ukrainian nonprofits are generally not supported by and are largely independent from the government. The concept of a shadow economy in Ukraine is discussed as a way of understanding how nonprofit organizations continue to function in what is often an adverse policy environment. “Contra Spem Spero” (1890), translated from Latin as “Against all Hope I Hope,” is the title of a poem by one of Ukraine’s most revered poets, Lesya Ukraїnka.

This paper conceptualizes challenges and dangers that have impacted Hungary’s civil society (third sector, nonprofit sector, voluntary sector) over the past decade. The cases presented illustrate the fragility of both the civil sector and its underlying democracy in Hungary. The boundaries between state and nonprofits reveal pervasive paternalistic/cliental processes stemming from the period between the two world wars and pre-1989 experience of public–private relations and issue management. On the one hand, old regime strategies have survived and been maintained by the overt and unreflected dependency of the civil sector on the state. Secondly, the boundaries between church organizations and civil nonprofits present a politically mis(non)managed process that has resulted in a fading role of non-church NGOs in the field of social service. This process can be traced back to an unequal and biased treatment of service provider organizations in an allegedly sector-neutral environment. Both cases illuminate operations that have resulted in a significant dismantling of the civil sector and a consequent deterioration of democracy in Hungary.

This article describes the recent changes in the political, cultural and socioeconomic environment of the third sector (TS) in Portugal in the context of crisis and structural adjustment. Belatedly, when compared to many other countries, an overall sector is being structured in Portugal, overcoming the traditional neglect of the political system and the divisions inside the field. The historical institutional approach is here used to make sense of the current changes and debates and the different policy coalitions in place are identified through present and past policy analysis and content analysis of policy debates. This provides a broad background for exploring the hypothesis that the Portuguese TS may be arriving at a critical juncture that will set a new path under the development of a new and broader identity as “social economy.” This paper identifies path-breaking trends, as well as continuities. It argues that the structuring axis TS/welfare state, which has been the driving force of the TS in Portugal, is shifting to the axis TS/economy as a result of changes in both the TS and its political coalitions’ strategies and in the broader context and institutional framework of the welfare state.

Nonprofits contribute to communities and society through service delivery, innovation, knowledge-building, and civic engagement. They frequently partner with and push government to better serve its citizens through relationships that have been characterized as supplementary, complementary, and adversarial (Young 2006). In all of these roles and relationships, nonprofits must compete for resources, time, and attention with other nonprofits, government entities, and for-profit organizations within communities, nationally, and internationally. Competition sometimes shapes and sometimes is shaped by public policies that affect the rules of the game. In this conceptual paper, we explore the dimensions of nonprofit competition and the implications for the nonprofit–government supplementary, complementary, and adversarial relationships.