Civil society assistance in Central and Eastern Europe [Elektronische Ressource] : the cases of Poland and Slovakia / von Christine Abele

Christin Abele

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Informations

• Publié par: humboldt-universitat_zu_berlin
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 16
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Civil Society Assistance in Central and
Eastern Europe
The Cases of Poland and Slovakia
Dissertation
zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades
doctor philosophiae (Dr. phil)
Eingereicht an der Philosophischen Fakultät III der Humboldt - Universität zu Berlin
Von
Christine Abele
geb. 7.12.1970 in Vaihingen an der Enz
Präsident der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Prof. Dr. Jürgen Mlynek
Dekan der Philosophischen Fakultät III Prof. Dr. Gert-Joachim Glaeßner
Gutachter: 1. Prof. Claus Offe
2. Prof Wolfgang Merkel
Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 21.04.2006 2
Acknowledgements
This work had not been possible without the encouragement, assistance and advice of
various people. I am especially grateful to my supervisor Prof. Claus Offe, whose stimulating
suggestions and encouragement proved extremely valuable. I also want to thank Prof.
Wolfgang Merkel who attended the dissertation as second supervisor.
I want to express my sincere thanks to Prof. Phillippe Schmitter, Imco Brouwer, Nicolas
Guilhot and Bernard Gbikpi for their help, support, interest and valuable hints. Without our
common research project on “Democracy Promotion and Protection” this dissertation had
hardly taken shape. Indeed, this work was made possible in part by a research grant from the
VW-Stiftung supporting not only our DPP project but also a four weeks field trip to Poland.
Two research assistants, Anke Wilde and Christoph Zarft, provided invaluable help.
Susanne Fuchs, Kathrin Schwalb and Erika Jakab read the text and provided indispensable
(and mostly constructive) criticism. Michael Dobbins looked closely at the final version of the
thesis for English style and grammar. I am further grateful to Bernd Schüler who encouraged
me to go ahead with my thesis.
I also have to thank the various people in Germany, Poland and Slovakia who were willing to
be interviewed on the topic and who shared their insights into civil society assistance in
Poland and Slovakia with me.
Finally I would like to give my special thanks to my husband Jens and my parents who
always supported me and without whose assistance as baby sitters I had never been able to
complete this work. 3

Content
Acknowledgements 2
Content 3
Tables 9
List of Abbreviations 10
1 Introduction 12
1.1 The Rise of Civil Society Assistance 12
1.2 Key Interests and Concerns 16
1.3 The Structure of the Dissertation 20
1.4 Research 25
2 The Concept of Civil Society 26
2.1 Contemporary Understandings of Civil Society 26
2.1.1 Liberal Approaches - Civil Society as a Realm Outside the State 28
2.1.2 The Pluralist Approach - Civil Society and the Plurality of Organized
Collective Interests 30
2.1.3 Critical Democracy Theory - Civil Society and the Political Public Sphere 31
2.1.4 Civil Society and Social Capital 33
2.1.5 Communitarian Approaches - Civil Society and Small Communities 34
2.1.6 The Third Sector Approach - Civil Society and Effectiveness 35
2.1.7 Summary 37
2.2 Studying Civil Society 38
2.2.1 Defining Civil Society 39
2.2.2 A Dynamic Model of Civil Society 43
2.2.3 Indicators for Research 47
2.2.4 Summary 51
2.3 Civil Society in Post-Communism 52
2.4 Conclusion and Implications for Research 57
3 Civil Society Assistance: Actors, Objectives, Concepts and Strategies 60
3.1 Defining Civil Society Assistance 60
3.2 Objectives of Assistance: Civil Society - a Remedy to Various Illnesses 64
3.3 Donor Concepts of Civil Society - One Term, Various Meanings 67
3.4 Strategies of Civil Society Assistance 71 4
3.4.1 Institution-Building 71
3.4.2 Capacity Building 73
3.4.3 Project-specific Support 75
3.5 Conclusion: Problems of Civil Society Assistance 78
4 Theoretical Framework: Civil Society Assistance as Externally Driven
Intentional Institutional Transfer 82
4.1 Two Distinct Approaches to Civil Society Assistance 82
4.2 A Sociological Understanding of Institutions 87
4.3 Institutional Transfer – Doing What Cannot Be Done? 88
4.4 Coercive Imposition versus Slavish Imitation: Conditions of Successful
Gardening 91
4.4.1 Actors and Interactions 93
4.4.2 Two Modes of External Influence: Empowerment and Learning 95
4.4.3 Conditions of ‘Successful’ Transfer 99
4.5 Conclusion: Working Hypothesis, Key Claims and Implications for
Research 100
5 Methodology 106
5.1 The Comparative Method and the Small N - Many Variables Problem 107
5.2 The Selection of Cases 110
5.3 What to Observe 112
5.3.1 Leading Research Questions 112
5.3.2 Objects of Research 117
5.4 Measurement Technique 119
6 Donors in Focus: Major Donors and Donor - Recipient Interactions 122
6.1 Major Donors of Civil Society Assistance in Central and Eastern Europe 122
6.1.1 Civil Society Assistance as Part of an Integration Strategy – The
European Union and its Phare Program 122
6.1.2 Forerunners in the Promotion of Democracy: United States Agency for
International Development (USAID), and the National Endowment for
Democracy (NED) 127
6.1.3 The Enlargement of European Networks – The German Transform-
Program and the German Political Foundations 130
6.1.4 Private Actors – Efforts “From Below” 135
6.2 The Network of Donor-Recipient Relationships 138
7 Analyzing Civil Society Assistance in Poland 144
7.1 The Domestic Context - Historical and Cultural Legacies 146 5
7.1.1 Solidarity and the Legacies of a “Successful” Opposition 146
7.1.2 Summary: Preconditions of Civil Society in Poland 152
7.2 Ten Years After – The Reemerging Civil Society in Poland 153
7.2.1 Quantity of Non-Governmental Organizations 154
7.2.2 Composition 155
7.2.3 Regional Distribution 157
7.2.4 Civic Participation and Volunteerism 157
7.2.5 Relationship between Non-Governmental Organizations and State
Authorities 158
7.2.6 Relationships Among NGOs and Inside Civil Society 162
7.2.7 Summary 162
7.3 The External Push – Forms and Types of Civil Society Assistance in
Poland 164
7.3.1 The Quantity of Civil Society Assistance – A Minor Financial Item 165
7.3.2 The Marriot Brigades and Some Favored Cliques: The Years 1990-1993 167
7.3.3 From Macro to Micro – The Donor Learning Curve: The Years 1994 -
1998 170
7.3.4 Withdrawal of Donors and the Europeanization of Assistance: The End of
the 1990s 173
7.4 The Output and Outcome of Assistance – Recipients in Focus 176
7.4.1 Types of Main Recipients 177
7.4.2 Sustainability of Main Recipients 186
7.4.3 Legitimacy of Main Recipients 188
7.4.4 Main Recipients as Carriers of Civil Society? 188
7.4.5 Recipient Benefits – Did Civil Society Assistance Make a Difference? 193
7.4.6 Summary 197
7.5 Conclusion: Civil Society Assistance in Poland – A Success Story by
Accident or Skill? 199
8 Analyzing Civil Society Assistance in Slovakia 205
8.1 The Domestic Context - Historical and Cultural Legacies 208
8.1.1 Pre-Communist Legacies 208
8.1.2 Communist Legacies 210
8.1.3 Summary: Cultural Preconditions of Civil Society in Slovakia 213
8.2 The belated Liberalization – The Rise of Civil Society in Slovakia 214 6
8.2.1 Quantity of Non-Governmental Organizations 214
8.2.2 Composition 216
8.2.3 Regional Distribution 218
8.2.4 Civic Participation and Volunteerism 218
8.2.5 Ties Between Non-Governmental Organizations and Within Civil Society 219
8.2.6 Relations Between Non-Governmental Organizations and State
Authorities 225
8.2.7 Summary: The Belated Rise of Civil Society in Slovakia 228
8.3 The External Push – Forms and Types of Civil Society Assistance in
Slovakia 230
8.3.1 Main Donors and their Interests 230
8.3.2 The Quantity and Timing of Assistance 234
8.3.3 Strategy of Assistance 236
8.4 The Output and Outcome of Civil Society Assistance in Slovakia –
Recipients in Focus 238
8.4.1 Types of Main Recipients 240
8.4.2 Sustainability of NGOs in Slovakia 243
8.4.3 Legitimacy of Main Recipients 245
8.4.4 Main Recipients as Carriers of Civil Society? 246
8.4.5 Recipient Benefits – Did Civil Society Assistance Make a Difference? 254
8.4.6 Summary 259
8.5 Conclusion: Civil Society Assistance in Slovakia: Western Political
Intervention From Below? 260
9 Conclusion 265
9.1 Core Conclusions and Results 267
9.2 Implications for Practitioners of Civil Society Assistance 277
9.3 Research Outlook 282
Bibliography 285
Literature 285
Documents and Donor Materials 302
Recipient Materials 305
Internet Sources 307
Appendix to the Dissertation 309
Appendix 1 The German Political Foundations 310
Portray 1 The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) 310
Portray 2 The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) 310 7
Portray 3 Hans Seidel Stiftung (HSS) 310
Portray 4 The Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung (FNS) 311
Portray 5 The Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung (HBS) 311
Appendix 2 Overall Assistance to Poland and Slovakia: Selected Donors 312
Table 1 Distribution of the German Transform-Program by country in 1998 312
Table 2 Distribution of Transform Allocations by Area of Assistance, 1998 312
Table 3 Phare Funding by Area in Poland, 1990-1997 313
Table 4 nding by Area in Slova