|
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What was
particularly remarkable about Gorbachev’s period and clearly marked
a new departure was the toleration of ideological and political
activity independent of the authorities. Citizens were allowed to
organize into political parties, popular movements, parliamentary
oppositions, and so on, and all this was dramatically changing the
political landscape. The new forms of civic activity were building
links between civil society and the state and acted as primary
schools of democracy by training leaders and structuring politics. |
During
perestroika
the appearance of political parties and movements was the first step
toward the emergence of the structures of civil society that
catalyzed the process of self-organization of the population. These
new structures were of two main types:
"NEW OLD" ORGANIZATIONS
NEW ORGANIZATIONS
|
Old
public organizations that broke away from state control and
acquired independence (trade unions, creative unions of artists,
writers, filmmakers, etc.) |
|
New organizations, including those that claimed their parentage from the
organizations that had existed before the October 1917 Revolution but
were prohibited under the Soviets |
The atmosphere
of glasnost, when censorship controls over the mass media
were significantly relaxed, facilitated the reemergence of the
structures of civil society. By the first half of the 1990s, over
2,000 public associations of the all-Russian (national) level had
been officially registered with Russia’s Ministry of Justice. In
total, over 30,000 organizations of various types were set up. By
the end of 1990s their number had increased several-fold, reaching a
total of over 400,000.
Structurally,
civil society can be conveniently analyzed in terms of three
relatively independent tiers:
|
The lower tier |
Organizations connected with protecting
economic interests |
|
The middle tier |
Associations set up on the basis of common non-economic,
social, and everyday interests |
|
The upper tier |
Associations set up on spiritual and ideological grounds |
|
