Braking the Backslide: Which International Mechanisms Can Best Assist Russian Civil Society?

Abstract: With the immediate goal of suggesting approaches that might be fruitful in the case of Russia, this paper proposes a more general framework of national governments’ normative orientations towards democracy in semi-democratic regimes and the various international mechanisms available to support domestic civil society actors who wish to strengthen democracy and human rights. The author argues that the best suited international mechanisms vary, depending on whether the government espouses democracy as a dominant norm, upholds other political norms (such as national self-determination or economic growth) as strongly, or rejects the norm of democracy relative to other political norms. Transnational actors interested in promoting democracy generally, and civil society specifically, should thus be prepared to shift their support strategies when the regime’s normative context changes