Dreaming Up Snow: Registration, Restriction and Radicalization of Russian NGOs 2000-2010

Following the chaotic first years after the fall of the Soviet Union nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have tried to create a vibrant and healthy civil society in modern Russia. While many of these NGOs have flourished in this period, others have experienced repression at the hand of state actors. One form of repression is differential application of registration, anti-extremism, and tax laws against specific types of NGOs in a way to exclude them from, or make it difficult to participate in, the arena of sanctioned activity. Which NGOs are targeted by differential application, and how they respond if pushed to the point of liquidation is determined by different organizational characteristics. One of these responses is an unintended consequence of such state repression, unsanctioned political protest. This thesis addresses the organizational characteristics that attract differential application and explores the outcomes following the liquidation of NGOs as a result of such repression