Civil society is a multi-faceted concept that it is difficult to define with precision. It refers to a large number of different activities, organizations, structures and institutions that sometimes bear only a family resemblance to each other.

However, there is one thing that all these disparate phenomena have in common; they are based around people organizing themselves without being actively prodded on, coerced or incited by the state or, for that matter, any other authoritarian body standing above them, least of all an unaccountable one (though relations with such bodies may be necessary for pragmatic reasons). It thus includes things as varied as a charity, communities that have organized themselves to fight for a cause, independent labor unions or just grass-roots fundraising for one´s pet project or movement.

Today´s Russia is not a place where such activities can be said to flourish. This is true both for cultural reasons - as most Russians are used to living under a more-or-less paternalistic state that both provided for them and directed their behavior - and practical considerations. (In the context of the last 10 years or so, for instance, many people who would have been quite happy to organize themselves into some version of civil society were too busy trying to get enough money to buy food.) Moreover, occasional official pronouncements to the contrary notwithstanding, the state, when not actively opposing independent action on the part of its subjects, has usually been at least suspicious of it.

However, as they say, hope springs eternal, and so does the desire and ability of people to organize themselves, especially in the context of the stabilization of the Russian economy and society over the past few years. Many groups have established or are establishing themselves in Russia, whether they are oriented toward influencing government policy, revitalizing their communities or the society at large, picketing outside of an offending government or corporate office or what-have-you. The Citizen stands for reporting on and keeping you informed about such groups and the people who run and staff them.