Russian citizens view the state simultaneously as their leader and their oppressor. They want their state to be a strong, benevolent, and fair leader, but just as often they feel mistreated by it. In post-Soviet Russia, Vladimir Putin’s government has used the desire of Russians to have a strong and fair state as a leader in order to coopt civil society. It created incentives for civil society organizations to pursue their causes through cooperation with state officials rather than through demanding accountability and confronting the state. Russian civil society organizations face a choice whether to accept such offers and collaborate with the state or not, weighing the benefits and repercussions of both paths. This chapter discusses Russia’s civil society in the context of this choice, separating the “collaborating” and the “resisting” parts of it, considers their role in Russian politics, and demonstrates the forces inside civil society that contribute to the stability and fragility of the Putin regime.
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