1. Theoretical Models of Youth Policy, Volunteering, and the Nonprofit Sector
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Working Papers WP 2012-06 Centre for German and European Studies (CGES) Daria Klishevich Development of Youth Voluntary Service Organizations in Russia and Germany. WP 2012-06 2012 № 6 Bielefeld / St. Petersburg Working Papers WP 2012-06 Centre for German and European Studies Bielefeld University St. Petersburg State University Centre for German and European Studies (CGES) CGES Working Papers series includes publication of materials prepared within different activities of the Center for German and European Studies both in St. Petersburg and in Germany: The CGES supports educational programmes, research and scientific dialogues. In accordance with the CGES mission, the Working Papers are dedicated to the interdisciplinary studies of different aspects of German and European societies. This paper has been produced within the framework of the Centre for German and European Studies (CGES/ZDES) under the supervision of Dr. Elena Belokurova. Daria Klishevich graduated from the faculty of journalism of the St.Petersburg State University in 2010 and went on to pursue the MA programme, “Studies in European Societies” at St. Petersburg State University. Her academic fields of interest include volunteering, youth organizations, and nonprofit sector. Contact: [email protected] ISSN 1860-5680 © Centre for German and European Studies, 2012 1 Working Papers WP 2012-06 Centre for German and European Studies Volunteering is considered to be an essential part of civil society. Youth voluntary service organizations, providing young people with the opportunity to engage themselves in voluntary projects, contribute to the development of youth in a democratic way and foster the sense of affiliation to the community and society as a whole. This paper investigates the development of voluntary service organizations with respect to two cases, which initially appear to differ from each other quite substantially: Russia and Germany. Three factors influencing the development of youth voluntary service organizations are examined: the state youth policy on the national level, understanding of volunteering prevailing in a country, and characteristics of the nonprofit sector. These three are at first applied to the country cases in general to shed light on the environments voluntary service organizations operate in, and then to the specific examples of four organizations of youth voluntary service in Russia and Germany. The initial hypothesis connected with three mentioned factors was that organizations in Russia experience certain difficulties in their work due to the lack of state support, instability of conditions in the nonprofit sector and somewhat distrustful attitude from the public because of negative connotations remaining from Soviet- era “mandatory voluntary work”, whereas German organizations by and large enjoy quite favorable conditions with respect to the regular state funding, robust nonprofit sector and mature understanding of voluntary work. Although this hypothesis was proved to a fair degree, in the course of the research it was revised and supplemented by a range of new insights which demonstrated among other things that the two cases do show certain similarities with respect to the development of voluntary service organizations. 2 Working Papers WP 2012-06 Centre for German and European Studies Table of contents Introduction.........................................................................................................4 1. Theoretical Models of Youth Policy, Volunteering, and the Nonprofit Sector...................................................................................................................9 1.1. Youth Policy: Definition and Organizing Principles of Classification ...............9 1.2. Volunteering: Definition and Concepts........................................................................ 12 1.3. Nonprofit Sector: Definition and Theoretical Models Social............................... 15 2. Youth Policy, Volunteering and Nonprofit Sector in Russia and Germany ............................................................................................................................22 2.1. Youth Policy in Russia ........................................................................................................ 22 2.2. Youth Policy in Germany.................................................................................................... 27 2.2.1. History of Volunteering in Russia ............................................................................................30 2.2.2. History of Volunteering in Germany .......................................................................................35 2.3. Nonprofit Sector ..................................................................................................................... 41 2.3.1. Nonprofit Sector in Russia ..........................................................................................................41 2.3.2. Nonprofit Sector in Germany .....................................................................................................50 3. Influence of Youth Policy, Volunteering and Nonprofit Sector on the Examples of Russian and German Organizations .........................................54 3.1. Methodology, Cases and Examples............................................................................... 56 3.1.1. Case of Russia ...................................................................................................................................56 3.1.2. Case of Germany..............................................................................................................................60 3.2. Influence of Youth Policy on the Development of Youth Voluntary Service Organizations................................................................................................................................... 63 3.2.1. Case of Russia ...................................................................................................................................64 3.2.2. Case of Germany..............................................................................................................................67 3.3. Influence of Understanding of Volunteering on the Development of Youth Voluntary Service Organizations..........................................................70 3.3.1. Case of Russia ...................................................................................................................................70 3.3.2. Case of Germany..............................................................................................................................73 3.4. Influence of NGO Characteristics on the Development of Voluntary Service Organizations................................................................................................................................... 75 3.4.1. Case of Russia ...................................................................................................................................76 3.4.2. Case of Germany..............................................................................................................................77 Conclusion ........................................................................................................80 References ........................................................................................................86 3 Working Papers WP 2012-06 Centre for German and European Studies Introduction The subject of volunteering is highly topical nowadays, and recently the year 2011 was chosen to be the European Year of Volunteering, which yet another time confirms the point. In order to characterize the versatile notion of volunteering (which in this paper will be used together with the terms “voluntary work”, volunteerism“ and “voluntary activities” as synonyms), the following definition adopted by the Council of the European Union will be addressed for now1: volunteering means all types of formal, non-formal and informal activities a person performs on his or her own free will and without the aim of material remuneration. Volunteering is beneficial to a person who exercises it, community and society as a whole2. Volunteering cannot be regarded without its inherent connection to the wider social and cultural context, since being a cultural and economic phenomenon, volunteering shows the way societies are organized, how social responsibilities are allocated and how much engagement from a citizen is expected (Anheier and Salamon: 2001, 1). According to European Commission data, 92 to 94 million Europeans participate in volunteering, which comprises 23 % of all Europeans over 15 years old, so it indeed appears to be quite a significant number of people involved3. Depending on the country, the number of people volunteering is different, but undoubtedly significant. Volunteering as an important phenomenon is gaining increasing attention and interest in Russia as well; among the obvious reasons, to mention just a few for now, are extended social and cultural exchange of knowledge with foreign colleagues, intensified during the last decades, and not least the coming Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014, which, as any huge sport event, will require a great deal of voluntary work. Young people are widely regarded to be among the keen volunteers, and this fact may be to a great extent explained by the considerable amount of time they are able to devote to voluntary work. Not the last reason