Civil Society in Azerbaijan: Challenges and Opportunities in Transition
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
CIVIL SOCIETY IN AZERBAIJAN: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN TRANSITION CIVICUS Civil Society Index Report for Azerbaijan An international action-research project coordinated by CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation Written By: Rajab Sattarov, Tair Faradov and Ilham Mamed-zade Baku, December 2007 International Center for Social Research (ICSR) 1 FOREWORD In Azerbaijan, the Civil Society Index (CSI) project was implemented by the International Center for Social Research (ICSR), who served as the country’s National Coordinating Organisation (NCO). The ICSR is an independent, non-governmental, non-partisan, non-political and non-profit organisation based in Baku, Azerbaijan. It was founded in 1996 by a group of scholars and practitioners interested in promoting and carrying out research on socio-political and economical problems in Azerbaijan. The Ministry of Justice of Azerbaijan Republic legally registered the ICSR as a non-governmental organisation in October 2000 (Certificate 1330). The ICSR was established to provide research, education, and organisational support for socio- economic and democratic reforms and sustainable development in Azerbaijan. The ICSR’s mission, therefore, is to contribute to the democratisation process, to build a strong and vibrant civil society, to make a strong impact on the development of democratic institutions, civic culture and market economy in Azerbaijan, and to consult on training and education activities. The ICSR has been involved in completing a large number of international and national research projects related to the transitional issues of Azerbaijani society. The current project, namely the CSI, can therefore be viewed as a logical continuation of ICSR’s previous research projects. The country report is a first attempt to provide a comprehensive picture that captures the various dynamics of civil society in Azerbaijan. The CSI project is an excellent starting point for strengthening civil society and creating networking and cooperation opportunities among civil society and other relevant stakeholders. The CSI has also initiated a new debate on the concept and significance of civil society. This action-oriented research project involved a wide range of stakeholders throughout the country and will be disseminated among civil society organisations, researchers, government officials, the private sector, national and foreign donors and the general public. The CSI project in Azerbaijan took place in cooperation with a wide range of organisations, individuals and members of the National Advisory Group (NAG). This relationship and cooperation built throughout the process is expected to continue, particularly with the publication and during presentations of project outcomes to a wider audience. Today, a strong effort should be made to provide Azerbaijani civil society with powerful instruments for positive change and we hope that the product of our research will be a small input into this extremely important and valuable process. Rajab Sattarov, PhD Director of International Center for Social Research (ICSR), Baku, Azerbaijan CSI Participatory Researcher Tair Faradov, PhD Deputy Director and Head of Department of Democracy and Civil Society Studies International Center for Social Research (ICSR), Baku, Azerbaijan CSI Project Coordinator CIVICUS Civil Society Index Report for Azerbaijan 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Civil Society Index (CSI) project in Azerbaijan would have not been possible without the support of the many stakeholders, who were involved in the project in various ways. We would like to express gratitude to all those individuals and organisations that have helped and supported us during our work on this project. The project’s approach and research methodology was developed by CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation. First and foremost, we would like to express our deep gratitude to CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation for giving us this great opportunity to participate in this prominent and outstanding project. We also would like to express our gratitude to the donors who supported the implementation of the Civil Society Index (CSI) project in Azerbaijan: Eurasia Foundation, Open Society Institute - Assistance Foundation Azerbaijan, US Embassy Democracy Commission Small Grants Program, and CIVICUS. The National Advisory Group (NAG), in line with the proposed methodology, become a governing body and collaborated with the project since the very beginning. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all NAG members for the time and energy they provided in order to successfully accomplish this project, and also for their considerable contribution to the development and realisation of this project. Throughout the course of the project implementation, several experts and key informants were consulted on various aspects of civil society, and we are also grateful for their time and assistance. We are tremendously thankful to all the ICSR staff, members and associates (Mehman Kerimov, Asif Usubaliyev, Zarifa Suleymanova, Lala Sarieva, Lara Mamedova, Rustam Kuli-zade and others) who assisted with the project by carrying out research activities and data analysis on selected issues. We are also very grateful to the group of facilitators and interviewers for their intensive work on collecting broad empirical materials. However, this project would not have been possible without the involvement of civil society representatives who participated in the Regional Stakeholder Consultations, Community Survey, and National Workshop. They made strong contribution to this project by bringing their extensive experience and vision. Lastly, we wish to express our deep gratitude to the CSI team at CIVICUS, in particular, Volkhart Finn Heinrich, Janine Schall-Emden, Mahi Khallaf, Navin Vasudev, Benita Young, Carla Suarez, Rahim Saatov, Amy Bartlett, Jacob M. Mati and other people for their generous support and assistance throughout the project implementation. We very much appreciate their helpful and valuable advice throughout the process, and their invaluable input and comments on this report. We would also like to express our deep thanks for creating a supportive, comfortable atmosphere in which to work, and most importantly for their understanding and patience with our problems. Our special thanks go to the Secretary General of CIVICUS, Mr. Kumi Naidoo, for his encouragement and enlightenment in the course of the project implementation. Rajab Sattarov Tair Faradov Ilham Mamed-zade CIVICUS - Civil Society Index - Azerbaijani team CIVICUS Civil Society Index Report for Azerbaijan 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD............................................................................................................................................................... 1 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................................................................................. 2 TABLES AND FIGURES .............................................................................................................................................. 4 LIST OF ACRONYMS ................................................................................................................................................. 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY............................................................................................................................................. 6 INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................................................... 9 I CIVIL SOCIETY INDEX PROJECT & APPROACH ...................................................................................... 10 1. PROJECT BACKGROUND ..................................................................................................................................... 10 2. PROJECT APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................................... 10 II CIVIL SOCIETY IN AZERBAIJAN ............................................................................................................... 15 1. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND................................................................................................................................ 15 2. CONCEPT OF CIVIL SOCIETY IN AZERBAIJAN...................................................................................................... 18 3. MAPPING OF CIVIL SOCIETY IN AZERBAIJAN...................................................................................................... 21 III ANALYSIS OF CIVIL SOCIETY................................................................................................................... 25 1. STRUCTURE ........................................................................................................................................................ 25 1.1 The Breadth of Citizen Participation in Civil Society .................................................................................... 25 1.2 Depth of Citizen Participation in Civil Society .............................................................................................. 27 1.3 Diversity of Civil Society Participants ........................................................................................................... 27 1.4 Level of Organisation.....................................................................................................................................