Varieties of Governance in hybrid regimes. Enterprises, state and civil society in contemporary Russia

• Applicants: Professorin Dr. Katharina Bluhm; Professorin Dr. Sabine Kropp; Professor Claudius Wagemann, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Political Science
• Term: from 2017 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 388732203

With the requested prolongation (12 months), the research project “Governance in Hybrid Regimes” (GOVRUS) is to be completed. Moreover, in view of the rich empirical data that we generated with great effort, we aim to deepen and broaden the already achieved research findings. The project, which is running until 30 June 2021, examines the patterns of governance resulting from the interactions between state, business and civil society actors in Russia. Thereby, the social activities of large companies in Russia, often referred to as “Corporate Social Responsibility” (CSR), serve as an instructive example to study these interactions. Corresponding activities of enterprises often go beyond international standards and include a variety of social, ecological and infrastructural projects. We mainly focus on the relations between state and business actors, which dispose of more extensive (financial, human) resources than nonprofit organizations (NPOs). NPOs are nonetheless included into the analysis as co-producers of welfare policies and potential scrutinizer of state and business actors. The project makes a genuine contribution to a better understanding of the relations between state and non- or para-state actors against the background of the authoritarian regime. In terms of research methods, the project is based on a triangulation, consisting of an interview- and document-based case study design and a fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA). With the requested prolongation period, the project aims to further exploit the potential of the collected empirical data; the research findings will contribute to the methodological debate and will be embedded into research about comparative authoritarianism (with respect to Political Science and Sociology as involved disciplines).

• DFG Programme: Research Grants