KYRGYZSTAN TODAY Policy briefs on - Department of Geography

In today’s world, it is increasingly necessary to make the transition from charismatic
to rational-legal leadership, to use the terminology of famous German sociologist Max
Weber. This is necessary because NGOs now face more stringent demands. To meet the
criteria set by donor organizations, today’s NGOs must be professional, must be capable
of analyzing previous experiences and using the lessons learned to formulate new plans
for development, and must have access to experts in order to function efficiently and to
serve their beneficiaries. We see that the enthusiasm of community-based NGOs during
the 1990s is slowly giving way to a more rational approach that includes a competitive
edge. This requires the leader to be more than just a charismatic personality–he or
she must also have good strategic and managerial skills. When describing this type of
legitimacy, Weber wrote about “domination by virtue of ‘legality’, by virtue of the belief
in the validity of legal statute and functional ‘competence’ based on rationally created
rules.” 2 For this reason, it is essential that Kyrgyzstan’s NGO sector creates appropriate
conditions for basing any transition to leadership on established, rational practices and
procedures.
The leader’s legitimacy must be linked to clearly defined rules, policies and
procedures within the organization. The leader’s performance, meanwhile, must be based
on principles of rationality, realism, and aspiration to high levels of professionalism.
Institutionalization of NGO Leadership Today
The current stage in the development of NGO leadership is related to
institutionalization– i.e. the process of identifying and solidifying social norms, rules,
and principles and combining them into a system to meet the needs of society. This
necessitates a gradual replacement of spontaneous and experimental behaviors by
behaviors that are expected, can be modeled, and are controlled.
The institutionalization of leadership in the NGO sector is currently taking place in
a complex political, social, and economic environment.
Recently, staff turnover in the non-profit sector has been characterized by several
important trends.
The first trend is the drain of professionals from non-governmental organizations
into for-profit organizations and various government bodies, which leads either to longterm
stagnation or to decreased efficiency of NGOs.
The second trend is the strengthening role of the state, which embodies the desire
among some government officials to exercise strict control over non-governmental
organizations, especially those working with human rights issues. This is also reflected
in the draft Tax Code of the Kyrgyz Republic, which treats non-profit organizations in
very much like for-profit organizations, and also in various regulations that limit human
rights. Funding of NGOs by international donors is often an excuse by certain political
forces and the mass media to attack non-governmental organizations and to negatively
position them as something alien to Kyrgyzstan’s society, e.g. as champions of foreign
ideas and values. It can be said that the use of donor grants by non-governmental
organizations continues to have a negative impact on the public perception of these
organizations; however, this is not the fault of NGOs, but rather a very unfortunate
development. Since Kyrgyzstan currently lacks mechanisms that would encourage
businesses to offer financial assistance to NGOs, non-profit organizations are compelled
2
Translator’s note: Cited from Weber, Max. “Politics as a Vocation,” in H.W. Gerth and C. Wright Mills,
eds. 1958. From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 79.
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