KYRGYZSTAN TODAY Policy briefs on - Department of Geography
KYRGYZSTAN TODAY Policy briefs on - Department of Geography
KYRGYZSTAN TODAY Policy briefs on - Department of Geography
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There were attempts to build the party system in Kyrgyzstan during the Perestroika<br />
period in the late 1980s. An example <strong>of</strong> this process was the “Democratic Movement <strong>of</strong><br />
Kyrgyzstan” party (DMK). The legal c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s for the emergence <strong>of</strong> political parties<br />
in sovereign Kyrgyzstan were created by the relevant provisi<strong>on</strong>s <strong>of</strong> the C<strong>on</strong>stituti<strong>on</strong><br />
and the law, adopted in 1999 [4]. However, the relative absence or weakness <strong>of</strong> existing<br />
political parties in Kyrgyzstan up until the last two or three years and, at the same time,<br />
self-sufficiency and decisive acti<strong>on</strong>s by the country’s NGOs in critical situati<strong>on</strong>s for the<br />
past five years, has led to increased credibility <strong>of</strong> NGOs am<strong>on</strong>g the populati<strong>on</strong> and<br />
the internati<strong>on</strong>al community. At the same time, it has led to a bitter debate about the<br />
politicizati<strong>on</strong> <strong>of</strong> NGOs in Kyrgyzstan.<br />
This article discusses possible ways to ensure effective cooperati<strong>on</strong> between NGOs<br />
and political parties, and provides recommendati<strong>on</strong>s based <strong>on</strong> the analysis <strong>of</strong> such<br />
cooperati<strong>on</strong> in Kyrgyzstan as well as the experience <strong>of</strong> other countries.<br />
NGOs and Political Parties: Emergence <strong>of</strong> the Instituti<strong>on</strong>s and their Cooperati<strong>on</strong><br />
Modern civil society in Kyrgyzstan, in particular NGOs, owe their emergence<br />
and formati<strong>on</strong> to the internati<strong>on</strong>al experience [14, pp. 64-65]. For the past fifteen years,<br />
internati<strong>on</strong>al organizati<strong>on</strong>s such as USAID, the “Eurasia” Foundati<strong>on</strong>, the “Soros-<br />
Kyrgyzstan” Foundati<strong>on</strong>, Counterpart Int. and their projects have greatly c<strong>on</strong>tributed<br />
to the NGO sector development in Kyrgyzstan. In general, the projects <strong>of</strong> local NGOs,<br />
supported by internati<strong>on</strong>al d<strong>on</strong>ors, may be divided into two groups. The first group <strong>of</strong><br />
grants was aimed at strengthening the NGOs themselves (e.g., creati<strong>on</strong> or strengthening<br />
their resource base, training <strong>of</strong> the staff). The sec<strong>on</strong>d group <strong>of</strong> grants was aimed directly at<br />
addressing social problems. Analysis <strong>of</strong> the funding policies <strong>of</strong> internati<strong>on</strong>al foundati<strong>on</strong>s<br />
also suggested some c<strong>on</strong>clusi<strong>on</strong>s. For example, the “Eurasia” Foundati<strong>on</strong>, an organizati<strong>on</strong><br />
with private management [28, p. 2], supports the private, governmental and NGO sectors<br />
and is, perhaps, the sec<strong>on</strong>d organizati<strong>on</strong> <strong>of</strong> this kind, following the example <strong>of</strong> USAID.<br />
Despite the large number <strong>of</strong> target groups, the internati<strong>on</strong>al organizati<strong>on</strong>s had no idea <strong>of</strong><br />
supporting the projects aimed to develop cooperati<strong>on</strong> between the sectors, not to menti<strong>on</strong><br />
specific instituti<strong>on</strong>s. This trend existed until 2008 [19; 20; 38]. The reports <strong>of</strong> the abovementi<strong>on</strong>ed<br />
and other internati<strong>on</strong>al organizati<strong>on</strong>s had no informati<strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong> the support <strong>of</strong><br />
joint initiatives <strong>of</strong> various sectors or political parties. The <strong>on</strong>ly excepti<strong>on</strong> is an operating<br />
project <strong>of</strong> the Ethnic Program <strong>of</strong> the “Soros-Kyrgyzstan” Foundati<strong>on</strong> (“Methodological<br />
Support <strong>of</strong> Ethnic Development <strong>of</strong> KR” [19]), which held a roundtable (21/11/2005),<br />
attended by the representatives <strong>of</strong> the Government and civil society, which recognized<br />
the role <strong>of</strong> political parties in solving ethnic problems [9, pp. 14-15].<br />
Planning their grant activities, internati<strong>on</strong>al organizati<strong>on</strong>s follow the principle <strong>of</strong><br />
“n<strong>on</strong>-interference in the country politics”, so they refrain from supporting any initiatives<br />
<strong>of</strong> political parties, because such support may be regarded as an “interference <strong>of</strong> foreign<br />
states and their organizati<strong>on</strong>s into the internal politics”, which is unacceptable [see 4,<br />
ch. 3, Art. 16].<br />
Here the c<strong>on</strong>ceptual c<strong>on</strong>tradicti<strong>on</strong>s in determining the nature <strong>of</strong> political parties<br />
should be described. The generally accepted definiti<strong>on</strong> <strong>of</strong> “civil society” describes<br />
political parties as “an element or an instituti<strong>on</strong>” <strong>of</strong> civil society [see 1, p. 48; 8, p. 137;<br />
13, p. 63; 16, p. 432; 22, p. 62]. Civil society is defined as a set <strong>of</strong> n<strong>on</strong>-political voluntary<br />
associati<strong>on</strong>s <strong>of</strong> citizens, assisting the state in solving social problems. By their nature and<br />
purpose, “political parties are voluntary associati<strong>on</strong>s <strong>of</strong> citizens <strong>of</strong> the Kyrgyz Republic,<br />
who share comm<strong>on</strong> political objectives and tasks <strong>of</strong> implementing the political will <strong>of</strong> a<br />
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