Corruption and NGO Sustainability: A Panel Study of Post-communist States

The development and viability of the non-governmental organization (NGO) sector varies across the post-communist world. We explore the impact of corruption on NGO sustainability—the overall enabling environment and activities of the NGO sector—in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union from 1998 to 2007. To test hypotheses about the relationship between corruption and NGO sustainability, we employ time-series cross-sectional analyses of 27 post-communist states, controlling for domestic factors such as economic development, government expenditure, and democracy, and international factors such as levels of trade, foreign direct investment, and foreign aid, as well as a country’s status vis-à-vis the European Union. We conclude that corruption is consistently and strongly associated with lower levels of NGO sustainability. In particular, our analyses suggest that corruption is likely to degrade the legal environment and fiscal viability of the NGO sector greater than other aspects related to NGO activities such as advocacy or organizational capacity.