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Different Eastern European Countries at Different Crossroads

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Éva Kuti
Éva Kuti*
Affiliation:
Research Project on Nonprofit Organizations, Budapest, Hungary
*
2Correspondence should be directed to Éva Kuti, H-1134 Budapest, Kassák 62, Hungary.
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Abstract

This paper takes an initial step toward a better understanding of the complex set of pressing problems that need to be addressed by the Eastern European nonprofit sectors and their supporters in the near future. It gives an overview of the main challenges and claims that different nonprofit sectors of the region are at different crossroads. It identifies a general policy crisis that is fueled by the lack of a comprehensive knowledge of the sector and clear political intentions of cooperating with it. In addition, the dependence on foreign funding may result in a sustainability crisis in several Eastern European countries. In the most developed part of the region, the main elements of the present crisis are the fiscal, economic, effectiveness, identity, and legitimacy problems, which have something in common with the challenges facing the much more mature nonprofit sectors of the developed world.

Résumé

Résumé

L’objectif de cet article est d’améliorer la compréhension des problèmes complexes et urgents auxquels seront confrontés les secteurs sans but lucratif de l’Europe de l’Est dans un futur proche. Cet article donne une vue d’ensemble sur les principaux enjeux et démontre que les différents secteurs sans but lucratif de cette zone sont à différents stades de développement. Il met également en évidence une crise politique générale alimentée par le manque de connaissance et de compréhension du secteur et par l’absence d’intentions politiques claires en matière de coopération avec celui-ci. Par ailleurs, dans plusieurs pays d’Europe de l’Est, la dépendance vis à vis des fonds étrangers risque d’avoir comme résultat une crise en terme de soutien pour les secteurs sans but lucratifs. Dans la partie la plus développée de cette région d’Europe, la crise actuelle est principalement d’ordre fiscal et économique, mais elle relève également de problèmes d’efficacité, d’identité et de légitimité; problèmes qui ressemblent à ceux que rencontrent les secteurs sans but lucratif plus anciens des économies occidentales.

Zusammenfassung

Zusammenfassung

Das Ziel dieses Aufsatzes ist es, einen ersten Schritt zu einem besseren Verstehen des komplexen Sets dringender Probleme, die von den osteuropäischen gemeinnützigen Sektoren und denen, die sie unterstützen, in naher Zukunft angesprochen werden müssen. Er gibt einen Überblick über die hauptsächlichen Herausforderungen und über Behauptungen, daß sich die gemeinnützigen Sektoren der Region an verschiedenen Scheidewegen befinden. Er identifiziert eine allgemeine Krise des Umgangs mit dem gemeinnützigen Sektor, die vom Mangel an umfassendem Wissen über den Sektor und an klaren politischen Intentionen, mit ihm zu kooperieren, angeheizt wird. Zusätzlich dazu kann die Abhängigkeit von ausländischer Finanzierung zu einer Versorgungskrise in mehreren osteuropäischen Ländern führen. Im am weitesten entwickelten Teil der Region sind die Hauptelemente der gegenwärtigen Krise fiskalische, ökonomische, Wirksamkeits-, Identitäts- und Legitimitätsprobleme, die einiges gemeinsam haben mit den Herausforderungen, denen sich die viel ausgereifteren gemeinnützigen Sektoren der entwickelten Welt gegenüber sehen.

Resumen

Resumen

El objetivo de este artículo es dar un paso inicial para llegar a una mejor comprensión de los complejos y acuciantes problemas que habrán de afrontar, en un futuro próximo, los sectores sin fines de lucro y sus partidarios, en los países del Este. Este escrito ofrece una visión de conjunto de los principales retos y afirma que los diversos sectores sin fines de lucro de la zona se encuentran en encrucijadas diferentes. Identifica una crisis del sistema en general, avivada por la carencia de un conocimiento extenso del sector y de unas claras intenciones políticas de cooperación con el mismo. Además, su dependencia de la financiación extranjera podría ocasionar una crisis de viabilidad en varios países de Europa del Este. En la parte más desarrollada de la zona, los problemas de índole fiscal y económica y de eficacia, identidad y legitimidad, componen los principales elementos de la crisis actual; unos problemas que tienen algo en común con los retos a que se enfrentan los mucho más veteranos sectores sin ánimo de lucro en el mundo desarrollado.

Keywords

Eastern European nonprofit sectorsgovernment-nonprofit relationssectoral identitysustainability

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , March 1999, pp. 51 - 60
Copyright
Copyright © 1999 International Society for Third-Sector Research and The Johns Hopkins University

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