Heidi Nichols Haddad and Lisa McIntosh Sundstrom. “Foreign Agents or Agents of Justice? Private Foundations, Backlash Against Non-Governmental Organizations, and International Human Rights Litigation.” Law & Society Review, vol. 57, no. 1 (2023): 12-35.
This article critically examines the claim behind Russia’s 2012 “Foreign Agents” Law that foreign funding drives NGO agendas, focusing on human rights NGOs’ legal mobilization at the European Court of Human Rights. By analyzing foundation grant flows and case studies of Russian NGOs, the study finds that while private donors broadly support strategic litigation, there is no evidence that foreign donors push NGOs toward litigation. Instead, NGOs actively seek donor support to pursue human rights cases. Despite this, the law threatens the viability of these organizations by restricting foreign funding. The article highlights the crucial role of legal professionals and NGOs in using international legal forums to contest authoritarian restrictions, even as domestic legal and political pressures intensify in backsliding democracies.