Trust towards NGOs and volunteering in South Caucasus: civil society moving away from post-communism?

The purpose of this paper is to compare the civil societies of the three South Caucasus countries, focusing on trust towards non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and self-reported volunteering. It is hypothesized that due to differences in democratic developments, civil society should be strongest in Georgia and weakest in Azerbaijan. It is also hypothesized that the post-communist legacy of mistrust and disengagement can be observed in older age cohorts but not among the young generation that grew up after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Analysis of recent survey data shows that the differences exist but are not in the direction hypothesized: Armenia has the lowest levels of trust and the highest levels of volunteering, whereas Azerbaijan and Georgia are fairly similar. The post-communist generation of the three countries is more likely to trust NGOs but is not more likely to engage in voluntary activities.