Maintaining the Boundary

Abstract

Advocacy NGOs in Croatia often emphasize their nonpartisan identity, meaning‎that they do not publicly associate with political parties or declare their‎endorsement of electoral candidates. While such NGOs’ behavior could be‎explained based on overall negative public perception of political parties, as‎well as funding conditions imposed by NGOs’ donors, this article argues that‎the continuous nonpartisan identity of advocacy NGOs is further reaffirmed‎by a specific civil society discourse. Drawing on the analysis of in-depth interviews‎with senior members of nine Croatian NGOs, active in areas of human‎rights, the rule of law, and education, three relevant themes of civil society‎discourse reaffirming NGOs’ nonpartisanship are outlined: (1) idea of civil‎society as an answer to malfunctioning state, (2) NGOs’ legitimation based‎on autonomy and expertise, and (3) perception of political parties as an inherently‎limiting organizational form.‎