Date of Conferral

2018

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Public Policy and Administration

Advisor

Matthew Jones

Abstract

Despite Russia's foreign agent law and a plethora of literature on the deterioration of Russia's civil society, there is a scarcity of research about the breakthroughs and transformation of Russian-and-American (RA) nongovernmental organization (NGO) partnerships. Accordingly, the research goal of this qualitative case study was to explore the tenets of servant leadership theory exhibited by foreign aid organizations for the restoration of RA NGO partnerships. The research questions addressed the influence and dominance of servant leadership tenets within United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and its collaborating agencies. A content analysis was conducted using online publicly available data such as annual reports from foreign aid organizations, newspaper articles, fact sheets, recorded interviews, and blogs. Data were deductively coded around the servant leadership attributes: (a) listening, (b) healing, (c) awareness, (d) empathy, (e) foresight, (f) conceptualization, (g) stewardship, (h) persuasion, (i) commitment to the growth of people, and (j) building community. Content analysis findings revealed that some servant leadership tenets (e.g., building community, commitment to the growth of people) were more dominant than others among USAID and its collaborating agencies; however, there was insufficient evidence to conclude that servant leadership had a dominant effect on the restoration of RA NGO partnerships. The implications for positive social change include recommendations involving governmental agencies, NGOs, and nonpartisan groups with understanding and adopting the principles of servant leadership for the restoration of RA NGO partnerships to assist Russian civil society with embedding principles of democratic governance.

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