ABSTRACT
The organization and activity of social groups are critical elements in understanding the "changing boundaries of the political" and the development of civil society, or an institutionalized role for independent social initiative. The flourishing of social groups has even encouraged research projects among Soviet social scientists, who themselves are trying to cope with the phenomenon. Group/regime relations break down into a number of categories ranging from full cooperation to complete antagonism. The differences tend to depend on location; relations are characterized by cooperation more often in Latvia, by antagonism more often in Belorussia, and by varying degrees of begrudging acceptance or tolerance in Moscow. Social science literature on social groups and movements tends to focus on the groups themselves, in particular on their goals, motivations, and access to and utilization of resources. Changes in the pattern of state-society relationships prompted by glasnost and Perestroika have provided an arena within which social group activity has flourished since 1987.
