ABSTRACT
A voluntary association generally has three basic features. It is an organized group that is formed in order to further some common interest of its members; in which membership is voluntary in the sense that it is neither mandatory nor acquired through birth; that exists independently of the state, or, in this case, the party-state. Independent voluntary associations are a distinctive and critical element in democratic societies. Voluntary associations have proliferated, in part, because of the decentralization of authority which has created many new interstices in public life. Mikhail Gorbachev has linked the form of voluntary association to the broader process of democratization of society: "it is one of the more important levers for broadening the democratic process as a whole, for the struggle against administrative methods and bureaucracy," he asserted in March 1988. Many people fear that Gorbachev's reforms may lead to a further deterioration of the economic situation.
