How Vigilant is the Vibrant Civil Society in Bangladesh? A Survey-based Analysis

Although international development organizations and donor countries regard civil society organizations (CSOs) as the best instrument for institutionalizing democracy in third world countries, few of these organizations have successfully influenced government policies or played a role in consolidating democracy. Based on survey data and empirical observations, this article will argue that civil society in Bangladesh may be noteworthy for its contributions to development and social welfare but that it can hardly contribute to democracy. CSOs participate in vibrant grassroots social services. However, they lack the necessary participatory attributes for proper interest articulation and monitoring of the state, resulting in a less vigilant civil society. The article links civil society's non-vigilant nature to co-optation and politicization by political forces.     

Civil society organizations and the prevention of mass atrocities: Perspectives from south Sudan

Nowhere is the role of civil society organizations (CSOs) in development and democratization more critical than in countries at high risk of mass atrocities. In this article, we examine the actual and potential role of development CSOs in the prevention of mass atrocities based on an analysis of 302 CSOs in South Sudan. The article examines if and how service-providing CSOs frame their work as contributing to the prevention of mass atrocities. The article seeks to understand how these CSOs deliver services and articulate their work regarding the prevention of large-scale identity-based violence. We aim to explore the degree to which organizations describe atrocity prevention as an intentional part of democratization efforts. The article is situated within the larger debates about the service delivery and civil society functions of CSOs. Specifically, we ask: To what extent do development CSOs articulate a contribution to the prevention of mass atrocities? We posit that the service delivery and civil society functions can be better achieved by giving deliberate attention to an atrocity prevention perspective.     

The Monitoring Capacity of Civil Society Networks: A Social Network Analysis in the Case of Gender Equality Policy

The role of civil society organizations (CSOs) as a watchdog in the implementation process is widely acknowledged. However, little is known about what determines their capacity to monitor EU policy implementation and how it differs across member states. This article accounts for social capital as well as human and financial capital to determine the monitoring capacity of CSOs. To capture sources of social capital, a network analysis is applied in a comparative case article on the monitoring networks of national platforms of the European Women’s Lobby across eight EU member states. The analysis reveals that CSOs in western member states are rich in human, financial and social capital, while CSOs in CEE member states compensate for this lack of resources by linking up with the Commission.     

An analysis of capacities of civil society organizations (CSOs) involved in promotion of community participation in governance in Kenya

Although civil society organizations (CSOs) often receive attention in development discourse, they are particularly deemed to provide a new way that ensures good governance. Hence, an understanding of their contributions against the backdrop of governance‐related challenges in Kenya calls for fresh and new research. This article gives attention to CSOs' role in the promotion of community participation in governance. Specifically, it looks into capacities of CSOs involved in these efforts on governance. It links persistent poor governance happening at the counties to inadequate capacities of CSOs involved in the fight against the vice. It argues that CSOs lack vital capacities including adequate funds, staff, offices, and equipment, to be able to sustain action against poor governance. The study methodology involved a survey, focus group discussions, and in‐depth face‐to‐face interviews. A variety of tools were used that included a survey questionnaire, focus group discussion guide, and in‐depth interview guide. Some of the recommendations are that it is important for stakeholders including the government to understand CSOs and provide them with required support. CSOs also need to be given training and exposure to programs in other countries that have successfully addressed governance issues.     

Two paths to financial liberalization: South Korea and Taiwan

Abstract

This article explores the emergence of new spaces for civil society organisations (CSOs) as a result of an increasing interest by international donors in multi-stakeholder approaches to good governance under the ‘new policy agenda’. Drawing upon a contemporary case study of civil society in Cambodia, it argues that CSOs have been encouraged to perform two key roles on a national level: professional service delivery agents and democratic watchdogs. Both roles are seen by donors as integral to supporting an accountable and professional model of the Cambodian state while drawing upon valuable private sector lessons in a synergetic model of governance. The result is the construction of particular neoliberal spaces for CSOs operating as technical implementation mechanisms in response to externally driven donor pressures. Furthermore, under this new framework of governance, CSOs face pressure to undergo internal transformation akin to new public management reform; embracing economistic and administrative modes of coordination as core values of civil society participation.     

An analysis of mechanisms used by CSOs in the promotion of community participation in governance in Kenya

Civil society organizations (CSOs) are often perceived to provide the magic bullet to complex societal problems including alternative approaches that ensure good governance. Fresh new research is therefore needed due to the prevailing paradox of escalating governance challenges in Kenya despite CSOs efforts to address the same. This paper specifically seeks to understand mechanisms that CSOs use as they seek to intervene in governance issues in Kenya. It links persistent poor governance happening at the counties to inadequate mechanisms used by CSOs. It argues that CSOs have not been bold enough to confront poor governance but, instead, have used superficial mechanisms with little outcomes. They have particularly focused on providing trainings and creating awareness and have shied away from more direct engagement with poor governance such as monitoring utilization of public funds. The study methodology involved a survey, focus group discussions, and in-depth face to face interviews. The tools used included a survey questionnaire, Focus Group Discussion guide and In-depth Interview guide. Among the recommendations are that CSOs need to go beyond creating awareness and trainings and engage with governance issues more directly using well-tried mechanisms.     

Ecological Crisis, Poverty and Urban Development in Latin America

This article deals with the social and ecological crisis in the urban regions in Latin America. To analyse the social and environmental conditions of Latin-American urban regions it is necessary to take into account two main factors: the high population and territorial growth of Latin American cities during the second half of the 20th century and the lack of an integral development which would have improved the urban quality of life. The imported market economy in Latin America, as a bad copy of the growth economy in the North, has generated a highly unequal development. The acceleration of the economic growth has gone hand in hand with the deceleration of development. Whereas the macro-economic rates improve, the indicators that measure qualitative evolution among sectors, territories and people have deteriorated. So, to explain the ecological crisis in Latin America, it is important to consider not only the different forms of environmental impact, but also the socio-economic factors and the availability of infrastructures. Therefore, this article describes the general social and economic development process in Latin America, and then examines the relationships between industrialisation and urbanisation in connection to the social and ecological conditions in urban areas.     

Grassroots International NGOs: Using Comparative Interpretive Policy Analysis to Understand Meanings in Private Development Aid

Abstract

This research comparatively examines grassroots international NGOs (GINGOs), a growing subset of international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) working in private development aid. GINGOs are small-scale, on-going development initiatives through voluntary third sector organizations. How do GINGOs’ founders and volunteers understand their role in private development aid? The article uses an interpretive framework to examine three in-depth comparative case studies of GINGOs based in the US and working in South Sudan, Nepal and Haiti. Its contribution is that it provides rich data to build further theory about the experiences, or multiple realities, in private development aid. It is found that GINGOs’ founders and volunteers attach new meanings to private development aid to distinguish themselves from larger professionalized INGOs and emphasize personal connections.     

Adding to the Controversy? Civil Society’s Evaluation of the National Conference Dialogue in Yemen

ABSTRACT

This article assembles a picture of Yemen’s 2013–14 National Dialogue Conference (NDC) by collecting perspectives from local civil society organizations (CSOs), which are contrasted to the views of international commentators. Despite all efforts by internal parties as well as the international community, the dialogue failed to avert war, which broke out shortly after. Through interviews with 50 CSOs, we reconstructed the reasons for failure, as well as paying attention to the observed strengths of the dialogue. Half of the consulted organizations were directly involved in the NDC, either as an invited participant or in a brokerage role. The other half concerns outside observers. We identify aspects on which the opinion of the CSOs converge, but also highlight striking divergences depending on insider/outsider status. In contrast to the view espoused in the international literature, the CSOs overall feel that, in spite of all its procedural and substantive flaws, the NDC was a significant junction in the long road towards peace and stability and laid important groundwork for future dialogues.     

The power of policy networks in authoritarian regimes: Changing environmental policy in China

In this article, I examine how civil society organizations (CSOs) in China created policy networks among government officials to change environmental policies. I contend that these networks work in similar ways to those in democracies, despite the focus in the literature on how policymaking in authoritarian regimes lacks societal participation. China adopted strict regulations to control CSOs by requiring registration with a supervisory agency. However, CSOs exploit the regulations to use the supervisory agency as an access point to policymakers whom they otherwise could not reach. I use case studies to demonstrate how the strategies used to construct policy networks determined their success in changing policy. This finding represents an initial step in theorizing bottom‐up sources of policymaking in authoritarian regimes given that these regimes all create mechanisms for government control over CSOs, have difficulty accessing good information for policymaking from society, and a policy process formally closed to citizen participation.     

Competition,the Global Crisis,and Alternatives to Neoliberal Capitalism: A Critical Engagement with Anarchism

Since the mid-1980s, and particularly throughout the first decade of the twenty-first century, the imperative of capitalist competition has become a totalizing and all-pervasive logic expanding to ever more social domains and geographical areas around the world. Sustained by neoliberal competition regulation and other regulatory provisions, excessive competition (over-competition) in the process of capital accumulation has become a major global force with highly detrimental social and environmental downsides. From the vantage point of a historical materialist perspective, the article provides an explanatory critique of capitalist competition and the atomistic and reductionist social scientific precepts that serve to legitimize the neoliberal type of competition regulation. By critically engaging with principles and values central to anarchism, such as equity, solidarity, cooperation, mutual aid, and environmental sustainability, the article seeks to outline an alternative vision to the ideas and social practices that have sustained the existing competition order thus far.     

中国社会安全网研究——青岛市“阳光救助工程”的创新实践

"阳光救助工程"是青岛市2002年7月开始对中国的社会安全网建设进行的创新实践.它有效地保障了城市贫困人口特别是下岗、失业职工的基本生活权益.以青岛市"阳光救助工程"的创新实践为例,研究了中国地方政府创新对社会安全网建设的作用.通过分析"阳光救助工程"产生和发展的动力机制,并对该项举措的创新绩效进行评估后,认为,"阳光救助工程"的创新实践对完善中国社会安全网带来了许多启示.这些启示主要包括:第一,对城市贫困进行综合治理时,应在政府主导下扩大社会参与;第二,贫困问题并不单单体现在收入匮乏上,实际上还涉及到行为主体的物质、精神、社会地位等多个方面的表现;第三,从社会救济到社会救助体系的发展和完善中,应该充分发挥个人的主体性和能动性;第四,城市社会救助体系是一个多目标、多层次的社会系统,包括救济、就业、医疗等针对弱势群体的社会救助制度;第五,社区在社会安全网建设中应起到积极作用,充分发挥社区的社会保障作用.     

Corporatisation and Community Service Obligations: Are They Incompatible?

This article asks whether corporatisation is compatible with the notion of community service obligations (CSOs). Corporatisation provides only a minimal framework for the identification of social objectives as CSOs and their funding by government from budget. The community has certain expectations of utilities in relation to CSOs, which may be different from expectations held by governments. Models of corporatisation which have two shareholding ministers with competing objectives introduce a further potential source of conflict.
Historically, the characteristics of a CSO are ambiguous (IC 1991:81) and this presents difficulty in their costing and identification. Governments and corporatised entities have attempted to clarify the issues of definition, identification and costing. These and other issues such as transparency, budget funding, coverage, jurisdiction, public interest and community spirit are discussed in the context of corporatised government electricity utilities.     

Commentary on Mazlish: “The hi-jacking of global society”

Abstract

History and traditions are important for many civil society organizations (CSOs). However, CSOs have to mediate between their original mission and modern-day realities. This article argues that understanding the concept of decoupling can enrich analyses of how organizations deal with path dependency. Hence, this article discusses cross-fertilization between historical and organizational institutionalism. This is illustrated through a study of Swedish CSOs using survey data, interviews and documents. The Swedish popular movement tradition is argued to be a path that is not easily abandoned, and the results of the surveys and interviews included here show how actors in CSOs find history to be both a resource and a constraint. Furthermore, different decoupling strategies, including both reversed and official decoupling, are used to balance between historical legacies and current challenges.     

Civil Society Mappings by Government: A Comparison of Ecuadorian and Colombian Cases

Scholars argue that we cannot see civil society organizations (CSOs) as legitimate players in policy if we have no clear ways to define them and if we lack information explaining their functions. Thus, scholars and practitioners alike have encouraged the ‘mapping’ of civil society. Mapping civil society consists of gathering and collating information on CSOs and often making it publicly available. There is little scholarship about such mapping efforts implemented by government. This article compares new mapping efforts in two countries—i.e., registries of CSOs created by governments in Ecuador and Colombia. The article examines the intentions of civil society mapping by government, identifying three key goals: to collect data, to regulate, and to foster collaboration. It discusses the differences across civil society mappings by government and in comparison with other mapping projects. The article argues that registries are increasingly positioned as a link between government and civil society not only to collect data for transparency but also to implement regulatory measures and to foster various degrees of collaboration. Thus, greater research attention to civil society mappings by government and their possible implications on civil society development and civil society/state relations is needed.     

Neo-liberalism,big business and the evolution of interest group activity in Latin America

In the 1980s and 1990s, the confluence of the third wave of democracy, neo-liberal economic reforms and economic crises in Latin America, produced several significant consequences for the region's underdeveloped interest group systems. By using an international political economy approach, this article examines these developments and particularly how neo-liberal policies affected the political fortunes of big business plus the broader political fall-out from neo-liberal policies. In essence, we make the argument that, for three reasons, the consequences of the confluence of these three developments for Latin America's emerging interest group system are mixed in terms of a more pluralist, open-access system. First, the influence of big business persists and in many ways has been enhanced as the economically and politically privileged position of large private companies since the 1980s has given way to economic concentration, transnationalization and the rise of multilatinas (Latin American multinational companies, which primarily operate across the region). Second, political opportunities have been opened for a range of interests, many from the left, that likely would not otherwise have emerged so early in the region. Third, the election of leaders opposed to neo-liberal policies may transform Latin America's political economy and aid in the democratization of its interest group system. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

From the Cycle of Deprivation to Social Exclusion: Five Continues

One important aspect of Tony Blair's speech on social exclusion, given to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in York on 5 September 2006, has been ignored-that its content was prefigured by Sir Keith Joseph, in his famous 'cycle of deprivation' speech, on 29 June 1972. This article seeks to explore these continuities over the past thirty-four years, tracing similarities and differences between the two speeches. Moreover, it also reflects on the earlier Joseph speech and subsequent Research Programme, to see where government policies on social exclusion might lead. The article argues that while earlier writers have acknowledged the intellectual debt that New Labour owes to Joseph, and noted similarities between current policy approaches to child poverty and earlier debates about transmitted deprivation, recent moves on social exclusion mean that these continuities are now more striking than ever before.     

Civil society organizations,Africa’s Great Lakes Region conflict,and attempts at regional peacebuilding

This article advances the conceptualization of ‘regional peacebuilding’ and suggests six essentials for effective regional peacebuilding that when put together present a structured analytical approach. The article rationalizes the need for civil society organizations’ (CSOs) regional peacebuilding in Africa’s Great Lakes Region based on the existing conflicts that are of a regional nature. CSOs’ attempts at regionalizing responses are discussed in the context of their constraints and impediments, including inadequate analysis of regional dimensions of conflict and fragmented action. A comparative analysis of two intergovernmental organizations reveals that CSOs’ responses are further handicapped by regional organizations’ narrow conceptualization of peace and security coupled with the limited space for their participation in shaping the organizations’ agenda. Efforts to address these constraints should be coupled with CSOs’ efforts to innovatively develop invented spaces to collaborate on regional peacebuilding.     

Reviving Social Rights in Latin America: The Potential Role of International Human Rights Documents

Social rights are essential to our ability to fully participate in society. In Latin America, these rights are increasingly marginalized as neoliberal policies take hold. At the same time, the related concepts of civil society and social capital are often incorporated into strategies aimed at alleviating the problems of the Latin American poor. It is expected that by strengthening people's civic capacity, their sense of mutual responsibility and ability to self-provide certain services will be enhanced. In the context of the current policy environment, however, such strategies are unlikely to be entirely successful. Lack of economic resources may preclude the Latin American poor from effective civic participation. More importantly, the promotion of civil society and social capital on the part of aid agencies and governments may represent an implicit threat to social rights, in as much as the organizations advocated are not likely to actively struggle for expansion of rights. Nevertheless, human rights documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child provide a base upon which rights-based movements can be constructed.