Understanding multi-purpose hybrid voluntary organizations: The contributions of theories on civil society,social movements and non-profit organizations

Abstract

The paper offers a theoretical framework to study the conditions that lead to the emergence of multi-purpose hybrid voluntary organizations and the factors that influence their ability to mobilize resources and enlist commitment. These organizations are characterized by four interrelated attributes: (a) they set out as their mission to uphold and promote cultural values that are typically at variant with dominant and institutionalized values; (b) they offer services to members and the public that express their distinct values, using the services as a model and catalyst for social change; (c) in addition to their instrumental goals, they aim to meet the expressive and social identity needs of their members by promoting a collective identity; and (d) they evolve into hybrid organizations by having multiple purposes—combining to various degrees goals of value change, service provision and mutual-aid. Because they deliberately combine features of volunteer-run associations, social movements and non-profit service organizations, we articulate a theoretical framework that melds concepts and propositions from the various theoretical perspectives used to study each of these organizational forms. We argue that the expanded theoretical framework offers a more comprehensive and dynamic view of civil society and a better perspective to the study of third sector organizations.     

The role of civil society in European integration

This paper explores the concept of ‘civic society’ in Western political thought, charting the changing understanding of this concept through history and its manifestation in contemporary political and social life. The paper draws out the inferences for our understanding of the role of government, particularly with the European Union and its relationship with citizens and other representative community‐based and non‐governmental organisations. The paper argues that the fundamental values that are central to civic society underpin the proposed EU Charter on Fundamental Rights and maintains that effective European integration requires responsible participation by Europe's citizens. Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications     

The weakness of postcommunist civil society reassessed

During the last two decades, scholars from a variety of disciplines have argued that civil society is structurally deficient in postcommunist countries. Yet why have the seemingly strong, active and mobilised civic movements of the transition period become so weak after democracy was established? And why have there been diverging political trajectories across the postcommunist space if civil society structures were universally weak? This article uses a new, broader range of data to show that civil societies in Central and Eastern European countries are not as feeble as commonly assumed. Many postcommunist countries possess vigorous public spheres and active civil society organisations strongly connected to transnational civic networks able to shape domestic policies. In a series of time‐series cross‐section models, the article shows that broader measures of civic and social institutions are able to predict the diverging transition paths among postcommunist regimes, and in particular the growing gap between democratic East Central Europe and the increasingly authoritarian post‐Soviet space.     

Asylum,welfare and civil society: a case study in civil repair

This paper examines a civil society challenge to UK government legislation withdrawing welfare support from asylum seekers who do not claim on entry to the country. Drawing on the work of Habermas and Alexander, it considers the role of the courts as a deliberative space and elaborates the scope for civil repair in the case of a group rendered marginal by the law. In so doing, it also suggests how links could be made with the broadened conception of citizenship proposed by Isin and Turner.     

Weak civil society in a hard state: Lessons from Africa

Abstract

This paper investigates the role of civil society in Botswana within the broader context of the state–civil society dynamic in Africa. It is argued that, like other countries in Africa, civil society in Botswana is rather weak. Conversely, unlike other countries in Africa, a weak civil society is accompanied by a hard state. Thanks to wise leadership, Botswana has experienced remarkable economic growth rates and significant improvements in human development over a period of about four decades. Botswana is also considered a ‘shining liberal democracy’, with elections held every five years, an independent judiciary system, and low levels of corruption. Yet it has been a democratic system with a weak civil society. Four main reasons are provided: first, the political culture makes it difficult to question authority; second, it is arduous to mobilize citizens because of the culture of dependency created by the clientelistic state; third, the Government has for a long time denied—and still does—the role of civil society as a legitimate player in the development process; fourth, civil society is not a cohesive group and lacks funds, especially the advocacy groups.     

Civil society and democratic progression in postcolonial Nigeria: The role of non-governmental organizations

Abstract

With the ever increasing demands of market forces via globalization on governments, the parallel requests from citizens to fill the gap often left open by states have become just as prevalent in the modern era. Governments have become ill-equipped to handle such citizen demands or simply unwilling, thus civil society agents in the form of Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) are attempting to fill those gaps. Ideally, civil society actors like NGOs collectively mobilize and advocate more political openness, in the form of civil liberties and civil rights. However, NGOs can stymie democracy-building as well. Demands for more democratization are increasing precipitously, and seem to be coinciding with the rising tide of globalization, even in nascent democracies such as Nigeria. However, the idealism of the 1990s, that NGOs would be the panacea for democratic limitations, are not revealing themselves as once anticipated for a plethora of reasons. This paper will investigate the impact of NGO efforts and democratization in the face of instability in postcolonial Nigeria.     

Struggle for citizenship: interaction between political society and civil society at a Kurd refugee protest in Tokyo

This article analyzes a Kurd refugee sit-in protest staged in front of the United Nations offices in Tokyo in July–September 2004 and its implications for the interaction between political society and civil society. The refugees' protest is viewed as a moment where the line between citizens and non-citizens is redrawn. Citizens possess an exclusive right to political speech and action. Protests by refugees undoubtedly question citizens' monopoly of this right. By organizing protests, refugees, who do not have citizenship status, raise their voices, make demands, and thus request a right to speech and action. In doing so, they blur the line between citizens and non-citizens. In this process, how do citizens and refugees interact with each other? By using Partha Chatterjee's concept of political society, I examine the different tactics employed by the refugees, who are part of political society, and the citizens of civil society. The case shows that when different voices meet, the voice of civil society drowns the voice of political society: the refugees' tactics were de-legitimized by the citizens. This interaction suggests that encounters between citizens and refugees are not simply events where the refugees claim a right to speech and action, but that such encounters also involve citizens in effect struggling to secure their monopoly of the same rights.     

From nomadic communitarianism to civil socialism: Searching for the roots of civil society in rural Kazakhstan

ABSTRACT

This article explores the environmental, historical and cultural factors that influence civic engagement among rural communities in contemporary Kazakhstan. It traces how forms of nomadic communitarianism as a response to the vicissitudes of life on the open Steppe merged with the imposed collectivism of Soviet society in such a manner that the two were able to coexist together in both policy and practice. Drawing on fieldwork among a number of villages in South Kazakhstan, we argue that, together, the nomadic and Soviet pasts still constitute the core values at work in rural communities, influencing the structure of local power relations and the nature of group association and cooperative venture. Rather than disappearing, these values, if anything, are re-emerging as part of an attempt to legitimise Kazakh culture as the core identity of the modern nation state.     

Nature,culture, and civil society

Abstract

Civil societies are related in complex ways with the nature that surrounds them. Drawing upon ecological principles, social, economic, and political theories, and empirical evidence from environmental psychology, we explore the ongoing dialectic between nature and culture—how humans alter nature and nature alters humans, their cultures and associations—with particular reference to civil society. In our view, civil society scholars overlook much by not paying close attention to nature. Nature provides opportunities for citizens to work together to improve their neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces. Joint action can improve the physical and psychological health of people while also restoring and protecting natural systems. Indeed, a vibrant civil society is essential to achieve the many nature-related goals that require co-ordinated action at landscape scales. At the same time, nature provides appealing opportunities to strengthen the types of social values and institutions that are vital to all versions of civil society. We consider the various forms of civil society that are needed to promote healthy, appealing environments, using specific examples of community-based civic engagement. We particularly endorse citizen-run associations (i) that embrace nature-respecting normative values; (ii) that work with land and undertake political action; and (iii) that encourage participants to become more alert, engaged members of their natural homes.     

Civil society participation in global governance: Insights from climate politics

A rather unique feature of global climate negotiations is that most governments allow representatives of civil society organisations to be part of their national delegation. It remains unclear, however, why states grant such access in the first place. While there are likely to be benefits from formally including civil society, there are also substantial costs stemming from constraints on sovereignty. In light of this tradeoff, this article argues for a ‘contagion’ effect that explains this phenomenon besides domestic determinants. In particular, states, which are more central to the broader network of global governance, are more likely to be informed of and influenced by other states' actions and policies toward civil society. In turn, more central governments are likely to include civil society actors if other governments do so as well. This argument is tested with data on the participation of civil society organisations in national delegations to global climate negotiations between 1995 and 2005. To further uncover the underlying mechanisms, the article also provides an analysis of survey data collected at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations in Durban in 2011.     

The state and civil society in transition: the role of non-governmental organizations in South Korea

This paper presents a framework of the interdependence of various sectors of society and then investigates the development and current status of the civil society sector, specifically the growth of NGOs in South Korea. Recent years have witnessed an increase in public awareness where civil societies have begun challenging states in addressing public issues. The directive state intervention following the Korean War disallowed for a strong civil society, thus restraining the development of significant non-state actors. The 1987 Democratization Movement marked an increase in the activity of NGOs and also the provision of a pathway for citizens to begin engaging in social activity. The repressive apparatus of the state has weakened allowing Korean NGOs to mature in dealing with diverse social issues in the public domain. They have extended the scope of policy-related activities to ensure an environment conducive to the enlargement of public space and the expansion of citizens’ rights. The results of this study indicate that the growth of NGOs is both the result of the demise of authoritarian regimes and further stimulus to the transition solidifying democracy. The challenges for Korean NGOs will be to ply strategic roles as partners of the state in the transitional period.     

Governing under advanced liberalism: sport policy and the social investment state

Since the election in 1997 of a New Labour Government in the United Kingdom, a growing number of analyses have provided insights into, and critiques of, what has been termed the “social investment state”. To date, these analyses have interrogated particular developments and distinct issues in a number of key social welfare policy-related sectors, including education, citizenship, the family, and poverty/employment. Notable by its absence, however, is the contribution that policies for sport and physical activity are now playing in the realisation of New Labour’s social investment strategies. This article therefore interrogates and registers the growing salience of sport policy interventions for the construction of a social investment state within the broader political context of governing under “advanced liberal” rationalities. The “active citizen”, and children and young people, in particular, are valorised and appear centre-stage as the focus for these interventions. This child-centred focus is problematised, as is the argument that, under prevailing political rationalities of advanced liberalism, government “steers” rather than “rows” and “enables” rather than “commands”. Under these conditions, while children are deemed deserving of investment, there may be other groups who are deemed less deserving, for example, older people who, unlike children and young people have little currency in a future-oriented world.

新型治理:韩国民主进程中的市民组织

近些年来,在以发展型国家著称的韩国,公民参与政策过程的影响不断增强.本文分析了韩国民主巩固进程中市民组织的政治化问题.论文通过分析市民组织在政策过程中的三个政治活动案例,揭示了韩国市民组织的组织特征和政治功能,最后还对韩国市民组织的特征与日本市民组织的特征进行了比较,并对韩国政治中市民组织在新型治理中的作用及其前景进行了评价.     

Civil society activism,strategic alignment and international public policy making for spectrum

Academic work has noted a growth in the prominence of civil society in international political-economic life, yet the conditions under which such civil society presence is developed, the ways in which it is manifest and their implications are still incompletely understood. The recent international policy debate on the allocation of spectrum provides a useful case for research aiming to close this gap in knowledge and is the focus of this article. It provides evidence of a significant – though ultimately highly contingent – civil society presence in the spectrum debate. It explains this through the construction of a framework of international civil society strategic alignment. This is used to illustrate and explain the conditions that allowed civil society to articulate its voice and the means through which and how this was achieved. The article contributes to the literature on civil society activism in communications by illustrating both its capacity for action – but also the highly significant limitations placed on it – in utilizing strategic alignment to engage in international public policy making debates.     

Second thoughts on civil society: The state,civic associations and the antinomies of the public sphere in Africa

ABSTRACT

This article offers a conceptual framework to identify and analyse the contemporary behaviour of the paradoxical government-organized, non-governmental organization (GONGO). We discuss how GONGOs’ activities fit within mainstream civil society theories and traditions. Furthermore, we compare and analyse GONGOs and NGOs in terms of their sources of power, main activities and functions, and dilemmas. Finally, we theorize the effects, and implications, the growth of GONGOs has on state and society relations globally.     

Civil society in an age of globalization: A neo-Gramscian perspective

Abstract

Since the 1970s, the world has seen an intensification of the globalization processes of social relations, an intensification that has direct implications for the study of contemporary world politics. One important aspect of such implications concerns the emergence of new actors in world politics, not just in national terms, but also at the local, regional and global levels—in other words, approaching the global political economy as a whole. In some sense, it is possible to say that dominant and dominated social groups are being influenced and are influencing such globalization processes, so at present it would be possible to note the rising of a transnational fraction of the capitalist class and the rise of a globalized resistance within the ambit of a civil society influenced by globalization processes. Therefore, the objective of the current article is to analyze the transformation process of social forces in an age of the intensification of globalization of social relations. Put another way, the article assesses the transformations of civil society in an age of globalization that present new dilemmas and possibilities to the collective political agency in the twenty-first century.     

Studying civil society across the world: Exploring the Thorny issues of conceptualization and measurement

Abstract

The debate about the usefulness of the civil society concept for social analysis has reached a critical stage and calls for its abandonment are mounting. To prove its relevance for policy, practice and research, better operational concepts and more rigorous empirical research on civil society are required. This article examines the possibilities and pitfalls of cross-national civil society research as a crucial area of empirical civil society studies. It explores the definition, conceptualization, operationalization and measurement of civil society through a critical examination of existing international efforts at comparative civil society analysis. A functional approach to defining civil society and a two-dimensional operational concept of civil society, according to its (1) structural and (2) cultural features, are proposed as suitable tools to study the phenomenon cross-nationally. The article also reviews the Civicus Civil Society Index as an innovative tool to assess the state of civil society and discusses the insights and challenges emerging from its current application in more than 50 countries. The paper concludes that international comparative civil society studies are both possible and necessary, but cautions that more attention needs to be paid to the development of appropriate operational concepts and measurement models.     

Civil Society after Democracy: The Evolution of Civic Activism in South Africa and Korea

The phase of democratic consolidation can significantly impact the motives, dynamics and objectives of civil society. Its internal roles, dynamics and power balances are significantly altered by the advent of democracy, due to shifting resources, political opportunities and a general reframing of goals and objectives. By adopting a definition of civil society as an ‘arena’ (which highlights the continuously evolving composition and leadership of civil society) and borrowing a number of theoretical dimensions from social movement theory (which underline the importance of resource mobilization, political opportunities and conceptual framing processes), the article shows that the advent of democracy has posed a number of challenges to civil society organizations in Korea and South Africa. Moreover, the consolidation of democracy has inevitably changed the nature of government–civil society relations. While in South Africa institutional politics reasserted itself in the first years of democracy, thereby sidelining organizations and movements concerned with public accountability and good governance (which have only recently resurfaced through the action of new social movements), in Korea corruption and lack of transparency immediately marred the dawn of democracy, providing civic movements with a fertile terrain to galvanize civic mobilizations vis-à-vis the lack of responsiveness of the political class.     

The Translation of Transnational Voluntary Standards into Practices: Civil Society and the Forest Stewardship Council in Russia

The article analyses closely the role of civil society in the local translation and adaptation of transnational standards of responsible use of natural resources in global certification regimes. The study builds on original evidence from Russia on civil society and forest certification, based on extensive fieldwork. It argues that the local translation of global sustainability standards into on-the-ground practices is not a straightforward execution of rules imposed by powerful transnational actors—e.g. international nongovernmental organizations, multinationals, governments, or consumers. Rather, local civil society actors elaborate the ways in which transnational standards are implemented locally and thereby construct new knowledge related to standard implementation and responsible natural resource management. The paper contributes to the literature on transnational governance by examining the involvement of civil society organizations in the translation, adaptation, and learning dynamics in global certification regimes.