民间组织发展与我国民主政治建设

民间组织是独立于政府和企业之外的各种非官方、非营利性公民自治组织,是公民社会的主要载体。民间组织作为公民参与政治生活的政治主体之一,不仅具有重要的民主政治意义,而且是全球化和现代化浪潮的推动下经济、社会、文化及制度发展的必然产物。我国民间组织的发展还存在许多亟待解决的问题,需要从多方面系统安排、重点突破、整体推进。     

公民社会发展与民主政治建设——访中央编译局副局长俞可平

在汶川大地震发生后的抗震救灾中,民间组织和志愿者的作用发挥及力量显示,使公民社会的崛起进一步引起关注。如何认识我国公民社会发展的现状、特点和存在的困难,     

农村民间组织的发展:困境、动力与前景

农村民间组织的发展是乡村现代化和民主化的必然产物,并构成了农村公民社会的重要组成部分,广泛参与到农村治理.但农村民间组织在组织内外部环境的约束之下,面临着自身难以克服的发展困境,从而影响了农村民间组织和农村公民社会的成长壮大,阻碍了农村民主政治建设进程.因而就需要解决农村民间组织发展的动力机制问题,进而在此基础上做出对农村民间组织发展前景的展望.     

地方多元治理与社会民间组织

加强社会管理、协调社会关系,愈益成为党和政府面临的迫切任务,成为关系全面建设小康社会的重要环节。新春伊始,中央即举办省部级主要领导干部社会管理及其创新专题研讨班,研究加强和改善社会管理的对策,胡锦涛总书记发表重要讲话,深刻表明我们党对社会管理及其改革的高度重视。近几年来,山东省新泰市创造性地走出了一条依托平安协会建设,化解社会矛盾、实现基层社会和谐稳定的社会管理创新之路。本刊特约几位专家学者,结合新泰市的实践,对我国社会管理面临的问题、基层社会管理的创新、民间组织在社会管理中的作用等问题作深入分析,以飨读者。     

公民社会在民主政治建设中的角色与功能

公民社会是市场经济的伴生物,是民主政治建设的重要土壤和基础。随着中国公民社会的迅速崛起,公民社会在国家的政治、经济和社会生活中日益产生着重大的影响,成为推动政治民主和社会进步的重要力量。公民社会与民主政治是一种相伴而生且相互依存的关系。公民社会是民主政治发展到一定阶段的产物,而民主政治建设的进程又影响着公民社会的发展。公民社会在推动一个国家的民主政治建设与政治民主化进程中扮演着重要的角色并发挥着十分重要的作用,具体在于:影响政府决策,促进政治参与,推动社会自治,监督政府权力,推进政治民主,推动政府改革和增进社会稳定等。     

公民社会政策参与视野下的我国民间组织发育问题探析

由于经济体制改革不到位、政治与行政体制改革缓慢,我国民间组织呈现出弱小化、行政化、营利化等特征。民间组织的弱小化、行政化、营利化是我国公民社会影响政策过程的主要障碍,也是公民社会政策影响力低下的重要原因。     

改革开放以来我国民间组织管理体制的回顾与展望

改革开放30年来我国民间组织管理体制几经变革,形成了现在以双重管理为核心的管理体制。这种体制在民间组织的发展和管理中发挥了积极作用,但也存在不少缺陷。优化我国民间组织管理体制既是我国经济体制改革和政治体制改革的要求,也是培育中国特色公民社会的必然选择。     

民间组织的政治意义:社会建构方式转型与执政逻辑调整

民间组织的兴起,深刻改变了中国社会的建构方式,使中国原有的组织化社会的社会建构体系面临社会组织化的社会建构体系挑战。两种社会建构体系的协调与共存直接关系中国社会的稳定与发展。在组织化社会的社会建构中,中国共产党是核心主体。在新的历史条件下,面对日益兴起的民间组织,中国共产党要在社会组织化的社会建构中依然具有领导力,起核心作用,就必须调整自己的组织与功能,以保持党的组织与社会发展之间的协调与适应。     

社会资本与民主发展

在中国理论界,强调社会资本与民主发展之间的关联的论述越来越多,但是我们发现,两者之间的关联并非如学界所认为的一种简单的、直接的关系:有些社会资本是现代民主所需要的,有些却不是;有些社会资本网络可以对民主起到促进作用,有些却不能。并且,就社会资本影响民主发展的方式来说,也有需要澄清的看法。我们的结论是,就作为价值与规范的社会资本而言,中国民主发展所需要又是中国社会比较缺乏的,乃是抽象的社会资本;而中国民主发展不那么需要的同时在中国社会又相当丰富的,乃是具体的社会资本。就作为网络的社会资本而言,必须清楚并非所有的社团都能对民主起到促进作用,有些社团有可能是损害民主发展的。我们提出的区分两者的关键标准是:社团能否在内部产生出互惠、信任以及产生互惠和信任的团体是否和其环境发生积极的联系。当然我们也看到,在中国,真正有力量的社团往往不是按照民主的原则架构起来的,而真正有利于民主的社团却处于非常无力的地位。     

协商民主与社会管理的链接与良性互动

20世纪90年代勃兴于西方社会的协商民主是一种基于理性、自由、平等的公民个体通过对社会公共事务的参与、对话、讨论而达成最大限度“重叠共识”的治理形式.而公民参与社会公共事务的治理则是社会管理的关节点.协商民主与社会管理有着共同的价值旨趣和话语平台,存在着相得益彰的共生关系:倡导参与、对话、讨论的协商民主有利于推动社会管理的发展与创新,而以公民参与为基础的社会管理则有利于协商民主的全面“铺展”.以协商民主和社会管理的链接与良性互动为研究的切入点,不仅可以促进我国基层民主政治的建设,而且有利于中国特色社会主义社会管理体系的建构.     

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.     

Can service providing NGOs build democracy? Five contingent features

This article studies the role of service providing NGOs in the Middle East in promoting democracy. Challenging the assumption that service providing NGOs are apolitical, the authors argue that service providing NGOs play important roles in promoting democracy. They do so by serving as public arenas, or spaces in which members and beneficiaries practice democratic habits such as discussion and debate, collective problem solving, free expression, rights claiming, and the like—all of which contribute to the cultivation of a participatory form of democracy. Drawing upon existing literature, interviews, and participant observation of NGOs in Egypt, Lebanon, and Palestine, the authors argue that five features shape the role of service providing NGOs in promoting democracy. These include: (1) organizational readiness, or the organization's embeddedness in its beneficiary community and its organizational capacity; (2) organizational governance, or organization's commitment to participatory representation and transparency; (3) the nature of service an organization provides; (4) an NGOs' collaboration with other NGOs and the government; and (5) donor risk tolerance. The article's analysis contributes to our understanding of the varied, and often overlooked, roles of service providing NGOs, advancing the literature on NGO-state relations, NGO-donor relations, and democracy promotion.     

历史唯物主义重建之下的民主观念

伍德把民主视为超越资本主义的一种力量。她虽然肯定在资本主义条件下,政治民主有所发展,但更为根本的是,经济并不是民主的,而是充满压迫与强制的。因此,民主的发展,必然要超出资本主义社会。为此,她对历史唯物主义的一些基本范畴进行了重新思考,包括经济"基础"与上层建筑的关系。她不同意把经济与政治视为截然分离的两个领域,而是把资本主义社会所特有的这种分离视为资本主义本身政治功能的分化。伍德的民主理论,是力图从马克思主义视角来回应当代资本主义的民主理论,与所谓的后马克思主义有着重大的差别。     

Whither the Developmental State? The Growing Role of NGOs in Japanese Aid Policymaking

Japan is often characterized as a developmental state, i.e., a state with a strong and autonomous bureaucratic leadership that directs the economy toward achieving developmental goals. This study challenges the developmental state model, arguing that the once-powerful Japanese bureaucracy has lost much of its authority and is no longer autonomous from societal forces. By focusing on the growing role of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Japan's official development assistance (ODA) policymaking, this study shows how the nongovernmental sector has begun to challenge bureaucratic dominance and reshape state–civil society relations in Japan.     

从政党与公民社会的关系看当代西方政党的发展趋势

当代西方国家基本上完成了国家和社会的分离,形成了较为成熟的公民社会。①在此背景下,从政党和公民社会的关系的视角来研究当代西方政党的发展趋势。共分为三个部分,在第一部分,简要地阐述了西方政党与公民社会的历史关系;在第二部分,主要论述了当代西方政党和公民社会的关系;第三部分,对当代西方政党的发展趋势进行了简单的探讨。     

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.     

Democracy and Troubled Autonomy: Sectarian Politics and Civil Society in Japan

Civil society organizations (CSOs) exist in overlapping fields of influence, often within contentious relationships. Although the autonomy of a CSO is generally considered critical, currently available conceptualizations of civil society tend to focus on its relation to the state and minimize the role of political parties and social movement organizations. Drawing on the case study of the Women's Democratic Club (WDC), a women's organization in Japan established in the period immediately after World War II, this article examines the ways in which CSOs' embeddedness in their socio-political contexts problematizes organizational autonomy. As a non-partisan organization with democratic values, the WDC promoted egalitarianism and embraced heterogeneous membership within the organization. However, its embeddedness in the political left and its members’ divided and conflicting loyalties challenged its autonomy as an organization. This article seeks to contribute to the inclusion of non-governmental organizations in theoretical and empirical considerations of autonomy of civil society.     

Revalorizing the Political: Towards a New Intellectual Agenda for African Civil Society Discourse

Who needs civil society? What is civil society useful for? While the foregoing and similar dilemmas dominated the early civil society literature on sub-Saharan Africa, this was soon followed by a steady shift to the analysis of non-governmental organizations. The shift foreshadowed the recent methodological approach to civil society research which emphasizes ‘measuring’ and ‘surveying’ civil society. In this essay, I contend that this approach, to the extent that it seems to totalize civil society as component voluntary associations that can be measured, deepens the crisis of understanding which it aspires to transcend. Yet, although I critique—and reject—this approach, I argue nonetheless that it ought to be seen as an opportunity to reinstate a more theoretically robust and politically driven imagination of civil society, one that problematizes, not just civil society organizations that are, ultimately, only an aspect of civil society, but the civil domain as a whole. While conceding that ‘measuring’ civil society has its own merits, I insist that it comes with a real danger of, first, reducing civil society to organizations, especially organizations that can be measured; and second, distracting students of African societies from the politicality that underpins much of the continent's socio-economic woes.     

公民社会与和谐社会的构建

公民社会与和谐社会是一种相互促进与相互影响的良性互动关系.公民社会在构建社会主义和谐社会的过程中扮演着重要的角色.健全而成熟的公民社会,在促进社会整合,激发全社会的创造活力,协调各方面的利益关系,化解社会矛盾,维护社会公平与正义,促进社会安定与有序发展等方面发挥着重要的作用.