Mapping Civil Society in the Middle East: The Cases of Egypt,Lebanon and Turkey

This article comparatively assesses the meaning of civil society in Egypt, Lebanon and Turkey, by utilising the results of a study conducted among civil society actors. In recent decades, civil society has become integral to discussions of political liberalisation. At the same time, there is a growing rift between international democracy promotion through investment in civil society and the more critical literature on the relationship between the two. This article makes three contributions to these debates by comparing the actual experiences of civil society actors. First, it argues that the boundaries between states and civil societies are indeterminate, making it problematic to expect civil society organisations alone to become catalysts for regime transformation. Second, it shows that expectations of monolithic generation of civic values through civil society organisations do not reflect the actual experience of actors in this realm. Finally, it argues for taking into consideration other sources of mobilisation as potential contributors to meaningful political and social transformation.     

Existential Terrorism: Civil Society and its Enemies

This paper explores the attitude of contemporary terrorism towards civil society, the intermediate realm between the family and the state that accommodates the free play of economic and cultural forces and individual and group interests. Terrorism now targets not only people and institutions that operate within civil society but civil society itself, i.e., terrorism increasingly targets the very possibility of an autonomous realm of everyday life. This tendency is found in the Islamism of Al‐Qaeda, but also in any group that adheres to the “Augustinian paradigm” of civil society that arose in the West and dominates radical ideologies. An exploration of this situation illuminates both the nature and tactics of contemporary terrorism and the role of civil society itself.     

社会中的马来西亚国家:意象与实践

本文旨在以第13届国会选举之后马来西亚政治、经济、社会诸领域的状况为主要依据,对作为意象的马来西亚国家和作为实践的马来西亚国家进行考察,进而展开以下两方面的论证:(1)马来西亚国家各组成部分的实践过程如何形塑着马来西亚国家的主导原则与主导功能;(2)马来西亚国家建构与政治制度化的不足及其出路。     

韩国现代化进程中市民社会的发展

本文试图将韩国市民社会的发展放在韩国政府主导的压缩式现代化过程中来分析,由此来思考韩国市民社会异化的重要因素,并强调要在个人连续的行动过程中看待由于人们实践意识的连续性而出现的社会现象."民族意识"、"国家权威意识"、"恨意识"都是韩国民众在长期日常生活与政治生活中内化到头脑里的实践意识,是在韩国快速工业化过程中重新建构、强化的产物,成为了韩国的"自性".同时人们在行动中受这些实践意识的影响,主观建构着社会结构.但是在国家现代化过程中不健全的制度环境下,这些行动意识会使人们的行动出现偏差和异化.     

The Civil Society Discourse in Iran

A survey of recent Iranian books and journal articles reveals four important characteristics about how writers and academics in Iran generally perceive the concept of civil society. First and foremost, the notion of 'civil society' has gone through a substantial process of indigenization. Secondly, those who theorize about the concept see a crucial role in it for the 'rule of law'. This implies, both directly and indirectly, a primary role for the State, 'coexisting in harmony' and functioning as an integral part of civil society. Thirdly, even Iran's secular theorists have not been able to fully evade the gravitational pull of Islam and its overwhelming role in Iranian culture and society. At the very least, they maintain that civil society is possible only after a 'proper' interpretation of Islam gains popular acceptance. Finally, these authors frequently mention the 'image' that non-Iranians have of the Iranian nation. The importance of this self-perception lies in its implications for how the élite literati articulates 'culture' and portrays it to the public and, in turn, to non-Iranians. Essentially, this appears to be where the most lasting consequences of the discovery of 'civil society' in Iran seem to lie: whereas the articulations of Iranian scholars and politicians appear to be little more than a native version of a global academic trend, they seem to have ignited a subtle process of cultural re-orientation and re-articulation under the rubric of religion and an institutionalized Islamic Republican State.     

Environmental Movements and the Emergence of Civil Society in Greece

The generally acknowledged weakness of civil society in Greece has obstructed the solution of many urgent environmental problems. Since the 1970s these weaknesses have begun to be overcome by various environmental movements. Community protests have checked many state-backed construction projects and have been helped by increasingly self-assertive forces consisting of elected local authorities, private radio stations, courts of law, and voluntary environmental associations. The last have been staffed by the growing class of professionals, especially in schools and universities. These bodies have also shown growing readiness to cooperate in positive environmental initiatives. In response, governments have shown greater sensitivity to public opinion on environmental issues, and increasing readiness to consult outside bodies.     

“小国家”整合“大民族”——瑞士国家与民族建构的历史进程

本文主要分析瑞士如何在强邻并立的严峻地缘政治环境中生存下来,并在国内不同语言、文化的族群中打造出统一的瑞士国家与民族认同和稳定的国家体制。传统观点将瑞士联邦政府实施的直接民主、联邦制下的地方自治,以及对不同语言和多元文化的保护政策等看做是保持国内各个族群,特别是使用不同语言的居民之间能够和平、和睦相处的灵丹妙药,把瑞士树立成不同民族间融合以及成功解决民族间冲突的一个典范。但是从历史的角度来看,这些具体的政策和制度并非瑞士国家和民族建构成功的原因,而是它的结果。瑞士建国进程中所面临的初始条件、外部威胁、地缘政治和战争冲突等因素才是决定其成功建立统一的国家和民族认同的关键所在。     

Russia's New Business Groups and State Power

An American political scientist investigates the redistribution of property in Russia after the 1998 financial crash. Making extensive use of Russian and Western documentary sources, as well as three research trips that included formal and informal discussions with politicians, scholars, and journalists, the article examines both the rise of new major players in the Russian political economy and the transformation of old ones. The study includes both industrial and agricultural economic groups, as well as the ambiguous role of the state in both sectors.     

Negotiating Liberty: The Use of Political Opportunities and Civil Society by Barbary State Captives and Guantánamo Bay Detainees

This article contrasts two distinct sets of prisoners who were held by foreign governments: sailors from the United States held captive in Algiers in the late‐eighteenth century and British citizens detained in Guantánamo Bay in the early‐twenty‐first century. The article uses social movement theory to examine and compare the campaigns orchestrated by these men and their supporters, and the role of those campaigns in securing their freedom. It demonstrates the utility of social movement theory in comparing cases of foreign detention that transcend centuries, regions and communication technologies. We find that successful campaigns on behalf of citizens held captive abroad, and the timeline of those successes, are contingent on the exploitation of domestic political opportunities and an external event to trigger government action on behalf of the captives.     

Civil Society Engagement in Trade Negotiations: CAFTA Opposition Movements in El Salvador

This article analyzes civil society participation in the free trade debate by focusing on networks that opposed the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) in El Salvador. Drawing on documents, direct observation, and semistructured interviews with civil society leaders, two kinds of opposition coalitions are identified. "Critic negotiators," emphasizing active engagement and policy research, used the limited participation space opened by authorities to push for reform. "Transgressive resisters," repudiating the formal consultation process, deployed confrontational tactics and posed more fundamental challenges. This work uses social movement theory to explore coalition resource mobilization, the role of movement entrepreneurs, strategic decisionmaking, mechanisms linking local and transnational activists, and the dynamics of intramovement competition.     

Nationalism, Civil Society, and the Prospects for Freedom in Eastern Europe

The events of 1989 in Eastern Europe represented an alliance between two dynamics: anti-Soviet and anti-communist. Once the "double rejective" task of the revolution was complete, these dynamics began to diverge as the space created for freedom filled with the competing demands of nationalism and civil society. Building freedom in Eastern Europe today is associated with overcoming the economic and social dislocation inherited from communism and developing the institutions and attitudes required for a civil society. But it is confronted above all by the attractions of a tribal nationalism which threaten the entire project of creating an open society.