Breakpoint or Binder: Religious Engagement in Dutch Civil Society

Civil society as a social sphere is constantly subjected to change. Using the Dutch context, this article addresses the question whether religiously inspired engagement is a binder or a breakpoint in modern societies. The author examines how religiously inspired people in the Netherlands involve themselves in non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and voluntary activities. Religious involvement and social engagement in different European countries are compared and discussed. In addition, the author explores the models of civil society and applies these to both the Christian and Islamic civil society in the Netherlands. Using four religious ‘identity organizations’ as case studies, this article discusses the interaction of Christian and Islamic civil society related to secularized Dutch society. The character and intentions of religiously inspired organizations and the relationship between religious and secular involvement are examined. This study also focuses on the attitude of policymakers towards religiously inspired engagement and government policy on ‘identity organizations’ in the Netherlands.     

Reflections on Iranian revolution of 1979: rise of subjectivity and citizenship

Iranian revolution of 1979 seems to be one of the most enigmatic events of the twentieth century. This paper attempts to shed light on this enigma by reflecting on the social processes that have been at work in Iran since early twentieth century. Beginning in that era, Iran embarked upon a process of modernization that involved the creation of a complex consisting of modern military, bureaucracy, and educational systems. This complex was instrumental in creating a rudimentary form of agency among different classes and strata in Iran which gradually engendered the potential for revolutionary action among large segments of society. Yet this rudimentary form of agency – what in the paper is referred to as ‘inchoate agentification’ – was only up to the level of revolutionary ethos, lacking the capacity to create fully democratic institutions. As a result of the mass participation in the revolution and the total war with Iraq that lasted for eight years, the process of agentification in Iran entered a new phase in which increasing number of people seem to have developed a more mature form of agency and subjectivity – in fact inter-subjectivity – that could explain the demand for rights and freedoms of citizenship in that country as is manifested in the Green Movement since 2009.     

The ideological conditions for Khomeini's doctrine of government ∗

The Islamic movements and ideologies labelled ‘Fundamentalist’ share an oppositional stance to their respective governments rather than common doctrinal positions. The Islamisation of society and the state is planned on the model of the ‘original’ Islamic community of Muhammad and his immediate successors, but the interpretation of their principles in relation to modern socio-political contexts gives rise to political ideologies which represent marked departures from traditional Islamic doctrines and incorporate implicity or explicity modern political concepts. Khomeini's doctrine of government is an interesting example in that it is entirely based on traditional Shi'ite, premises and modes of reasoning and yet it reaches novel conclusions. It is argued that these conclusions presuppose the modern ideological notions of ‘the nation’ and the ‘nation-state’.     

'Fundamentalism', modernity and the new Jacobins

This paper offers an interpretaion of 'Islamic fundamentalism', especially the Iranian Revolution, in the context of sociological debates about 'modernity'. The problematic nature of both these terms is acknowledge. It criticizes explanations of 'fundamentalism' that begin from the assumption of a dichotomy between fundamentalism and modernity, arguing instead for a more nuanced understanding of both Islamic revivalism and the modern. The paper begins by offering a model of modernity as a set of bi-modal tensions within which Islamic 'fundamentalism' could be understood as a form of modernist revolutionary populism. This argument is then developed through a comparison betwen the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the Jacobin phase of the French Revolution. It argues that there are parallels between the idea of Islamic revolution and the Jacobin revolutionary imagination, which demonstrate with some observations on Islam, and the closure of the Jacobin revolutionary project.     

从马克思的市民社会观到当代社会观——市民社会理论视域下的中国"社会建设"

西方的市民社会理论经历了三个发展阶段,首先是市民社会与野蛮社会的分离,其次是市民社会与政治国家的分离,最后是市民社会与经济社会的分离。马克思的市民社会观处于第二个阶段,他剖析了现代市民社会的产生和内在矛盾,揭示了市民社会的本质和发展方向。中国的“社会”正处于西方市民社会发展的第二阶段。而其历史背景却处于西方第二和第三阶段交错的现代性背景中。根据历史的经验与中国的现实,中国目前的社会建设首先要健全市场经济体制,推进政治体制改革;其次要加强以改善民生为主的社会建设,培育公民社会;最后要促进社会与国家的良性互动,克服市民社会的内在矛盾。     

转型期中国公民社会的建构探析

改革开放以来,中国开始了由计划经济向市场经济的转型,但是转型进程中,我们发现,政治国家的力量大大超越了公民社会的力量,公民社会一直被政治国家所湮没,因此,如何构建一个成熟的公民社会就成为当代中国社会转型的轴心,并将影响着中国现代化的进程与前景。本文基于当代中国公民社会现状提出：建构一个成熟的公民社会是中国社会转型的必由之路,而在当代中国公民社会的构建进程中,市场经济的建立和完善是基础,现代公司的塑造是核心,社会组织的发展是关键,宪政民主制度的确立是保障。     

The balance of ecumenism and sectarianism: rethinking religion and foreign policy in Iran*

Foreign policy development in the Islamic Republic is often conceived through secularizing homologies of ideology and pragmatism and radicalism and moderation. Policy practice, however, has often welded their crossed terms together religiously. This article seeks to resolve some contradictions in extant models by reconceiving of Iran’s foreign policy since 1979 as a religious system that differentiates contending values hierarchically. It explores policy in three periods representing particular balances of ecumenism and sectarianism: the revolutionary decade (1979–1989), the reformist interlude (1989–2005) and the era of radical reassertion (2005–2013). Rather than being perceived as fundamentally opposed orientations, ecumenism and sectarianism are presented as integrated tendencies of Shiite Islamism.     

转型期农民政治人格培育的困境与路径选择

农民在我国现代化建设事业中一直扮演着重要角色,转型社会时期农民现代政治人格的培育显得尤为重要.我国农民现代政治人格的培育在经济、政治、文化和社会方面均面临着一定的困境,因此其现代政治人格的培育将是一个长期的系统工程,需多方面的共同努力才能完成.培养农民现代政治人格的路径选择是:解决民生;发展民主;提升素质;畅通渠道.     

Die Qualität von demokratischen Regimen. Zur Erklärung der politischen Performanz in Italien und Indien durch Robert Putnam und Patrick Heller

Long-term processes of democratization have brought about a great number of states with democratic regimes. Therefore, political sociology has to focus in its research on the determinants of the quality of democracies. This article compares two theoretical perspectives: first, Robert Putnam’s attempt to explain the political performance in the Italian regions by the strength of their civil society and their social capital and secondly, Patrick Heller’s study about the Indian state of Kerala, which underlines much more the importance of the mobilization and organization of the lower classes and the functioning of the state apparatus. An empirical analysis of the determinants of the social development of the 15 largest Indian states and further studies in political sociology indicate a greater plausibility of Heller’s approach. Therefore, Putnam’s core concepts of social capital and civil society are reconstructed in a concluding theoretical discussion so that a connection to Heller’s theses and to other fields of research in the social sciences becomes possible.     

Reimagining civil society in conflict: Findings from post-2001 Afghanistan

What is the meaning and role of civil society in Afghanistan? And what contribution could civil society actors make to promoting peace and political reform? Drawing on a research and dialogue project conducted in 2009–2012, this article explores local understandings and practices of civil society in Afghanistan, and examines their relationship to security and social change. It argues that studying civil society can help shed light on the changing dynamics of political authority and security in the country, as well as offer new avenues for promoting progressive change. The article addresses some of the conceptual and analytical limitations of dominant narratives about civil society in conflict-affected environments, demonstrating how they tend to neglect certain forms of agency that have the potential to be transformative.     

公共精神：公共行政现代化的价值维度——一种基于和谐社会视角的分析

近代以来直至当前的和谐社会之诉求,现代化始终是萦绕在中国人心目中的一个实质性问题.然而,现代化又是一个全方位、多层次的系统工程,公共行政现代化是其应然维度之一.现代化从"器物"到"政制"直至社会精神文化和伦理价值观念这一结构性的深化历程,更昭示了公共精神正是公共行政现代化须臾不可"缺场"的价值向度.实际上,从公共行政自身发展的认识论与方法论双重维度去探究和反思公共行政的现代化现象,我们也发现公共精神不断地从边缘向中心位移,从"遮蔽"状态走向"解蔽".其中,公共行政现代化所涵摄的民主理念、公正理念、契约精神、公共服务精神以及和谐、科学的发展理念等公共精神既是公共行政现代化本身,也是构建和谐社会的精神骨核与价值引擎.一种多元宽容、诚信友爱、公平正义、和谐有序的社会公共生活能够得以形成和延续必须以发育良好的公共精神为其基本精神质料和社会价值支撑.我们需要从不断健全和完善市场经济体制,开新传统公共精神资源,大力培育公民社会、拓展公共治理的实践参与,加强公共意识教育、提升公共理性水平等几个方面努力来促进公共精神的化育与养成.     

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.     

Civil Society Actors and EU Fundamental Rights Policy: Opportunities and Challenges

This paper examines how civil society actors in the EU utilize the political and legal opportunities provided by the EU’s fundamental rights policy to mobilize against discrimination, notably racism, and xenophobia. It emphasizes the multiple enabling roles that this policy provides to civil society associations engaged in judicial activism, political advocacy, and service delivery both at the EU and Member State levels, and assesses their effectiveness. It describes several factors that hinder the implementation of EU fundamental rights policy and reviews the strategies of civil society to overcome them. It highlights the reluctance of parts of public opinion to combat ethnic prejudice, considers reactions against what at a time of crisis is perceived as a costly project of social regulation, and examines civil society responses. The data sources consist of interviews with bureaucratic and civil society actors at EU level.     

Stalemate and Stagnation in Turkish Democratization: The Role of Civil Society and Political Parties

Both civil society organizations (CSOs) and political parties are expected to be vital actors in democratic societies, yet the ideal relationship between the two types of groups has not been fully explored. This article analyses how the interaction between CSOs and political parties has affected democratic consolidation in contemporary Turkey. Through personal interviews with leaders of both types of groups, the study finds that traditional power relations have shifted to include a greater number of political actors. Islamists, who were previously peripheral in politics, have joined the traditionally dominant secular nationalists at the ‘centre’ of political power. However, instead of increased pluralism, the study finds Turkish society now polarized along secularist/Islamist lines, both in political parties and among CSOs. While restrictions against non-governmental organizations have been lifted in recent years and the number of groups has grown, most are still viewed as ‘arms’ of political parties, lacking an independent voice and political power. These findings suggest that the civil society sector in Turkey is underdeveloped and unable to contribute positively to the democratization process.     

‘Then we offer them a new project’—the production of projects in social work conducted by civil society in Sweden

In some areas in Europe and Sweden, it is possible to find institutional deficits, that is, areas wherein the welfare state has more or less withdrawn its institutions. In parallel with this development, greater interest has shifted towards social work already being conducted by volunteers and non-profit organizations. How this social work could take on more responsibility for the social well-being of society is a key question. By applying the theory of ‘production of projects’, this article examines 13 projects conducted by civil society organizations in Sweden and how they could relate to the civil sector becoming a complement or even an alternative to the state welfare sector. In terms of competition for funding, the projects need to be able to package their ideas well and manage relationships with the beneficiaries. The lack of long-term alternatives and the demand for innovative ideas influence the civil sector’s ability to take more responsibility for the social well-being of society and make political influence more difficult.     

The city and its ‘other’ in Islamic political ideas and movements

Historically, the city has been the natural habitat for innovations in political and religious ideas and the locus of politico-religious organization and associations. But the proximity to the centers of military power and of religious orthodoxy have rendered the social movements based on these ideas ineffective. The movements which led to political transformations come from marginal settlements and tribal organizations. Ideas and actions relating to location and habitat are examined briefly. Moving on to the modern period it isnoted that almost without exception Islamic political ideas related implicitly to an urban setting. In particular, we examine some of the political ideas of Sayyid Qutb which have been influential among more recent radical Islamic groups in Egypt. These relate to theformation of an Islamic vanguard, separating itself from the prevalent jahiliyya (state of error and ignorance) and, following the example of the early Muslims, fortified with faith, wage a jihad (holy war) to conquer this jahiliyya. Some implications of these ideas for urban social relations and for location and space are examined.     

Social Capital,Islam, and the Arab Spring in the Middle East

To what extent do participatory civil society dynamics, rooted in self-assertive social capital, help explain the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011? How do pro-democratic Arab attitudes matter in promoting elite-challenging collective actions? Does Islam support or hinder elite-challenging, self-assertive social capital? To answer these questions, this study systematically examines the variation in self-assertive (emancipative) social capital in Egypt and Jordan from a comparative perspective. By using emancipative social capital theory, this article embarks on an individual-level quantitative analysis derived from the World Values Survey database to explore the empirical nexus between pro-democratic attitudes, elite-challenging actions, and Islamic values in order to partly explain comparatively high-intensive and persistent uprisings in Egypt and relatively low-intensive and less persistent demonstrations in Jordan. The findings offer critical insights in understanding the social capital dimension of the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011 and contribute new clues about empirical interactions between Islamic resurgence and civil society dynamics in the Muslim world.     

Japan’s ‘pro-nuclear civil society’: Power in the analysis of social capital and civil society

ABSTRACT

Civil society research can be categorized into a school in the tradition of Gramsci focusing on social movements and a Tocquevillean school focusing on associations and social capital. The author reviews both schools’ research on the Japanese case and analyses a number of pro-nuclear citizen groups built up by the Japanese nuclear industry. The author analyses their financial data and historical development to demonstrate that they have been built up as countermovement by the nuclear industry. The author traces their mobilization processes to criticize the social capital approach. In Japanese political science, traditionally a dense web of hierarchical associations and ties of obligation have been seen as enforcing clientelism and top-down political control. This makes Japan an interesting case for the social capital approach. Social capital researchers have reinterpreted hierarchical networks as indicators of a strong civil society. Taking into account Bourdieu’s notion of social capital challenges this view and supports arguments of state influence forwarded by parts of the Gramscian school.     

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.     

The counter-hegemonic role of civil society: Palestinian–Arab NGOs in Israel

This paper deals with the causes and impact of the rise in the number of Palestinian–Arab Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Israel in the last two decades. It provides a multi-level model that combines economic, political and cultural factors to explain the shifts in Palestinian-Arab political mobilization in Israel and as a result to the rise of a complex network of Arab NGOs. The paper demonstrates the way in which the civil institutions and their intensive involvement in public social affairs generate social capital that has internal as well as external political impact. Arab civil society institutions, which operate mainly separately from civil institutions of the Jewish majority, assist in the empowerment and the development of Arab society. They provide services in different fields, such as education, health, and planning. They also advocate and lobby for the rights of the Arab citizens inside Israel and internationally. Arab civil society institutions also provide information necessary for political mobilization, identity formation, and cultural preservation. In this framework the paper claims that they play a counter-hegemonic role vis-à-vis the Israeli state. However, the paper also claims that the broad advocacy and lobbying activity of Arab civil institutions did not manage to fully democratize Israeli policies towards Arab society, demonstrating the centrality of state identity and power structure when it comes to democratization processes. On a different level, the paper reveals that, although the Palestinian–Arab NGOs network has managed to lead to a liberalization process within Arab society, this process is partial and selective.