Collaborative Partnerships and Crime in Disorganized Communities

Collaborative partnerships can be an effective strategy for crime prevention, especially in disorganized communities. Using ordinary least squares regression with 414 American cities, this article finds that police departments with many collaborative partnerships are able to promote informal social control within their communities and capitalize on the resources available to them with the help of other groups. This contention is supported by the effects of collaborative partnerships on crime rates in disorganized communities in comparison to well‐organized communities. Thus, collaborative partnerships of public organizations with other groups may insulate disorganized communities from the effects of community disorganization on levels of crime.     

The emergence of stable racially and ethnically diverse urban communities: A case study of nine U.S. cities

Abstract

We examine the characteristics of 14 stable racially and ethnically diverse urban communities in 9 U.S. cities and point to policies that could strengthen these communities and encourage the growth of more diverse neighborhoods in American cities. The cities examined are Chicago; Denver; Houston; Memphis, TN; Milwaukee; New York; Oakland, CA; Philadelphia; and Seattle. University researchers and community leaders in each city collaborated on the research for this project.

We identify two types of stable diverse communities, “self‐conscious” and “laissez‐faire,” which have evolved for different reasons and with different characteristics. Stable diverse communities will not just happen, but they can be influenced by a number of policy recommendations stemming from our research. These include helping individuals and organizations take leadership roles in their communities, strengthening and enforcing fair housing and antidiscrimination laws, earmarking economic resources to encourage neighborhood diversity, and creating community safety and jobs programs.     

Spanning “Bleeding” Boundaries: Humanitarianism,NGOs, and the Civilian‐Military Nexus in the Post–Cold War Era

How do nongovernmental (NGO), international (IO), and military organizations cope with their dependencies and address their perceptual and real differences in order to coordinate their field operations? This question is addressed through the creation of a matrix grouping civilian (NGOs and IOs) and military operations into four general types: peacekeeping; disaster relief; complex humanitarian emergencies/warfare; and stabilization and reconstruction. Second, using Galbraith's information processing approach to organizational design, a range of formal coordination mechanisms that organizations use at the strategic and operational levels to help them cope with their dependencies in different field operations is identified. Third, the author underscores how communities of practice are emerging as informal mechanisms of coordination among civilian and military organizations. And finally, a framework of organizational forms that views communities of practice as an alternative to hierarchy and markets is offered. Believing communities of practice hold the most promise for coordination in the human security domain when hierarchies are politically untenable and markets lack accountability, the author concludes with implications for interorganization coordination research and practice.     

Anarchs and Social Guys

This contribution addresses the question raised by Robin Fox concerning our tribal ancestry and its relevance to modernity and civilization. The discussion centers first on the concept of communitas with the suggestion that it be defined as referring to two different states, the psychological communitas and the sociological communitas. Groups or communities organized along the lines of a sociological communitas are then examined cursorily and their properties are outlined. Numerous tribal groups of that sort have been documented and have been shown to lack the traits of what is called a social organization. The observation of their non-social organization is arguably a fact of major significance in the social sciences, one that has not been clearly highlighted so far. The hypothesis presented in this paper is that such organizations that are anarchic and complex have to be epistemologically dissociated from organizations that are social. Anarchs and social guys thus point to two different ancestries in the genealogy of humankind.     

Sport,civil society and social integration: The case of Norwegian voluntary sport organizations

Abstract

Voluntary sport organizations make up the largest part of voluntary sector in many countries. Yet, in light of the renewed social and political interest in civil society, we do not know very much about how sport organizations operate and function. Accordingly, this article addresses the question of how voluntary sport organizations contribute to social integration through differences in community structures. First a theoretical framework making it possible to distinguish between various forms of community structures—strong, weak, mediated and pragmatic communities—is developed. Then, the first empirical part describes how members in sport organizations belong to such various forms of communities. Next, the article explains differences in social integration through social background, variation in participation in sports and various recruitment channels. Finally, the article explores how differences in community structures matters for the experience of sport activity, for organizational democracy and social capital (trust and political interests).     

发达国家大城市危机管理中的社会参与机制

在西方发达国家大城市危机管理实践中,政府和社会、公共部门和私人部门之间的良好合作,普通公民、工商企业组织、社会中介组织在危机管理中的高度参与,已经成为一个中心的事实。本文从城市应急文化的塑造、社区应急机制、志愿者组织的应急功能和城市应急管理中的公私伙伴合作关系等几个方面,探讨了现代发达国家大城市危机管理过程中社会组织和普通公民的参与机制,试图解析西方发达国家大城市危机管理系统中的全社会型危机管理网络的具体运作机制。     

Exploring the Role of Nonprofits in Public Service Provision: Moving from Coproduction to Cogovernance

This article investigates the determinants of nonprofits' involvement in cogovernance, or the planning and design of public services, using a unique data set of park‐supporting nonprofit organizations in large U.S. cities. The results indicate that nonprofits are more likely to get involved in cogovernance when they are younger, larger, and operate in communities that are more resourceful and stable. In addition, the likelihood of nonprofits' involvement in cogovernance is negatively associated with the level of social capital and government capacity to provide corresponding public services. The article points to an emerging mode of government‐nonprofit collaboration that goes beyond the production and delivery of public services. As public managers face extensive challenges in sustaining the desired level of public services, these findings have important policy implications for efforts to promote citizen participation and cross‐sector solutions to complex social problems.     

Social equity and LGBTQ populations in African public administration: A macro- and micro-approach

How do public administrators understand social equity toward lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals and communities? To better understand social equity, this study uses data on the views of public and nonprofit administrators in 33 countries in Africa on LGB people. Based on these responses, we gain a better understanding of homophobia in public administrators. Furthermore, this data helps public administrators to explore how social equity might look differently to public and nonprofit administrators in different countries. Building on this foundation, this study proposes understanding social equity from both a Micro (individual) and a Macro (cultural)-perspective. Bringing in this micro- and macro-perspective can help public administrators and researchers to discuss how individuals and organizations identify “vulnerable” populations and appropriate ways to support vulnerable groups.     

Voluntary Organisations and Community Politics: Norwegian and British Comparisons

The study reported in this article compares local political activity of voluntary organizations in a Norwegian and an English city — Tromsø and Birmingham. The two cities display rather striking structural similarities with respect to the relative number of organizations as well as to organizational membership. The relative distribution of major types of organizations is also rather similar, although there is a greater degree of organizational specialization in the English city.
With respect to political activity of the organizations the two cities are, however, quite different. While two thirds of the organizations in Tromsø have been active in local political matters, this holds true for less than 30 per cent of the organizations in Birmingham.
This difference is attributed to the finding that in the Norwegian case local government assists organizations with goods and services, while in the English case organizations have to depend on their own internal resources. An additional factor is that Norwegian organizations, when compared to their English counterparts, have greater access to political decision-making bodies.     

Community Building,Civil Society and Societal Service Production in China

This article examines the Chinese scholarly discourse about promoting civil society, constructing urban and rural communities, and transferring social service provision to society. It finds that this discourse treats two separate models as if they were one. The civil society model stresses freedom to organize for advancing the aims that participants share. The community building model emphasizes community governance and empowerment. Together, these two models expect both the state and society to strengthen their presence in the same communal space. These two models have theoretical inconsistencies, but these inconsistencies disappear if civil society is understood in the very narrow terms of the ‘small government, big society' model in which the state wants to reduce its own economic burdens in social service production. It is thus likely that in China civil society either remains secondary to the state-initiated channels of social and political participation in communities, or takes place mainly on the regional or national scope in which civil society organizations no longer compete with communal ones.     

‘I have so many successful stories’: framing social citizenship for refugees

The current US refugee resettlement system reflects the US government's agenda of having refugees acquire quick employment with low state welfare dependence and minimal fiscal and cultural disruption to the receiving communities. The non-governmental organizations (NGOs) assisting refugees hold broader goals for refugees, including feeling a sense of belonging in the USA. These goals represent a framing of social citizenship rights for refugees, and how NGOs frame social citizenship varies depending upon the NGOs contractual relationship with the US welfare state. Using data from 57 in-depth interviews, I describe how resettlement and assistance NGOs currently frame social citizenship for refugees in relation to market citizenship, and how their relationship with the federal government shapes this framing. Findings illustrate the role of NGOs in creating a discursive space for expanding the social citizenship rights of refugees and the ways such framing is highly constrained by the definitions of belonging that emerge from market citizenship.     

Reinventing the central city as a place to live and work

Abstract

Public policies for urban development have traditionally emphasized investment in physical infrastructure, the development of large‐scale commercial facilities, the construction of new housing, and the renewal of existing neighborhoods. Most efforts to revitalize central cities by building new facilities for visitors have focused on suburban commuters and tourists. At the same time, many housing initiatives in central cities have concentrated on low‐income communities because outlying suburban areas have attracted traditional middle‐income households.

This article argues that emerging demographic and cultural trends—combined with changes in the structure of business organizations and technological advances—provide new opportunities for cities to retain and attract middle‐class households. Using gay and lesbian populations as an example, it focuses on the role that nontraditional households can play in urban redevelopment. In light of the rise of nontraditional households and the growth of self‐employment and small businesses, cities should adopt policies that make them attractive places in which to live and work.     

论扶助公民权是构建和谐警民关系的基石

当我国从计划经济体制向市场经济体制转型,社会管理模式从静态封闭型向动态开放型转换时,警民关系在一定程度上表现出不适应甚至失调和冲突。这是由于相对于警察执法权的公民权过于弱小,两者并没有达到对等平衡,公民权对警察执法权不能实行有效的制约和监督,从而造成警民关系的不和谐。通过依托社区创建新型群众组织、对群众加强教育增进对公安工作的了解和引入媒体监督等措施来扶助壮大公民权,能够让警民关系达到新的平衡。     

社会力量助推乡村振兴的内源性发展路径研究--基于“振兴村”试点的分析

乡村振兴背景下,如何实现城乡资源要素的合理流动,培养农民参与乡村振兴的主体性意识,实现农村的内源性发展是当前亟需解决的问题。文章以一个乡村振兴试点村为例,探讨了以退休干部牵头的社会组织,通过社会力量助推乡村内源性发展的策略和路径。研究表明:社会组织可以通过“融入-培育-助推”的行动逻辑来助推以农民为主体的乡村振兴,具体表现为:社会组织通过融入国家政策体系、地方行政体系和乡村社会体系,引入外源式资源培育农民公共事务参与意识和集体行动能力,助推村社实现产业和治理的组织化,推动农村内源性发展。这种发展路径与社会力量不同阶段的助推策略相呼应,且各阶段相互交错,是一个双向非线性的过程。在此过程中,社会力量促进了外来资源引入与内生动力培育的融合,实现了村庄的内源性发展。     

Large‐Scale Social Protest: A Business Risk and a Bureaucratic Opportunity

The public versus private nature of organizations influences their goals, processes, and employee values. However, existing studies have not analyzed whether and how the public nature of organizations shapes their responses to concrete social pressures. This article takes a first step toward addressing this gap by comparing the communication strategies of public organizations and businesses in response to large‐scale social protests. Specifically, we conceptualize, theorize, and empirically analyze the communication strategies of 100 organizations in response to large‐scale social protests that took place in Israel during 2011. We find that in response to these protests, public organizations tended to employ a “positive‐visibility” strategy, whereas businesses were inclined to keep a “low public profile.” We associate these different communication strategies with the relatively benign consequences of large‐scale social protests for public organizations compared with their high costs for businesses.     

The Use of Network Analysis to Strengthen Community Partnerships

Community partnerships or networks of collaborating public and nonprofit organizations are an important way of addressing a wide range of problems and needs that communities face. In the academic literature, network analysis has been used to analyze and understand the structure of the relationships that make up multiorganizational partnerships. But this tool is not well-known outside the small group of researchers who study networks, and it is seldom used as a method of assisting communities. This article briefly discusses network analysis and how community leaders can use the results generated by this tool to strengthen relationships among public and nonprofit organizations, thereby building the community's capacity to address critical needs in areas such as health, human services, social problems, and economic development.     

No One To Stand By Us: Reintegrating Formerly Abducted Child-Mothers in Uganda

The returnee child-mothers who have survived abduction by the Lord's Resistance Army return to civilian communities in Northern Uganda as stigmatized outsiders. They are child-mothers with children who are not accepted by the community. Years after they have returned to civilian communities they are struggling for themselves and their children. This failure to access security on a social, economic and personal level is found to garner further insecurities including neglect and abuse, which prevail and are passed on to their children. The need to provide reintegration and reconciliation assistance is recognized by both the international community and the Government of Uganda; however, it is found that assistance is failing to help this group of formerly abducted people to reintegrate in communities. This article analyses the multi-faceted perceptions and experiences of reintegration, identifying root causes and gaps where assistance can provide security and integration to these returnees.     

论村民委员会作为乡村社会维权性组织的可能与路径

“三农”问题的实质是农民权益问题,作为村民自治组织的村民委员会应成为维护乡村社会权益的组织依托;当前在我国乡村治理的实践中,乡村自治性组织的维权性功能存在着缺位、错位和异化的现象,这是由诸多原因造成的;在社会主义新农村建设中应着力构建以保障农民权益为根本的乡村治理新机制,推进乡村自治组织的社会性复归;通过政治环境的发展、制度机制的重构、文化观念的培育,挖掘和塑造村民自治性组织作为村民群众维权性组织的组织资源和实践能力。     

Working together: Building capacity for community development

Abstract

Community development partnerships (CDPs)—local intermediaries that gather support from foundations, corporations, and the public sector—are giving increased attention to building the capacity of community development corporations (CDCs). This article evaluates CDPs’ efforts to help nonprofit CDCs increase their capacity to revitalize low‐income communities. We identified five types of capacity and conducted interviews and focus groups with CDPs and CDCs across the nation. The nature of capacity and capacity building among CDCs, the ways partnerships help increase CDC capacity, what the partnerships and CDCs learn from each other, and how they could better gauge the effectiveness of capacity‐building support were discussed.

We learned that CDCs and CDPs have forged an effective alliance and continue to work together: Community organizations require help in building capacity, and local partnerships provide the requisite funding, technical assistance, and other elements to help them grow and serve their neighborhoods.     

Comment on Scott A. Bollens's “In through the back door: Social equity and regional governance”

Abstract

The resurgence in regionalism is not coming about primarily because cities and suburbs see themselves as interdependent competitors in the global economy, as argued in Scott A. Bollens's “In Through the Back Door: Social Equity and Regional Governance.” Instead, enough communities are finding tax equity programs, land use measures, and cooperative governance in their own self‐interest to create gentle progress toward regional equity. However, regionalism lags in ending concentrated poverty and racial segregation because few civil rights organizations are raising these issues as fundamental to a regional agenda. The race issue is not being raised because of lack of understanding and because of competing visions on how to do it.