Divisions within post-2011 Tunisia’s secular civil society

Popular and academic discourses frame civil society as a key factor that prevented Tunisia from following the unfortunate path of other “Arab Spring” states. But while such discourses tend to portray it as a monolithic political force, Tunisian civil society comprises a diverse range of different types of actors with different backgrounds, interests, views and approaches towards activism. Drawing upon interviews with Tunisian activists, this article maps a range of tensions within Tunisian secular civil society along these lines and sets out to explain their origins. Notably, it identifies a generational division between those activists that started to engage in the late 2000s or during and after the 2011 ouster of Ben Ali and those who were already active before. This division is based on a range of factors, including a sense of entitlement to the leadership of post-2011 Tunisian civil society on both sides, a lack of mutual respect for and trust in each other as well as differences regarding practices and priorities of civil society engagement.     

Public Resource Allocation through Grassroots Democratic Institutions: Evidence from Assam,India

ABSTRACT

The success of democratic institutions at the grassroots level in allocating public benefits to the target groups depends on people’s political participation. Applying logistic regression, ordinary least squares (OLS), and the Heckman model based on a data set collected from 30 panchayats from three districts of Assam (India), this article addresses three questions: (a) who participates? (b) who gets the public benefits? and (c) whether participants get more benefits. The results suggest no overwhelming elite capture and clientalization, and contributes to the current debate on the association between democracy and development by way of establishing that democracy at the grassroots does, indeed, deliver.     

Justifying Civic Activism in Russia and Finland

ABSTRACT

In this article, we present a novel way of researching civil society in a comparative perspective and illustrate it through a detailed analysis of public disputes concerning urban building construction projects in St. Petersburg and Helsinki in 2008–2009. In our illustration, we use justification theory, a line of thought developed by Luc Boltanski and Laurent Thévenot in the early 1990s, but until now little used in comparative civil society research. Moreover, we use a variant of Public Justification Analysis, a new method for analysing media data. Our focus is on moral justifications, that is, on arguments which are presented against or in favour of the proposed projects and which draw on shared moral principles. Clear differences were found in referrals to these principles by urban activists in Russia and Finland. We argue that justification theory enables both international comparisons as well as inclusion of specific features of national political cultures.     

Idealist Activism and Meaning Management in Social Movement Organizations

ABSTRACT

Transnational social movement organizations manage meaning and transmit meaning across borders. Organizations in the peace and human rights sector also often deal overtly in the construction, framing, translation, and distribution of meanings. This article describes a hybrid form of idealism that is defined herein as ‘idealist activism’. In describing idealist activism, this article identifies a form of meaning management that emphasizes engagement with humanity both in the service of and in the quest for universal truths and tenets, as opposed to the more widely acknowledged cosmopolitanism emphasis on engagement with universal truths and tenets in the service of humanity. The significance of idealist activism is explained not just in terms of the depth and breadth of its influence, but also with regard to its pertinence as an alternative to both political cosmopolitanism and religious idealism.     

Commentary on Erik Amnå: Democracy and Civil Society

Abstract

This article seeks to provide insight into the formulation of non-governmental organization (NGO) and transnational advocacy network (TAN) campaign strategy. We argue that the history of previous campaigns comprises an important aspect of the political opportunity structure faced by NGOs and TANs. We also argue that when formulating campaign strategy, campaigners should not only consider the legacies of previous campaigns, but also how their current strategies could impact on political opportunity structure and thereby influence future campaigns. This article uses the case study of the movement against seal hunting in Atlantic and Northern Canada and considers the potential for collaboration between previous opponents on other environmental issues. We examine the history of the anti-sealing campaigns looking at the various actors involved, and the impact that these campaigns had on these actors and their current relations with one another. The case study demonstrates that the history of previous campaigns matters and that history is a vital component of political opportunity structure.     

对基层检察机关“文化育检＂的思考以云南省建水县人民检察院为例

思想文化教育培养一个人的内涵,检察文化建设培养和造就一个单位的气质和精神。在基层检察院文化建设中,如何结合当前检察工作实际情况,实现检察文化的提升,使之促进检察工作的开展,从而适应检察工作创新发展的要求,需要较大转变和提高。     

能动司法：反思与超越

主持人：何勤华（华东政法大学校长、教授、博士生导师） 当一个热点问题处在热炒之中或之后,一个严肃的学者既不应当盲目地追捧,也不应当随意地否定,他最需要做的也许是客观地对待,冷静地反思,并在反思中实现超越。以下四位法学博士正是基于这种学术态度和追求,对于“能动司法”这个当下中国的热点问题进行了深入而独到的研讨。     

民事既判力客观范围理论研究之反思——以明希豪森三重困境为分析工具

在大陆法系语境中,民事诉讼学者对于＂既判力是否及于判决理由＂的议题提出了众多精深的理论。然而这些学说并没有使我们对客观范围有了更清晰的认识,反而越发地迷失在明希豪森三重困境之中。走入困境的根本原因主要在于这些复杂的理论仍然建构在古典当事人主义的根基之上,固守司法克制的基本原则,而对法官司法能动性的积极功能认识不足。     

关于媒介素养教育作为性别平等倡导战略的研究

本文讨论了媒介素养教育运动对社会性别倡导的价值。根据以往研究发现,当媒介素养教育被引入中国时,其体现核心价值的再现政治以及增加批判的自主权以及公民社会的传播权利等被消弱了,并呈现出社会性别的盲点,使本来赋权工人阶级、被压迫的妇女及其他弱势群体利益的媒介素养教育变成了降低其主体性的提高弱势群体素质的运动。本文分析了利用媒介素养教育运动推动社会性别平等面临的挑战,并提出了回应。     

摆脱司法困境: 司法内在化解维度探析

在现实司法中,外部的干扰与内在的缺陷使能动司法与善意司法面临一种困境.摆脱困境,需要能动司法与善意司法的嵌入与融合：善意司法表现在司法动机、目的、行为等方面,能动司法表现在司法解释、司法参与、司法矫正等方面.因此,只有以善意适法、公平正义为目标改善司法形象,以能力提升、能动司法为目标提高司法水平,以尊重良俗、德法互济为目标完善司法机制,提升司法公信力,使司法成为法治前行的力量,才能实现法治对司法进步的期待.