State control of civil society organizations: the case of Turkey

Over the past few decades there has been a great deal of interest in the academic literature on the relationship between civil society organizations (CSOs) and the state, and the impact of state power on CSOs in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region. Yet, despite this interest, very few detailed empirical explorations of these issues have been conducted to date. Of the detailed empirical work that does exist, none has focused on state–CSO relations in a democratic context in the MENA. This paper contributes to filling this gap by examining these relations and their implications in the Turkish context. More specifically, this paper explores the democratizing role of independent women’s organizations in Turkey and the ways in which the state has sought to exert power over and control these organizations. The methodology consists of a series of 38 in-depth interviews with both registered and unregistered women’s organizations from across the seven administrative regions of Turkey. The findings show that while CSOs do challenge the state in some regards, the state is by far the more powerful actor and very effective at moderating and de-radicalizing civil society. The state does this by controlling the areas in which CSOs can operate and be effective, and through the use of repressive measures. The results show that thease measures have the effect of tempering the demands of CSOs and reducing their capacity to challenge and counterbalance state power.     

高校基层党组织深化运用监督执纪第一种形态问题研究——基于60所高校专职纪检监察干部的调研

监督执纪“四种形态”是全面从严治党的重要手段,是新形势下党建理论新成果的实践运用,是标本兼治的科学方法。高校基层党组织日常工作中面临的主要是第一种形态的运用问题。通过对60所高校91名纪检监察干部进行调查,发现高校基层党组织在运用第一种形态方面一定程度上存在不想用、不敢用、不会用、不认真用的问题。解决这些问题,重点要以思想自觉和责任自觉提升行动自觉,确保第一种形态运用落地;要以制度建设推进运用常态化,确保第一种形态用得规范得当;要以能力建设推进运用用好用准,确保第一种形态运用质量;要硬化闭环工作机制,确保第一种形态用出实效。     

Women’s Organizations of Political Parties: Formal Possibilities,Informal Challenges and Discursive Controversies

Feminist research focusing on gender policy successes in the 1990s and 2000s emphasized the strengths of women’s organizations of political parties in advancing key gender equality issues in Finland. However, both the “feminism” and “politics” of political parties’ women’s organizations, hitherto apparent in Finland and elsewhere in Europe, are now deemed outdated, a paradox that is critically explored in this article. The analysis is based on interview data with women and men politicians and party workers and is structured around the key research question: how are the women’s organizations of political parties discursively constructed by the interviewed politicians and party workers and with what effects? These discursive constructions are studied in relation to: (i) the formal institutional position of the women’s organizations of political parties, (ii) informal institutional position vis-à-vis the mother party, and (iii) discursive controversies surrounding their feminism and politics. The discourse analysis reveals the contradictions and challenges faced by women’s political organizations in contemporary politics.     

Violence and visibility in oil palm and sugarcane conflicts: the case of Polochic Valley,Guatemala

ABSTRACT

Over the last two decades, the expansion of oil palm and sugarcane plantations in the Polochic Valley (Guatemala) has exacerbated the historical struggle of Maya-Q’eqchi’ peoples for land rights. Based on a mixed-methods approach, I examine the dynamics of the conflict between 1998 and 2014, focusing on the visibility, manifestation and intensity of violence and the role of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and peasant organizations in opposition to oil palm and sugarcane plantations. I show that the evolution of the conflict can be explained by changes in the strength of organizations' alliances due to tensions and lack of coordination, as well as the fear of state repression and the funding context of these organizations. These results allow me to discuss how violence, the role of these organizations and the dynamics of related events have influenced the visibility of the conflict associated with the expansion of oil palm and sugarcane plantations in the Polochic.     

NATO: The View from the East

Abstract

Relations between Russia, Ukraine and Belarus and NATO have placed more emphasis on cooperation than confrontation since the Cold War, and Ukraine has begun to move towards membership. At the popular level, on the evidence of national surveys in 2004 and 2005, NATO continues to be perceived as a significant threat, but in Russia and Ukraine it comes behind the United States (in Belarus the numbers are similar). There are few socioeconomic predictors of support for NATO membership that are significant across all three countries, but there are wide differences by region, and by attitudinal variables such as support for a market economy and for EU membership. The relationship between popular attitudes and foreign policy is normally a distant one; but in Ukraine NATO membership will require public support in a referendum, and in all three cases public attitudes on foreign policy issues can influence foreign policy in other ways, including the composition of parliamentary committees. In newly independent states whose international allegiances are still evolving, the associations between public opinion and foreign and security policy may often be closer than in the established democracies.     

The role of complexity theory and network analysis for examining child welfare service delivery systems

Abstract

In response to the ongoing call for a complex systems approach for understanding and informing child welfare practice and policy, this article presents a context-specific conceptual framework that combines complexity theory and network analysis. The conceptual framework rests on the complementary nature of these theoretical and methodological concepts for inter-organizational child welfare practice. Potential applications of this framework are discussed to promote network-oriented research that informs effective collaboration among organizations serving children and families.     

民族自治地方经济发展与自治立法关联研究——以五个少数民族自治州为样本

民族自治地方的经济发展和民族自治地方法治建设是民族地区全面发展的重要因素。论文通过数据分析厘清二者关联,得出自治立法促进经济发展,经济发展又推动民族自治地方法制建设的结论。由此并进一步发现民族自治地方立法在法律总量、立法质量、民族特性、可操作性等方面存在不足,结合现状和研究结论对民族自治立法如何促进经济发展提出新认识,探索法律助力经济发展新模式,以实现保障中华民族共同繁荣、携手共进的崭新局面。     

Voluntary multilateralism and institutional modification: The first two decades of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)

The voluntary multilateralism and consequent institutional weaknesses that have characterized Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) since its inception in 1989 are explained by the multiple geo-political fractures that characterize the Asia Pacific, as well as bureaucratic constraints and the missed opportunities to incorporate civil society. The history of APEC is the on-going creative struggle between ambitious multilateralists and national-sovereignty realists. While APEC has fallen short of its most ambitious goals, it has achieved some notable results in the cognitive diffusion of values and information, policy innovation to promote economic integration, and institutional modification in response to trial-and-error learning and to global shocks. The normative conclusions suggest additional institutional reforms and substantive agendas consistent with a flexible, evolving voluntary multilateralism.

转型时期宁夏民族关系的主要影响因素分析

宁夏是我国唯一的省级回族自治地方,社会转型时期影响宁夏民族关系的社会因素涉及政治、经济、文化、社会等诸多领域。对各领域影响因素进行深入研究和正确把握,可以为政府制定民族政策、有效调控民族关系提供理论依据。     

论民族自治地方政府的电子政务建设

运用现代信息技术手段,加快政府电子政务建设步伐,是提高政府创新能力的重要举措。由于经济社会发展滞后及传统行政文化的影响,我国民族自治地方电子政务建设面临更大的难度。通过对民族自治地方政府电子政务建设现状的调查及制约因素的分析,阐明民族自治地方的电子政务建设目前大多仍处于起始阶段,提出要实现后发优势必须坚持为经济社会发展服务的方向和一体化的方针,加快统一门户网站的建设步伐,加大人才支撑环境和教育培训网络体系的建设力度,尽力提高网络体系的覆盖率,突出民族自治地方特色,抓紧建设一批重点信息资源库。