Civil Society Actors Research Articles

Decarbonization, hegemonic projects, and the green growth policy-planning network: the case of Québec

ABSTRACT Since 2010, grassroots-led socio-ecological movements in Québec, Canada played a key role in overturning carbon extractivist proposals. Building on their successes, these groups now aim to move energy transition debates toward a broader conception of transition that includes radical social justice and post-capitalist alternatives. Meanwhile, corporate actors and the state enlisted major environmental NGOs and union federations into various technocentric ‘green growth’ projects. These hegemonic and counter-hegemonic struggles define how transition unfolds in the province, yet few have studied how actual social actors organize to carry out these divergent responses to the climate crisis. We develop a structural analysis of the green growth policy-planning network in Québec. Starting from five organizations at the core of transition debates, we analyze the network of board interlocks they are embedded in. We describe the overall structure of the network and its main corporate, civil society, and individual actors. Analysis outlines the possibility of a new hegemonic bloc forming, positioned around the green growth project and the cleantech sector, close to achieving dominance in Quebec, that would threaten deeper decarbonization efforts. Thus, despite the recent ban on petroleum extraction, like elsewhere, energy transition in Quebec still faces deep social and ecological contradictions.

The Importance of Accounting for the Dead in Migration

Executive Summary This article highlights the importance of accounting for the dead in migration contexts, from international humanitarian law (IHL), international human rights law (IHRL), and forensic perspectives. Starting by reviewing obligations under IHL and IHRL for the processes of accounting, the article discusses forensic action and the role that accounting can play to protect the dead and clarify the fate and whereabouts of the missing for their families. Considering the complexity of missing and deceased migrant cases, this problem must be approached from several complementary angles, including States codifying international legal obligations related to accounting for the dead in domestic legal or policy frameworks; developing national mechanisms to collect, centralize, and report disaggregated information on migrant deaths; addressing migrant deaths from a public health perspective; pursuing identification efforts including participating in transnational coordination mechanisms; developing strong partnerships with civil society actors; and coupling accounting initiatives with policies that promote the search for missing migrants.

Mapping the discursive landscape of data activism: Articulations and actors in an emerging movement

Growing awareness of the societal consequences of datafication in recent years has given rise to a new form of civil society engagement called data activism. This article examines the discourse surrounding data activism on the social media platform Twitter. Through a mixed-methods approach combining computational analysis of Twitter content and close readings of Twitter profiles, we explore how new forms of civil society action related to data justice are articulated and linked to other forms of activism, conflicts and problems, and the actors involved in these articulations. Our analysis reveals a distinction between two articulatory patterns in the data activism discourse. The first involves grassroots actors, such as community organisations and individual citizens, who challenge existing power structures and advocate for social change. The second, on the other hand, is associated with academics, capitalists and policymakers who already hold positions of power and influence. This asymmetry is consistent with previous findings in data activism research. We encourage future research to extend these patterns, using additional methods and case studies, to further refine and contextualise the understanding of data activism within the civil society realm.

Dynamics of protest mobilisation in the European poly-crisis

ABSTRACT Using an original protest event dataset covering 30 European countries and the period 2000–2021, this paper studies the nature and drivers of protest mobilisation across three major crises that have hit European Member States (the Eurozone, refugee, and Covid crises). Contributing a crisis-comparative perspective to social movement research, we explore crisis mobilisation in three steps. First, looking at general protest trends throughout the past decade, we find that the overall level of protest declined significantly, and especially so after the Eurozone crisis. Second, we characterise crisis-specific protest in terms of the action forms and the actors involved. We find a high involvement of institutional actors in the Eurozone crisis, a high share of radical events in the refugee crisis, and a generally non-confrontational protest organised by civil society actors in the Covid crisis. Finally, we explain crisis-specific protest levels by examining the mobilising effect of grievances. More specifically, we study the impact of problem pressure (how hard countries were affected using economic, migration, and public health indicators) and political pressure from public opinion (the salience of crisis-specific issues) and show that both were important drivers in the three crises.

Legal experts colluding with the political and economic elites in justifying corruption: the case of Malaysia’s Madani goverment

This paper examines the increasing centralization of power by the current ‘reformist’ Malaysian government through the co-optation of civil society organizations (CSOs) to bolster the moral legitimacy of the integral state. We argue that Anwar Ibrahim’s transition from a unifying figure in oppositional politics to his current role has inadvertently led to the muting of civil society actors (CSAs) and CSOs. This co-optation has significantly diminished the autonomy and influence of civil society in Malaysia’s political landscape. A comparative analysis of the socio-economic strategies employed by Anwar and his predecessor, Najib Razak, reveals that Anwar’s efforts towards wealth redistribution and empowerment of marginalized communities have been limited. This policy approach has disproportionately affected rural constituencies, potentially altering the dynamics of political support. Furthermore, the current administration under Anwar faces criticism for failing to fulfill its campaign promise of holding corrupt politicians accountable. This situation is exacerbated by the involvement of two prominent lawyers representing politicians across party lines, raising questions about conflicts of interest and the integrity of the judicial process. Drawing on Gramscian theory, this paper posits that legal professionals should be incorporated into the concept of the ‘integral state’ due to their capacity to interpret, manipulate, and shape laws in ways that often benefit the ruling elite. This theoretical expansion provides a more comprehensive framework for understanding the mechanisms of power consolidation in contemporary Malaysian politics.

Get organized? Creating an organizational context for civil society activities in urban sustainability transitions

The paper addresses tensions in organizing civil society activities in urban sustainability transitions. It argues that these activities need focus to be impactful while also demanding flexibility to remain adaptive. The latter can hardly be achieved by individual organizations alone but requires closer examination of the ecology of organizations in which civil society actors operate. This paper contributes to the literature on the governance of urban sustainability by systematically analyzing this organizational context and its long-term dynamics. Adopting a neo-institutional lens, the paper scrutinizes civil society activities with the ‘institutional work’ approach and sheds light on how the organizational context enables changes therein. The longitudinal case study of the Local Agenda 21 in Augsburg reveals, via a mixed-method approach, how civil society actors navigate tensions by altering their organizational context. Increasing its diversity and complexity in a bottom-up process allowed them to engage in more transformative work.

Leadership And Democratization In Kazakhstan And Kyrgyzstan: Comparative Analysis Of Political Systems Of Post-Soviet Countries

This study aims to investigate the prospects of democratization in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan by comparing their political systems. The primary objective is to identify the factors influencing the varying degrees of democratic development between these two Central Asian countries, despite their similar socio-cultural and historical backgrounds. The methodology employed involves a systems analysis approach, examining both "input" and "output" functions of the political systems. Key variables include the levels of democracy as the independent variable, and political parties, leaders, resource distribution, and opposition suppression as dependent variables. Results indicate that Kazakhstan, under Nazarbayev, maintained a more controlled political environment through patronage networks and resource allocation, effectively limiting opposition and preserving stability. In contrast, Kyrgyzstan exhibited a more dynamic political landscape with multiple power shifts, driven by competitive party politics and less centralized control over resources. However, both countries face significant challenges, including regional fragmentation, corruption, and the influence of Islamist movements, which complicate their democratic trajectories. The findings suggest that while Kyrgyzstan shows potential for democratic development due to its parliamentary system and active civil society, Kazakhstan's path is hindered by entrenched authoritarian practices and elite control.

City Regionalism in the Global South: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

This study investigates city regionalism within the context of state restructuring in postcolonial Ghana. To understand Ghana’s emerging city regionalism, first, we argue that planning is marshaled as an institutional instrument to materialize the state’s vision of remaking national territory and internationalizing the state. Second, city regionalism is a political process leveraged by a unique power geometry. The study adopts Ghana’s Northern Savannah Ecological Zone (NSEZ) regional plan to elucidate city regionalism in the Global South. Our findings reveal the central government’s inclination toward endogenous territorial restructuring, by which city region development is centrally orchestrated and state guided. In addition, city regionalism is influenced by the geostrategic ambitions of international capital, especially Chinese capital, which seeks to draw investment into the built environment and infrastructure. The central government’s customization of a regional governance agency, the Northern Development Authority (NDA), and the decentralization of land resources give rise to a “dumbbell” power structure. The concentration of legal and cohesive power in the central government and an overly privatized land ownership regime characterize this dumbbell power structure. The operation of the NDA is thus a scaffolding with no substantial power. The central government exercises restrictive fiscal regulation over regional and local states in the NSEZ. These two dimensions hamper the effective implementation of the regional plan. Collaboration between different levels of state administration, traditional authorities, and civil society actors is imperative to address the complexities of city regionalism in postcolonial Ghana.

Eviscerated to Revolutionary: Rethinking International Aid and Civil Society in Cambodia and Myanmar

International aid actors and their role in supporting civil society, particularly non-government organisations (NGOs), in Asia has attracted extensive debate. Some view donors’ New Policy Agenda to have de-politicised and “NGOised” civil society, undermining broader emancipatory movements. Such analyses, however, often take limited account of historical and political factors that are deeply influential. Cambodia and Myanmar offer unique insights into these debates; following decades of international isolation, both countries experienced vast influxes of aid, from the early 1990s and late 2000s respectively. Yet in 2024, civil society activism is eviscerated in Cambodia, while a broad alliance is pursing revolution in Myanmar against the 2021 military coup. Through a comparative analysis, this article examines how aid and civil society interact over an extended time, and what the radically different trajectories mean regarding the dynamics between international aid and civil society actors. The article concludes that although international aid had a distortionary impact, historical and political factors were far more consequential in shaping civil society in both countries, particularly the scale of informal, non-NGO activism, which has ultimately proven far more resilient and transformative.

Co-creation in partnerships contributing to the sustainability of food systems: insights from 52 case studies in Europe

Institutions worldwide call for joint actions of multiple actors in partnerships to accelerate the transitions towards sustainable food systems and reach food security for everybody, allways. This requires insights into co-creating processes. Here, 52 European food system cases are analyzed. A methodology based on the game structure is used that permits standardizing data collection and extracting generic and cases-specific findings. Game building blocks correspond with key elements of co-creation processes, like defining mutually accepted objectives, engaging in types of activities, and efficient use of resources, boundary conditions, timings, and scales of operations. Results further indicate that different types of inclusive partnerships emerge, in which especially innovative private, including smallholders, and academic actors co-create value, all contributing to sustainability. The public and civil society actors emerge as important initiators, enablers, and organizers of scales of interaction, allowing generating snowball effects. Findings lead to an adapted concept for co-creating partnerships in food systems and recommendations for the European Partnership on sustainable food systems.

Low-Income Homeownership and Safety Nets: The Role of Radical Community Practices

ABSTRACT Nonprofit networks that oversee housing accessibility within urban neighbourhoods emerge as crucial arenas for inducing transformative shifts in policy and practice in the United States. However, civil society actors are subject to considerable critique in the discourse on radical planning theory. They are often alleged to be hand in glove with state and market actors in enabling displacement and dispossession of marginalised groups. This study challenges some of these entrenched positions and provides important counter-narratives on the transformative roles of civil society. Delving into the roles of various institutions that facilitate low-income homeownership, community building, and neighbourhood stabilisation, the study reveals that civil society actors present opportunities for subaltern expression, disruptive activism, and structural transformation in power relationalities. Their strategies respond to wealth-building pathways through housing and address intersectional challenges related to identity, citizenship, and access, thus reaffirming their transformative potential in the urban planning discourse.

The writing on the wall: Identity, placemaking and territoriality in Karachi's graffiti culture

This article explores the spatiality of political graffiti and urban murals and the role they play in placemaking, territoriality and identity building amongst Karachi's migrant communities. From Independence in 1947 to the present day, the city has been the site of several waves of in-migration, both domestic and international, resulting in a migrant megacity. Through shared migration experiences and cultural heritage, political patronage and spatial clustering, communities have consolidated and reimagined ethnic identities into political ones. These ethno-political entities demarcate territories of dominance and spaces of tension using political graffiti. This tool for placemaking and territory marking is an urban declaration of power on the walls of the city. More recently, political graffiti has been deliberately replaced by civil society actors in the form of murals changing the provocative ethno-political sloganeering to a nationalistic counter narrative. With multiple actors – political and apolitical - sentiments and stories now vying for space through their occupation of the city's walls, these surfaces become spaces of declaration, dialogue and at times, erasure. Through a process of diachronic documentation, this article shows that the walls of the city are a palimpsest of political opinion and identity; each subsequent layer in dialogue with the layer that precedes it. The authors of each layer through a process of placemaking, construct, deconstruct and reconstruct narratives of identity, ownership and belonging.

Growing gardens into neighborhoods through transdisciplinary research

The increasing densification of urban spaces can negatively impact biodiversity in the city, but the diversity of green spaces also offers new opportunities to implement biodiversity conservation interventions. Urban community gardens are social-ecological systems that support biodiversity, ecosystem services, and positive human-nature interactions. In turn, community gardens can provide ideal “real-world labs” to co-create, test, and collectively implement biodiversity conservation strategies with gardeners that can be transferred to and mainstreamed across other urban ecosystems. This is important because the impact of biodiversity-friendly gardening strategies is not yet systematically researched, nor how this knowledge can be transferred to other urban ecosystems. In our transdisciplinary research, we are developing, implementing, and testing biodiversity conservation interventions focused on promoting insect diversity with gardeners and neighborhood residents from Berlin and Munich, Germany. Our aim is to engage with and support city residents in biodiversity-based urban greening. To do so, we work at the nexus between civil society (gardeners, neighborhood residents, ecologically oriented organizations) and relevant city actors (city council, district committees, city administration) to anchor the participation of civil society in the ecological transformation of the city. In this communication article, we present our transdisciplinary research concept, participatory methods, and experience thus far in translating research to practice, and supporting the role of city residents to implement biodiversity interventions in their gardens and in their neighborhoods.

Targeted Sanctions as a Pathway to Accountability

Abstract The growth of ‘Magnitsky-style’ targeted sanctions has ushered in a new chapter in the history of sanctions practice that places civil society actors in an increasingly empowered position. The development of new legal and policy frameworks in several jurisdictions, led by the USA, has formalized an active role for civil society in governments’ sanction designation processes. By creating a legal framework for civil society engagement, the US Magnitsky laws enshrined the importance of civil society as a source of evidence on human rights and corruption issues into law. This article draws on the experience and observations of, and interviews with, sanctions practitioners who have witnessed the increasing role that civil society is taking in Magnitsky-style sanctions. The article begins by asking why civil society engages with targeted sanctions, before examining the legal and policy frameworks through which civil society actors engage with governments. It looks at five jurisdictions where civil society is taking an active role, the USA, UK, European Union, Canada, and Australia. The article describes the emergence of ‘sanctions clearing houses’ — organizations that act as intermediaries between global civil society and the governments with which they are trying to engage. The article considers present civil society perspectives on current barriers to engagement with sanctions regimes and concludes by emphasizing the importance of civil society engagement in this area, providing recommendations to foster this engagement.

Pakistan's national COVID-19 response: lessons from an emergent response to the pandemic.

In 2020, Pakistan faced the formidable challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic with an existing yet disjointed healthcare infrastructure, that included by over 18,000 public and an estimated 75,000 private health facilities and some elements of an epidemic surveillance and response system. This descriptive study examines how Pakistan developed a COVID-19 response, driven by establishing a central coordination and decision-making mechanism to overcome these systemic challenges. The study is based on interviews and interactions of the many actors in the response by the authors, who also participated in nearly all proceedings of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) and many of the National Coordination Committee (NCC). This information is supplemented by reviewing documents, reports, news items, media and social media, and journal articles. The study highlights the critical role of political arrangement, where the NCC, comprising of ministers, bureaucrats, and military personnel, facilitated federal and provincial integration. The NCC found resources and set policy. Its direction was implemented by the NCOC, a top-down yet inclusive platform, integrated political, military, and civil society actors, to ensure cohesive decision-making and implementation. It provided technical guidance, harnessed data for strategic decisions and held implementers accountable. At its peak, the NCOC boasted nearly 300 personnel, including high-ranking military officers, a stark contrast to the limited staffing in most ministries. In addition, the response's success is attributed to the perception of COVID-19 as an existential threat, leading to unprecedented collaboration and decisive actions that were enforced authoritatively. Pakistan's experience offers valuable insights for proactive management of health emergencies in resource-limited settings. It underscores the necessity for inter-sectoral dialog and data-driven policy implementation, especially in the context of political economies where activity-driven governance often overshadows objective-driven policy execution. However, the lessons from the COVID-19 response, including a blueprint for future epidemic responses and lessons for use of data and evidence in developing country health systems, if not institutionalized, risk being lost in the post-pandemic era.

An urban rivers renaissance? Stream restoration and green–blue infrastructure in Latin America – Insights from urban planning in Colombia

AbstractWhile urban river restoration has become mainstream in the Global North, it remains scarce in Latin America, where most literature focuses on water quality, stream habitats, and watershed assessment, but planning and implementation lag behind. Colombia is undergoing a paradigm shift after pioneering the integration of green and blue infrastructure (GBI) into urban planning in the early 2000s (namely Estructura Ecológica Principal). A surge in river renaturalization initiatives is underway, with large and intermediate cities planning and executing projects. We systematically assessed the integration of rivers and GBI into local policies (Planes de Ordenamiento Territorial) and found widespread and strong recognition of streams, wetlands, and ecosystem services in urban planning, higher than previously reported. Most cities emphasize river multifunctionality, ecological connectivity, public space, and recreation, as well as disaster risk reduction, advancing toward sustainable urban water and drainage systems. However, significant gaps persist regarding climate change resilience, participation, and social justice. In a region marked by high inequality, pre-existing spatial exclusion could be amplified by urban renewal, greening, and tourism due to unfair resettlement conditions and gentrification. Such trade-offs can undermine the ecological and social benefits of restoration. We highlight the crucial role of civil society and grassroots activism in protecting and defending urban commons and conclude by recommending a critical examination of GBI and river restoration efforts in Latin America. Colombia’s case can serve as both a reference and a cautionary tale for other cities in the region to achieve outcomes that promote equity and justice amid pressing social and environmental challenges.

The regularisation industry: a qualitative analysis of the legal-administrative intermediation field

The bureaucratic management of the legal and administrative statuses of mi-grants is a pervasive yet scarcely researched aspect of the migratory experi-ence. This article describes the field of intermediation services for migrants, with a particular focus on legal and bureaucratic support. Using the 2020 regu-larization of irregular migrant workers in Italy as a case study, it shows that actors related to this emerging segment of the ‘migration industry' are not only concerned with facilitating migrants' physical border crossings but also that intermediation services increasingly involve the crossing of internal borders, particularly between different (il)legal migration statuses. The article describes the field of legal-administrative status-intermediation, highlighting the different actors involved, who differ widely in their legal competency and the degree to which they marketize their services. The article argues that the com-bination of legal uncertainty and the specific features of the institutional and regulatory framework concerning intermediation services in Italy creates space for the emergence and expansion of for-profit actors. These actors oper-ate on a sliding scale between legal and illegal, formal and informal service-provision, ranging from commercial intermediation to illicit practices and fraud. Additionally, the article shows increasing forms of competition and ten-sion between non-profit and for-profit actors in the field. The analysis is based on 45 interviews with different actors of civil society, employers and migrants involved in the amnesty. The article looks at the migration industry as a field of intermediation in a context marked by the pandemic and on the forms of embeddedness of irregular migrants in local society.

Diverse counter accounts for biodiversity conservation: The case of the High Ross Dam controversy

The key aim of this article is to reflect on the potential impacts of various types of historical counter accounts, used by civil society to promote resistance and conservation. For this purpose, the High Ross Dam controversy (in the 1970s) represents an important and unique historical case of social–political biodiversity conservation action, by civil society. A detailed case study is presented that includes an analysis of civil society opposition through counter accounts. Technical and non-technical counter accounts of resistance by civil society are investigated, using Escobar's theoretical framework. Examples of historical counter accounts serve as outstanding precedents of civil society activism for biodiversity against business and political agendas.

Civil Society and International Accountability

Abstract The role of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in pursuing accountability for atrocity crimes through international law is more diverse than ever before, and the breadth of CSO activities and the modalities of their engagement with international justice institutions has been overlooked in the scholarship to date. This article explores various CSO approaches to advancing accountability, including at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), International Criminal Court (ICC), investigative mechanisms (for Syria, Myanmar, and Iraq), and selected United Nations treaty bodies and regional human rights courts. Civil society actors take on many roles, including as advocates, documenters, analysts, victims’ representatives, and international law experts. While often described as indispensable to international justice efforts, the relationship between civil society and formal justice mechanisms remains novel and can feel incongruous with traditional and ostensibly independent and impartial legal processes. This is evolving as CSOs enter traditional international justice spaces in diverse ways. This article provides a framework to understand the modalities of CSO engagement with international legal processes, as well as critical challenges.

From the Translocal to the Multi‐Sited Transnational: Tracing Rohingya Refugee Networks in India

ABSTRACTThis paper examines the transnational and translocal experiences of the Rohingya in India, a stateless, refugee community forcibly displaced from Myanmar, onward migrants from Bangladesh, who currently occupy a legally precarious space in India. Drawing on approximately 90 interviews conducted with refugees, community leaders and NGOs across three Indian cities, along with informal group discussions and field notes, this paper makes two arguments that shed light on the complex, multi‐factorial ways in which networks are rebuilt in displacement as well as the emerging characteristics of Rohingya onward migration in Asia. First, that early generations of Rohingya in India leveraged translocal network building spaces and encounters to rebuild their networks with others in the community and create translocal networks of care and support with local civil society actors, cementing the notion of a ‘Rohingya refugee community’ in India. Second, that the gradual internationalisation of the Rohingya crisis as well as the transnationalisation of the Rohingya diaspora in the last decade through multiple waves of displacement, onward migration and resettlement schemes has prompted a shift towards multi‐sited transnationalism, particularly reflected in the emergence of multi‐sited transnational families, digital transnational spaces among younger refugees and extended diasporic networks.