Civil Society Groups Research Articles

Sovereignty, human rights and the regulation of transnational corporations: a critical spatial analysis of civil society proposals for a binding treaty

ABSTRACT This article develops a critical spatial analysis of contemporary proposals to regulate transnational corporations (TNCs). Following an analysis of the existing topology of international regulatory space, the article develops a model of alternative spatial orders which would enable TNC regulation and uses this model to critically assess the different spatial orders implicit in the major proposals being tabled by two civil society groupings in the current treaty negotiations at the UN Human Rights Council. It shows that the proposals of the Human Rights NGOs would elaborate an ‘imperial sovereignty’, with the horizontal extension of the sovereignty of Northern states into the territory of Southern states, while the proposals of the Global Campaign would elaborate a ‘global sovereignty’ through the vertical dispersal of sovereignty, both upwards and downwards, to elaborate a more emancipatory universal spatial order. Understanding these implicit spatialities enables a deeper assessment of the implications of the different proposals.

USAID Democracy Promotion as a Possible Predictor of Revolutionary Destabilization

Abstract USAID democracy promotion programs might not only influence the democracy levels, but also increase the likelihood of revolutionary uprisings in the recipient states. Democracy promotion can strengthen political opponents of the incumbent regime via support for alternative media, civil society groups and political parties, on one hand, and, on the other, support democratic institutions that in contrast to autocracies are more tolerable towards political opponents and thus allow more room for expressing political will on the streets. Since democracy aid targets “democrats” who are less prone to exert armed violence, the authors expect it to be associated with unarmed uprisings. Using logit regression models, they find that the volume of the USAID financial democracy assistance appears to be a significant predictor of unarmed revolutionary destabilization, but its effect is relatively weak. Some particular sub-sectors of democracy assistance have an impact on revolutionary destabilization, namely: civil society, elections, human rights and media assistance. These correlations might be partly explained by the fact that USAID assistance goes disproportionately to anocracies. This aid tends to increase the probability of revolutionary destabilization in two ways – directly (through strengthening political opponents of the regime) and indirectly (through increasing the number of anocracies in the world).

Plaza las Pioneras: an urban feminist space and the politics of the commons

ABSTRACT There are very few feminist urban public spaces in the world and even fewer urban feminist commons. This paper focuses on the initiative and functioning of the Plaza las Pioneras in Montevideo, Uruguay. The Plaza is an innovative feminist public space and urban commons experience that opened in 2020 as an effort by the city’s Urban Development and Gender Equity divisions to contribute to a more feminist city. The authors describe the specific context and history of both the urban space and its actors that led to political opportunities but also agency and sociopolitical dynamics on the part of different actors. Its inception and foundation are considered feminist by its stakeholders both in terms of process and finality. The article details and analyses how the Plaza las Pioneras provides fertile ground for feminist claims and initiatives while enabling women to appropriate the space and emerge as actors and beneficiaries of innovation, creation, and collective self-management of urban commons. Since its inauguration, the Plaza has become a community territory as a space, a resource, and meeting grounds. It is used by the feminist collectives that make up its Assembly as a way to promote solidarity, care, and commoning not only among its members but also with other civil society groups and social movements while working with the municipality to promote feminist urban initiatives.

The Existence of Non Muslim Minority in Aceh, Indonesia: A Study Civil and Police Institution

The implementation of Islamic law in Aceh had impact for the existence of non-Muslim minority groups. Even though they are guaranteed freedom to worship, harmony and protected, and can live side by side with the Aceh society, on the other hand, they are also feeling the impact of sharia. These implications are experienced by Christian women, not only among civil groups, but also police institutions. This article aims to complement the shortcomings of previous research, by mapping the relationships that existed between Muslim and non-Muslim groups in Aceh during the implementation of Islamic sharia. The research question is, how do these implications occur and why public space is limited for them. This research was conducted in Banda Aceh involving six informants and some were women, civil society groups and several police institutions, namely three Christian policewomen, through in-depth interviews and using several references related to the research subject. The results of the study indicated that, first, there are social spaces that have an impact on non-Muslim groups because they live in areas of Islamic sharia that require them to receive these regulations, such as the obligation to wear the veil for students, teachers and policewomen in police agencies. Then, there are limited facilities for worship, including for policewomen to provide spiritual guidance. Apart from that, there is little access to public space in government, which occurs among non-Muslim minority children who would like to develop their talents, as well as employees and in police agencies who could not develop their careers perfectly. This happens because they cannot have opportunities like the people of Aceh who are the "hosts". In this case, the government must be able to harmonize laws, including for minority groups in Aceh. It is hoped that the results of this research could adding references regarding the importance of increasing awareness and fostering the values of tolerance.

How harassment and hate speech policies have changed over time: Comparing Facebook, Twitter and Reddit (2005–2020)

AbstractSocial media platforms make choices about what content is and is not permissible on their platforms. For example, choices about if and how to deal with online harassment and hate speech are growing problems in many online settings. But these choices are often opaque, can vary from platform to platform, and can change over time with little notice. This study examines the ways Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit have defined harassment and hate speech, as well as who they frame as responsible for dealing with harassment and hate speech over time. Using content analysis, the policy structures that house relevant policies, the policy documents themselves, and blog posts are examined. The results illustrate a phased approach to defining harassment and hate, which has become increasingly complex and nuanced over time. Additionally, this work shows a compounding view of who is responsible, which began with users but over time has come to include the platform itself, technology, and external actors such as civil society groups. This paper highlights continued opacity and increasing complexity while also providing contextual historical information necessary for both future research and platform governance decisions.

Participation versus scale: Tensions in the practical demands on participatory AI

Ongoing calls from academic and civil society groups and regulatory demands for the central role of affected communities in development, evaluation, and deployment of artificial intelligence systems have created the conditions for an incipient “participatory turn” in AI. This turn encompasses a wide number of approaches — from legal requirements for consultation with civil society groups and community input in impact assessments, to methods for inclusive data labeling and co-design. However, more work remains in adapting the methods of participation to the scale of commercial AI. In this paper, we highlight the tensions between the localized engagement of community-based participatory methods, and the globalized operation of commercial AI systems. Namely, the scales of commercial AI and participatory methods tend to differ along the fault lines of (1) centralized to distributed development; (2) calculable to self-identified publics; and (3) instrumental to intrinsic perceptions of the value of public input. However, a close look at these differences in scale demonstrates that these tensions are not irresolvable but contingent. We note that beyond its reference to the size of any given system, scale serves as a measure of the infrastructural investments needed to extend a system across contexts. To scale for a more participatory AI, we argue that these same tensions become opportunities for intervention by offering case studies that illustrate how infrastructural investments have supported participation in AI design and governance. Just as scaling commercial AI has required significant investments, we argue that scaling participation accordingly will require the creation of infrastructure dedicated to the practical dimension of achieving the participatory tradition’s commitment to shifting power.

Network power and mental health policy in post-war Liberia.

This article traces the influence of network power on mental health policy in Liberia, a low-income, post-conflict West African country. Based on key informant interviews, focus group discussions and document analysis, the work uses an inductive approach to uncover how a network of civil society groups, government officials, diasporans and international NGOs shaped the passage, implementation and revision of the country's 2009 and 2016 mental health policies. With relations rooted in ties of information, expertise, resources, commitment and personal connections, the network coalesced around a key agent, the Carter Center, which connected members and guided initiatives. Network power was evident when these actors channelled expertise, shared narratives of post-war trauma and mental health as a human right, and financial resources to influence policy. Feedback loops appeared as policy implementation created new associations of mental health clinicians and service users, research entities and training institutes. These beneficiaries offered the network information from lived experiences, while also pressing their own interests in subsequent policy revisions. As the network expanded over time, some network members gained greater autonomy from the key agent. Network power outcomes included the creation of government mental health institutions, workforce development, increased public awareness, civil society mobilization and a line for mental health in the government budget, though concerns about network overstretch and key agent commitment emerged over time. The Liberian case illustrates how networks need not be inimical to development, and how network power may facilitate action on stigmatized, unpopular issues in contexts with low state capacity. A focus on network power in health shows how power can operate not only through discrete resources such as funding but also through the totality of assets that network linkages make possible.

Unravelling Power of the Unseen: Towards an Interdisciplinary Synthesis of Generative AI Regulation

Abstract The regulations of generative AI, typified by ChatGPT and Sora, have become one of the most influential alternative technological imaginaries. Developed by states and civil society groups, such regulations are triggering a broad range of social actors seeking to nominalize the AI-related behavior. Against this backdrop, this study starts with interrogating the semiotic character of generative AI. Do these regulations support the AI futures, or do they involve a mere change in the social actors who benefit from the technological status quo? To answer this question, this study examines the rhetoric and realization of AI regulations by the European Union and the United States. The findings reveal a degree of AI regulatory alignment between the European Union and the United States, but these two jurisdictions also highlight and predict some structural challenges. Drawing upon the concept of panopticism by Foucault, the study explores the foundational origins of challenges by dissecting the (in)visibility of AI power. It underscores the necessity of regulating the power of the unseen and proposes a synthetic generative AI regulatory framework. We finally conclude that the integrity of sociosemiotics and panopticism provides a productive and paramount framework for understanding the powerful new capacities of AI-related regulations.

Drug Use Stigma and Reprisal: Barriers to Prison Needle Exchange in Canada

After years of advocacy by a range of civil society groups, supported by scholarly and empirical research, Canada's federal prison service implemented a needle exchange program at select carceral institutions in 2018. Since the program rollout, however, uptake has remained minimal. To understand why, we conducted the first independent and national study of the program, interviewing 30 people who were incarcerated at one of the prisons with a needle exchange. Our findings show that drug use stigma and anticipated or actual reprisal from correctional officers, particularly related to breaches of confidentiality for program participants, markedly impede access and utilization.

The Vague Future of AI: The Theory of AI Perfection

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly accessible to the general public. There is an ongoing debate regarding the implications of widespread AI adoption. Some argue that placing advanced AI systems in the hands of the general public could have dangerous consequences if misused either intentionally or unintentionally. Others counter that AI can be safe and beneficial if developed and deployed responsibly. This paper explores both sides of this complex issue. On the one hand, broad AI availability could boost productivity, efficiency, and innovation across industries and domains. Individuals may benefit from AI assistants that help with tasks like scheduling, research, content creation, recommendations, and more personalized services. However, without proper safeguards and oversight, AI could also be misused to spread misinformation, manipulate people, or perpetrate cybercrime. And if AI systems become extremely advanced, there are risks related to the alignment of AI goal systems with human values. On the other hand, with thoughtful coordination between policymakers, researchers, companies, and civil society groups, AI can be developed safely and for the benefit of humanity. Ongoing research into AI safety and ethics is crucial, as are governance frameworks regarding areas like data privacy, algorithmic transparency, and accountability. As AI becomes more deeply integrated into products and platforms, best practices should be established regarding appropriate use cases, human oversight, and user empowerment. With conscientious, ethical implementation, AI can empower individuals and enhance society. But key issues around alignment, security, and governance must be proactively addressed to minimize risks as advanced AI proliferates. This will likely require evolving perspectives, policies, and scientific breakthroughs that promote innovation while putting human interests first.

Public procurement policies of Nigeria and Ghana: an analysis of the administrative challenges in achieving value for money

PurposeThis study aims to focus on public policy concerning the implementation of public procurement policies in Nigeria and Ghana toward achieving value for money in the procurement of goods, services and works. It specifically analyzes some major administrative challenges Nigeria and Ghana are faced with in the administration/implementation of public procurement policies toward achieving value for money. It looks at the relationship between the state (regulatory authorities) and substate (procurement entities) in the public sectors of Nigeria and Ghana.Design/methodology/approachA comparative case study approach is adopted, where the two countries are compared in terms of achieving value for money. Data was collected from multiple sources, including in-depth interviews. The use of official documents and direct observations at the procurement regulatory authorities and entities’ premises.FindingsThis study found Nigeria often used the four Es – economy, efficiency, effectiveness and equity while Ghana mainly used the traditional five rights (right quantity, right quality, right price, right place and right time) as their criteria for ensuring value for money. The major administrative challenges found include corruption, low capacity of procurement personnel and poor knowledge of the procurement laws.Social implicationsIt recommends effective collaboration between government and civil society groups in the fight against corruption in procurement-related activities, with the implication that there is a need for periodic training for public procurement officials.Originality/valueIt adds to the field of public procurement in terms of value for money in the procurement of goods, services and works in developing countries context.

Ghana’s education and labour unions join civil society organisations to take on the IMF

ABSTRACT This article will explain how a series of educator strikes in 2022 in Ghana led to increased awareness of and calls for tax justice and debt relief from a growing movement of public sector workers and civil society organisations. We chart how the issues and demands of teacher organisations and other public sector workers shifted and increased over time, bringing in a new public imaginary to critique IMF driven austerity policies, build and link to global campaigns around debt relief, and signal new possibilities for generating more stable domestic public sector tax revenues. We examine the evolving strategies of growing educator strikes and show how unions are joining together with other civil society and advocacy groups to challenge fiscal austerity and government policies that affect not only their schools and classrooms but their lives and livelihoods. This case describing what Ghanaian teacher unions are doing to organise members to learn about and challenge austerity policies highlights the importance of public sector workers’ knowledge, understanding and engaging governmental macro-economic policies and offering alternative solutions.

Responding to whom? An experimental study of the dynamics of responsiveness to interest groups and the public

ABSTRACT While politicians are commonly depicted as having strong incentives to be responsive to both interest groups and citizens to govern and maintain office, the literature lacks designs that allow for assessing the causal effect of both types of actors on individual policy-makers. This study addresses this gap by formulating theoretical propositions regarding responsiveness of politicians to both public opinion and interest groups and testing them in a vignette experiment with responses from over 2000 Danish and Dutch local, regional and national elected representatives. Our study finds important differences in the dynamics of responsiveness to the two types of actors: Public opinion has a strong direct effect on the intended voting behaviour of politicians, whereas the effects of interest groups are weaker and mainly demonstrate the potential to influence the views of ideologically aligned legislators. Left-wing politicians, in particular, are responsive to civil society groups. These results have implications for understanding political representation and the role of interest groups across multiple levels of government. While the heightened sensitivity of politicians to some aligned groups creates a risk of policy-making biases, it is reassuring that interest groups have a weaker effect than public opinion and primarily hold potential to influence like-minded politicians.

The political origins of corporate transparency: forging strange coalitions through information rules and policy entrepreneurship

When does business support corporate transparency laws, and how do they succeed despite opposition from other powerful business groups? Existing research converges on a common causal pathway: Crises increase public issue salience and open windows of opportunity for policy entrepreneurs to pressure politicians into adopting transparency laws. Examining the case of beneficial ownership transparency (BOT) laws, I theorize an alternative causal pathway where past policy decisions mandating information collection by certain industries produce inter-industry divergence in their policy preferences and undermine opposition business lobbying. Civil society groups can then engage in policy entrepreneurship to integrate supportive regulated industries into new coalitions. Large, organizationally diverse ‘strange coalitions’ increase political pressure on policymakers, leading to the adoption of corporate transparency laws. I conduct a structured, focused comparison of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia as parallel demonstrations of this causal pathway. I combine primary and secondary source documentation with 44 semi-structured interviews to trace failed and successful attempts to adopt BOT laws during the 2010s and early 2020s. I center endogenous feedback processes as a primary cause of transparency, provide further evidence of when firms prefer stronger regulation, and highlight the continued importance of domestic interests in transnational policy issues.

Think Globally, Act Locally? Evaluating Boston Climate Projects’ Community Engagement

AbstractSuccessful climate change mitigation, adaptation, and transformation will require a balance of bottom-up, community-led planning and engagement with top-down resource deployment. While many non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society groups, and local agencies argue that they work closely with residents, especially on plans to manage extreme weather events and climate change, the degree to which local, urban-based climate projects engage with coastal communities remains an open question. Using interviews with nearly 20 project managers, local planners, and decision makers along with site visits to and archival research on three core projects in Boston, we evaluate the degree to which residents participate, plan, and engage. Despite being heralded by some observers as truly participatory, we found that none of the projects achieved the highest levels of participation possible seen in other community led projects. Further, none of the projects achieved consistent scores on the three evaluation criteria: equity, efficacy, and efficiency. This gap between rhetoric and reality must be closed if Boston and other vulnerable, coastal cities wish to build more equitable ways of managing challenges like climate change.

What is the true impact of an apology?

ABSTRACT A national apology may assist in achieving reconciliation, cooperation, or forgiveness after past wrongs. However, the high hopes that are held for this role are more frequently dashed than fulfilled. Japan’s history of apologies is readily comparable to other nations’ attempts to correct past wrongs. The difficulties that many countries experience in their efforts to make meaningful apologies tend to undermine the power of the act itself. Individuals and small groups in civil society can further the progress of reconciliation through an apology and other actions. However, a nation cannot act as an individual or small group. Research shows that the pragmatic factors of commerce and trade, as well as the geopolitical context, can significantly suppress the remembrance of past wrongs, allowing past enemies to work cooperatively without confronting the past. This paper takes a deliberately broad exploratory approach to examine how pragmatic policies affect the impact and success of national apologies. It also cites a case where an alleged lack of apologies can be used in an effort to heighten threat perception. Such matters have become sharply relevant in January 2023, when the Chinese Ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, was reported as saying, ‘The Japanese government has not apologised … they don’t accept it’s wrong and … might repeat the history.’ However, this paper also suggests that while some wrongs, such as genocide, may never be forgiven, former enemies may be able to find common ground in the context of geopolitics and economic and cultural spheres.

An alternative planetary future? Digital sovereignty frameworks and the decolonial option

The frameworks of cyber, technology and data sovereignty have become some of the most influential alternative technological imaginaries. Developed by states and civil society groups, such frameworks are seducing a broad range of actors seeking to reassert their autonomy and self-determination in relation to digital technology and infrastructure. Against this backdrop, this article interrogates the alleged transformative character of digital sovereignty. Do these frameworks support alternative planetary futures, or do they involve a mere change in the actors who are privileging from the technological status quo? To answer this question, I examine the rhetoric and realisation of digital sovereignty frameworks by the Chinese state, the European Union (EU) and Latin American civil society in light of Walter Mignolo's decolonial option. The decolonial option gets inspiration from decolonial praxis and aims at enabling polycentric, noncapitalist and nonanthropocentric planetary futures. As I show, there is some degree of alignment between digital sovereignty frameworks and the decolonial option in the sphere of international politics, but less so in the world economy and the environment. While in some areas the formulations by the Chinese state and the EU can exacerbate coloniality, the Latin American civil society one constitutes a promising attempt at appropriating digital sovereignty from below and promoting peaceful forms of coexistence with the environment although needs further development.

Manifesting symbolic representation through collaborative policymaking

AbstractCollaboration is a widely employed strategy for addressing “wicked” policy problems. While scholars have long recognized that the organizational composition of collaborative forums can have a dramatic impact on the efficacy and equity of associated forum outputs, little is known about whether such composition impacts the manner in which everyday citizens perceive forum processes and/or participating organizations. In this article, we bridge and extend concepts from the collaborative governance and representative bureaucracy literatures, arguing that when forums attract sufficient membership from organizations that citizens perceive as reflective of their own or their community's interests—what we refer to as “forum representation”—those citizens will have more positive perceptions toward all participating organizations. Conversely, failing to achieve sufficient representation can result in degraded perceptions. While there are theoretically multiple ways to increase forum representation, we focus on one potential pathway: the inclusion of civil society organizations in policy‐making processes. Empirically, we assess whether heightened representation of civil society groups within a specific collaborative policing forum impacts citizens' perceptions of the main participating agency—the police department—finding that greater knowledge of this highly representative forum results in positive spillover effects.

Decentralized Forest Governance and Resource Management: Assessing Community Dependence and Conservation Effectiveness in Broad-Leaved and Coniferous Forest Stands

Globally decentralized forest governance is being promoted to conserve and sustainably manage forest resources along with meeting local livelihoods. In the Central Himalayan region of India, it came into existence in 1931, long before the time when the concept of decentralized forest governance became popular globally, and the aim was to accomplish the subsistence needs of the smallholders in the region. This article discusses whether the species types (broadleaved and coniferous) affect biophysical conditions, species richness, and conservation effectiveness of community-owned forests (locally called Van Panchayat forests), and what could be done to improve their management in the near future. The findings are based on a household survey covering 16 villages as well as a biophysical assessment of 18 community forest stands (9 per forest type) covering an area of 1778 ha and 341 ha in both forest categories. It was found that farmers across the villages are intricately dependent on forest resources to support their livelihoods that are governed by a village institution (Van Panchayat) to maintain equity of benefit-sharing among all stakeholders. Both forest categories exhibited high dependence, however, there was a considerable difference in resource quality, viz. quality of fodder, fuel, and litter in broadleaved forests, therefore the community has more preference for such stands. The broadleaved Banj-oak stands revealed better biophysical status in terms of species diversity, tree density, total basal area, and regeneration than the coniferous Chir-pine stands. Although the local government has taken up selective policy initiatives to encourage decentralized forest governance, more needs to be done to strengthen it on the ground level, particularly in Chir-pine stands. It is suggested that the community management of forests needs to be improved in relation to leadership development, rationale use of bio-resources, and adopting site-specific management strategies. In areas with Chir-pine forests community need to be educated to reduce forest fire and promote the plantation of broad-leaved species. Also, the scope of community forests needs to be broadened by adopting and involving smallholders in various forest enterprise development and climate action programs. For this, developing proper alliances of village institutions with civil society groups and other partner institutions along with virtuous support from local government can lead to enhance social and environmental resilience of communities.

An Unlikely Rights Revolution: Legal Mobilization in Scandinavia Since the 1970s

ABSTRACT Why have civil society groups in Scandinavia increasingly turned to legal mobilization in recent decades? In Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, a legal-political culture based on parliamentary supremacy, deferential judiciaries, strong-state corporatism, and jurisprudential scepticism towards rights talk supposedly discourages groups in civil society from seeking societal change through litigation. Yet, in all three countries, diverse groups and organizations in civil society have increasingly adopted litigation strategies for a broad range of causes. In this paper, we seek to account for how and why this shift has occurred. Drawing on socio-legal mobilization theory, we compare Denmark, Norway, and Sweden across three episodes from the 1970s to today. Litigation has gradually moved from the political margins to the mainstream. Our findings suggest that while European law, domestic institutional reforms, and a proliferating human rights discourse have opened new ways for resourceful groups and entrepreneurial individuals to challenge the status quo, parliamentary and corporatist channels remain often viable and preferred alternatives for mainstream organizations. The paper thus contributes to the emerging literature on how civil society groups in Scandinavia employ litigation strategies by offering a comparative and historical assessment and contributes to knowledge about the factors that shape legal mobilization by civil society groups.