Understanding Of Civil Society Research Articles

CONCEPTUAL APPROACHES TO UNDERSTANDING CIVIL SOCIETY IN MODERN LAW

Civil society is currently the guarantor of the sustainable development of the rule of law and the source of positive transformations in various spheres of society. The growing interest in the category of "civil society" in modern jurisprudence has actualized the task of building a holistic concept of civil society. The article discusses the main conceptual approaches to understanding civil society in modern jurisprudence and determining its relationship with the state. An analysis is made of the characteristics identified by Russian and foreign researchers as the hallmarks of civil society. The models of interaction between the state and civil society, distinguished in domestic and foreign jurisprudence, are considered. The forms of interaction between the state and civil society are considered, their classification is carried out. Based on the results of the study, a conclusion was formulated on the expediency of using the concept of civil society organizations as the basic concept of civil society in modern legal science.

Controlling Civil Society from the Bottomup: China’s Strategic Arrangement of the State-CSO-Individual Trialism in Managing State-society Relations

ABSTRACT It is often the conception in the literature that civil society’s major challenge in an authoritarian country like China would be from the state directly. This study utilizes over 1200 surveys conducted in Sichuan Province, 67 in-depth interviews with local government officials and CSO leaders, and case studies from communities that CSOs operated to provide an often-overlooked challenge. Based on the research in rural Sichuan, this article finds that the Chinese state at the local level does not spend a significant amount of energy directly interfering with CSOs, but uses institutional constraints to create divisions between the citizenry and CSOs. This article proposes the trialism conception in understanding civil society in authoritarian countries. The state could create conditions that reduce the confidence of individual citizens in CSOs and thus control society from the bottom up without having to apply a significant amount of direct repressions to the CSOs.

The Role of Civil Society Networks in Promoting Organic Food as A Path to Food Security in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Food security is an important topic involving people’s everyday lives. In recent decades, organic food consumption has been touted as a path to food security. As such, civil society networks in Chiang Mai have been working to support the movement toward organic food. Organic food networks linking producers and consumers are critical to building food security. This research article aims to understand civil society networks' roles and working styles on organic food issues in Chiang Mai province, Thailand. The working styles and outcomes of the civil society network (CSN) are analyzed as the intermediary between food producers to urban consumers in the food system. Four CSNs in Chiang Mai were selected as the case studies and compared with Chiang Mai’s Young Farmer Group. This study, based on observation techniques and in-depth interviews with key informants, investigates the working styles of CSNs and networks of food producers. The questionnaires were distributed to consumers to study consumer knowledge and perceptions of food security issues. The focus group meetings were organized to obtain feedback from food producers, consumers, and CSN’s staff. The authors found that each CSN linked with food producer networks according to the working styles of the CSN’s staff and that the key actors in each CSN knew each other personally. CSNs can introduce organic farming to local communities. However, many CSNs are struggling to connect with urban consumers.

What Explains Change-Supporting Behavior within Local Agenda 21 Civil Society Groups to Promote Sustainable Development?

Civil society groups and their members are important agents within the multi-stakeholder change process towards more ecological, social, global, and economic sustainability. To better understand civil society group members’ drivers within this complex societal change process, the present study examines the impact of perceived participation, leader–member exchange (LMX), procedural justice, and procedural justice climate on change-supporting behavior. Referring to social exchange theory, data from 125 members of 34 civil society groups that engage in the Agenda 21 process in Germany were gathered by paper/pencil and online questionnaires. Multi-level analyses were conducted to examine interactions between group-level and individual-level phenomena. We found that participation and LMX positively affected group members’ procedural justice perceptions and that procedural justice positively affected group members’ change-supporting behavior. Procedural justice further mediated the relationship between participation, LMX, and change-supporting behavior. The study’s results suggest that fair social exchange processes with civil society group members should be more encouraged by other societal stakeholders (i.e., government, civil society group leaders) wishing to maximize civil society group members’ change-supporting behavior. This study demonstrates ways to promote change initiatives in civil society. Fair social exchange processes help to overcome participation hurdles in the complex field of sustainable local development.

The politics of civil society forms

Regardless of the debate on how and to what extent civil society contributes to enhance democratic practices, it is generally agreed that there is a reasonable link between civil society and democracy under certain conditions. The aim of this paper is to explore the politics of civil society forms and their contribution to maintain democratic practices in Jakarta. Building from the neo-Tocquevillean understanding of civil society, this article particularly analyses urban environmental activists’ strategy to adopt voluntary association and environmental spin off campaign as the forms of civic engagement to improve public policy in the province. Despite the lack of acknowledgement, this paper argues for the necessary inclusion and elaboration of spin off campaign and voluntary association in the Indonesian civil society literature because of their ability to facilitate diagonal accountability mechanism. Further analysis found that, however, the forms adopted by urban environmental activists suffer similar horizontal and vertical accountability problems frequently found in the more established civil society form (e.g. non-government organization). Nonetheless, the discussion in the paper provides an illustration about civil society’s ingenuity in pushing for democratic practices amidst the “democratic recession” in Indonesia.

The academic librarian’s role in fostering civic literacy and engagement

If librarians consider civic literacy the skills involved with understanding civil society, then civic engagement is the participatory outcome; students move beyond information analysis to participate in and contribute to civic life within a democracy. The six articles reviewed for this column are a sample of the current research on civic literacy and engagement within academic libraries and higher education. Each article has a unique voice, and when read together, the essays and studies weave current practices with new strategies in order to more deeply embed civic literacy and engagement into academic library culture.

Searching “civility” of the “uncivil”: mapping the theoretical understanding of civil society and its research in India

ABSTRACT A majority of the existing narratives on studying civil society in India are flooded with empirical findings, without much emphasis on theoretical understanding of the subject. Thus, the article tries to provide a historical overview of the development of notion of civil society and its research in “uncivil” Indian tradition from different dominant theoretical angles in the field. After finding their limitations, the study attempts to provide an alternative understanding of emergence of civil society in colonial India. It also aims to explore, how the lineage of traditional inform civic assocciationalism combined with modern institutionalized associational space gave birth to liberal-minded individuals and the conscious public in colonial India. Moreover, the present research further reveals that how civic awareness inculcated among the marginal’s along with the educated Indian middle class and how interactions between the state, society, and religion helped in development of spirit of civility among individuals, awareness among the public and voice of protest among community in “uncivil” colonial India which was unique from its western counterpart both in the process of formation and the forms of manifestations.

Socialised Creation Literacy Appeared during the COVID-19 Emergency: A Case Report

In our previous study, we proposed socialized creation competency as an advanced media information literacy. The competency involves four pillars: socialized creation, collaborative creativity, a critical eye and building affordance. The characterisation of this competency consists of all the component processes that make up social capital in ICT society. In this study, we extracted a concrete example to explain the socialised creation and to promote the sustainable development of society. The case we investigated was one in which civic IT engineers collaborated to develop program codes for a COVID-19 website. We collected and analysed related documents and communication records on Twitter. The results provided a deeper understanding of the importance of collaboration among diverse citizens, IT engineers, corporate workers and members of public sectors. Those players worked using a new style of production regarding Civic Tech and GovTech. Their activities blurred the borders of various organisations. Online services, GitHub, and other SNS were used for both creation and opinion exchanges, and emerging heterarchical communication was interrelated. The creators accepted the engagement of any citizen to vet opinions for purposes of improving the website. Records demonstrated the substantial potential for the needs of advanced MIL competency to understand civil society and collaborative creation by the public sector and citizens.

Capitalism and Civil Society Revisited or: Conceptualizing a Civil, Sustainable and Solidary Economy

After a brief reconstruction of the discourse on civil society, the notion that civil society and the economy are two separate spheres is criticized. Economies are not only embedded in civil society; they can also be organized according to civil society principles. This is discussed conceptually on the one hand, while on the other, the degrowth movement and cooperatives are used as examples to show what a civil, sustainable and solidary economy may look like. It will be shown that the concept of civil society is indispensable for the understanding of modern societies in general and also for economic processes. If one overcomes the sector-specific understanding of civil society and the identification of economy with profit-oriented capitalism on the basis of private property, a variety of connecting lines can be observed. Civic practices can also be identified in the economy and offer a reform approach that is largely overlooked and underestimated in social scientific and political debates. Many experiments on the entanglement of business and civil society are underway, and it is necessary to explore how these spaces can be created and expanded.

Современные тенденции институционализации гражданского общества в Кемеровской области – Кузбассе (на материалах регионального исследования)

The article deals with the institutionalization of civil society in Russia at the current stage. The aim of the study was to consider certain aspects of the interaction of the state and civil society in Russia in general and in Kemerovo Region (Kuzbass) in particular. The authors employed the method of sociological survey of the population and the expert assessment of non-profit sector representatives, which made it possible to assess the dynamics of the development of civil society institutions in Russia and in Kemerovo region. The authors used systemic and institutional approaches to identify the changes in the understanding of civil society, as well as to evaluate the work of authorities and public institutions through the prism of public attitude. All the numerous definitions of civil society appeared to provide no common understanding in government bodies and society. The paper focuses on some features of the development of civil society and challenges that inhibit the process of development of civil initiatives in regional politics. The assessed criteria included the level of social and political activity of the population, the trust of the population and non-profit organizations in the civil society institutions and authorities, the information accessibility in the media, and the attitude of the population to the issues of self-government. Social activity, which depends on the level of civic engagement, proved crucial for the development of regional civil institutions. This is especially important in the aspect of young citizen activism.

Civil Society in Illiberal Democracy: The Case of Poland

The threats to democracy from populist political projects are more and more often commented on and analyzed around the world. The Polish case is not an exception as there are numerous scholarly papers on the changes in public discourse, politics, democratic institutions and the like. The case of civil society is, however, sometimes overlooked and downplayed in this stream of thought. This article looks at the recent reconfigurations within the sphere of civil society in Poland as well as in the ways this sector of activities is conceptualized and analyzed by scholars and commentators alike. This approach stems from understanding civil society in Poland as a political project, a process begun around the transition of 1989, but that also had political meaning during the years of consolidation of democracy. Only the recent reconfiguration and accumulation of power and consequent shift in politics and public discourse to the right has resulted – among other things – in higher levels of activism among citizens and politicization of numerous topics. The observed higher levels of citizen engagement have pushed some observers and scholars to re-define the concept of civil society in Poland and to include within it forms of activism previously excluded. With the numerous and often politicized collective actions of Poles – such as nationalist activism, urban activism, and participation in street protests – not only is the concept of civil society being stretched but also some previously used distinctions, such as the notion of ‘uncivil society’, are no longer in use.

Civic Organization beyond the ‘Open Society’ Battle: Cases from Hungary

Our paper aims to contribute to the understanding of civil society in Hungary by looking beyond the struggles around open society and international NGOs, a topic that has dominated public debates on civil organizations in Hungary for the last decade. Our starting point follows the literature that has broadened the understanding of NGOs in the post-socialist space with the perspective of their insertion in global hierarchies in terms of unequal knowledge and resource transfer, material dependencies and the effects in local social settings. More attention recently has been given to the social positions of domestic civil organizations and the political and material dependencies they operate within. The analysis of organizations which represent and defend different interests within different social strata is crucial to understanding civil society in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Following this thread of discussions, we look at three segments of civil society which were previously understudied, to expand on how social relations structure civil society in contemporary CEE: 1) nationalist but anti-governmental organizations, for example in the field of housing; 2) urban and rural informal self-organization in order to cope with material hardships collectively has been significantly growing in the recent years; 3) rural civil organizations aligned with local elites, embedded in material dependencies, which have been present since 1990, but occupy a more and more significant role after the illiberal turn. We think that adding these segments to the study of civil society in CEE can help to broaden the analysis beyond the discursively and ideologically thematized struggles around NGOs, and contribute to a better understanding of illiberal regimes and the counter-movements they produce.

Toward a Theory of Professionalization of the Saudi Nonprofit Sector

In considering the study of one of the most understudied countries in the world, one is tempted to ask, as the birthplace of Islam, that is informed by its own particular notions of social contract, welfare, and authority, is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) an “exceptional” country, a country that sees itself as the center of the Muslim world—both geographically and spiritually? How does one make sense of the social norms of the country that define ideas of valor, bravery, leadership, and morality? Are these particular to the extent that they are not universal or, on the other hand, are the Saudi claims to leadership of the Muslim world universal and, by extension, its model of leadership in the social sphere something one must take seriously? Can one apply parameters of leadership and followership to Saudi Arabia as has been done in other Western countries and is the normative understanding of civil society as a sphere outside of the state valid in this context? This paper answers some of these questions. A related finding from this paper is the importance of religion in shaping the norms of leadership in the nonprofit sector and religion’s relationship with the norms of philanthropy and giving. Given that many scholars have called for examining the “expressive” dimension of philanthropy, rather than just the “instrumental” purposes, this finding reinforces the expressive dimension. This paper is based on 15 key-informant interviews with the leaders of the top foundations and nonprofits in the KSA. Key informants are people who know a lot about what is going on in a community and are able to speak to the key issues facing the community. This list includes chief executive officers, chief operating officers, and finance directors of the most important and influential private foundations and nongovernmental organizations in the country and represents a very influential, although small, window into how nonprofit leaders think of leadership and what they think their needs are. This paper derived its theoretical insights from a grounded theory approach, specifically a constructivist grounded theory approach, as advocated by Charmaz.

The Role of Turkish Civil Society in Political Decision Making

For consolidation of democracies, political scientists recognize the normative ideal that civil society should be given an enhanced role in political decision-making. Analysis of such role is very central to the study of political science and especially for democratic theory. To assess such role, one needs to understand civil society organizations’ interactions with the larger political system and its actors, their activeness in policy making processes and impact of all these over policy outcomes. This article first examines the content and methods of the literature on the impacts of the European Union (EU) process over the transformation of civil society realm in Turkey. The article points to lack of empirical research within this literature on the civil society organizations’ characteristics of involvement to decision making processes. In this respect, the article reveals the convenience of the methodological approaches of the literature on interest group influence and demonstrates how the literature on Turkish civil society can benefit from these contributions. The article draws attention to the need for future studies to empirically assess the characteristics and transformation of Turkish civil society’s participation to the decision-making processes.

El voluntariado juvenil y los debates sobre la educación ciudadana. Alemania Occidental y Gran Bretaña en los años cincuenta y sesenta del siglo XX

En México, como en muchos otros países del mundo, numerosas iniciativas estatales y no gubernamentales se han dedicado al fortalecimiento de la sociedad civil en los últimos años —y muchos de ellas particularmente a través de la participación de los jóvenes (p. ej. Centro Mexicano para la Filantropía, 2014)—. Políticos, periodistas y científicos promocionan el voluntariado como medida para mejorar la cohesión social y para fomentar la democracia (Aguilar Valenzuela, 2006). Esa valoración es parte de una tendencia global que se refleja por ejemplo en la atención de Naciones Unidas respecto del voluntariado (United Nations General Assembly, 2001). Sin duda alguna, la democracia depende de la participación activa de los ciudadanos. No obstante, el discurso actual normalmente trata el voluntariado y la sociedad civil como instituciones a-históricas e ignora su volubilidad. Con el enfoque en Alemania y Gran Bretaña, dos países en los que los esfuerzos para promover el voluntariado juvenil se efectuaron ya relativamente temprano, ese artículo tiene el objetivo de mostrar que es importante de no entender la sociedad civil y el voluntariado desde una perspectiva normativa, pero de considerarles en su historicidad.

Understanding the Dynamics and Operations of Civil Society in the 21st Century: A Literature Review

This article sets out to review the extant literature on civil society. Indeed the literature on civil society abounds with several views and perspectives, especially on the theoretical debates on the concept. However, in order to avoid the unnecessary entanglement of the unending theoretical debates that have characterized the subject, the article focuses on the activities and operations as well as the usefulness of civil society in the twenty first century. The article consequently tries to identify the literature that discusses the activities of civil society across the globe. It begins by giving a general background to the concept of civil society. This is then followed by discussions on civil society and how it relates to democracy and democratic consolidation and development in different parts of the world with particular emphasis on Africa. It then examines the activities of CSOs in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region (with emphasis on Malaysia). It further examines the changing nature of CSOs in the midst of global crisis by discussing how civil society has operated in challenging times amidst financial crisis, terrorism, etc. It concludes by suggesting some new ways of understanding civil society.

Mapping Civil Society and Peacebuilding in Ukraine: Peacebuilding by Any Other Name

The study provides contextual knowledge about civil society actors in peacebuilding, their dynamics and functions in Ukraine based on the functional approach to peacebuilding developed by the Inclusive Peace and Transition Initiative, Geneva. After introduction into the conflict context and understanding of civil society in Ukraine, the paper goes on to analyze unique features of peacebuilding in Ukraine such as avoidance of peace terminology, politization and marginalization of peace discourse, multiple contradictory peace discourses and some legitimacy of the power-based approaches to peace in Ukraine. Then, the paper looks deeper at the role of Ukrainian civil society in peacebuilding by highlighting major peacebuilding “bubbles” and tensions between them. The main part of the analysis summarizes peacebuilding actors and their activities according to seven peacebuilding functions – protection, monitoring, advocacy, socialization, social cohesion intermediation, and service delivery. This study has found that the functions of protection and inter-mediation across the contact line are least developed in Ukraine because they have been overtaken by the Ukrainian Government and international organizations. The function of social cohesion – bringing people together – is most developed in comparison to other functions while in respect to the overall situation in Ukraine it still requires a great deal of effort and support. Other functions such as monitoring, socialization and service provision are partially developed. Finally, the least developed activities refer to peace advocacy and peace journalism where this study has identified only a few projects mostly initiated by international organizations.

Concerning the definition of the concept «state policy for promoting civil society development»

The study systematically presented and analyzed approaches to defining the content of the concepts of «politics», «state policy», «promotion», «development» and «civil society», whose internal characteristics and intrinsic features integrate the term «state policy to promote the development of civil society». The study emphasized that the definition of «state policy of promoting the development of civil society» is still lacking at the legislative level, in public administration and in the national social sciences.The study emphasized that the wording of the concept «state policy of promoting the development of civil society» will allow to distinguish this direction of state policy among others, to avoid misunderstanding of its content, conceptual uncertainty, inaccurate or incorrect formulation of its goals, tasks, directions and measures.Summarizing approaches to the definition of «state policy», the study presented its characteristics and main components. The study noted that civil society is one of the most controversial phenomena today, which occupies a central place in the researches of many social sciences. The study highlighted stages in the evolution of the views of thinkers and scholars on the interpretation of civil society. The study defined the main variants of modern understanding of civil society and proposed the author’s approach to its definition.On the basis of the analysis, the author formulates his own understanding of the concept of «state policy promoting the development of civil society» and outlines directions for further scientific research.

Sociedad civil en América Latina: Una conversación con el Dr. Alberto J. Olvera.

Se presenta a continuación una entrevista al Profesor Alberto J. Olvera, destacado investigador de los procesos de construcción democrática en México y en Latinoamérica, realizada en la Facultad de Ciencias Sociales de la Universidad de Chile[1]. En esta conversación se intentó profundizar en torno a la noción de sociedad civil y sus comprensiones actuales.El entendimiento de la sociedad civil en los contextos postautoritarios ha llevado a replantear la noción en base a las mismas transformaciones de las agrupaciones sociales que la componen. Este concepto ha adquirido un lugar en la teoría política y en Latino América sirvió para dar cuenta de la organización social durante las dictaduras militares. Revisamos en esta entrevista la evolución de esta categoría analítica y su funcionamiento para interpretar la sociedad civil en los actuales regímenes democráticos.[1] Esta entrevista se desarrolló en el marco de la visita del profesor Olvera al Programa de Doctorado en Ciencias Sociales de la Universidad de Chile, en agosto de 2017.

Conceptualizing civil society attitudes towards the promotion of renewable energy: A case study from Tunisia

This paper reviews the significant importance of the civil society stakeholders (CSSs) in promoting renewable energy. Indeed, the share of renewable energy has more than doubled within the past decade and CSSs has been an important driver for increasing renewable energy generation to date. Operationally, when it comes to promoting renewable energy, civil society along with a partnership with key actors may add a value because of their capacity to provide efficient public services. Despite the fact, that we, recently, have witnessed a proliferation of the literature about civil society, reviews have regularly omitted the stream of research conducted by social scientists. Furthermore, empirical studies have only focused on understanding civil society as a politically meaningful concept.Therefore, through a systematic review of academic literature and by using the theory of reasoned action (TRA) [1] as a theoretical framework, the current research attempts to propose a conceptual model focusing on CSSs attitudes toward the promotion of renewable energy from a Tunisian perspective.