Weakness Of Civil Society Research Articles

Modern information society and the new period of journalism

Introduction. The development of new information technologies makes corrections not only in science, but also in the media space. In the era of information globalization, the development of cross-media, in the era of information wars and the formation of new information and political communities, the problem of determining compromises between the functioning of civil society and media institutions has arisen. Relevance and purpose. The relevance of the research is outlined by studying the changes taking place in Ukrainian journalism. The goal is to determine the role and place of the mass media in social and political institutions as factors in ensuring the democratic and political rights and freedoms of citizens. Methodology. The methodological basis of the article is a combination of general scientific methods and special methods and approaches. The processing of the source base was based on the application of analytical-synthetic, logical methods, which helped to formulate a system of initial theoretical propositions, principles of selection, analysis and generalization of the research material. The methods of comparative-historical, analytical, interdisciplinary analysis and synthesis are also applied. Empirical research was conducted by the survey method. The results. The development of Ukrainian journalism in the new period of history is difficult, as there is a «persecution» of journalists and obstruction of their activities. In the current period of «clanization» of the Ukrainian media, there is a return to censorship and the transformation of pro-government mass media into means of propaganda, and the appearance or restoration of censorship in Ukraine at the beginning of the 21st century. depends on a number of events in recent history related to the actions of the government, the weakness of civil society, the absence of the rule of law, economic instability, the absence of a middle class, and the presence of a shadow sphere of politics and economics. Conclusions. The new world order in the information space creates new threats: the threat of distortion of the communication process in society regarding the perception of information; the threat of political control; the threat of new opportunities to manipulate public opinion.

Measuring Civil Society

One of the main motivations for measuring the weakness or strength of civil society is to obtain a reliable basis for understanding the dynamics of its development as well as its social and political potential. In this article, we argue that the paradox of the “weakness of civil society” in Central and Eastern Europe can be explained by insufficient methodologies involved in what we call the static approach to the strength (or weakness) of civil society. We present a more appropriate alternative, called the dynamic approach, in which weakness or strength is not an inherent property of a civil society and consequently cannot be measured by a set of indicators collected for a single point in time. Moreover, in a dynamic approach, the weakness or strength of civil society is a derivative of the dynamics of its development over time along multiple axes of indicators. In other words, we propose that the weakness or strength of civil society ought to be conceived of as the ratio of its development over time and that it must be evaluated inside a data-rich environment where comparison over time is possible.

CIVIL SOCIETY DI INDONESIA: SUATU KONSEKUENSI LOGIS TERWUJUDNYA GOOD GOVERNANCE

Civil society is one of the three important sectors of society, along with government and business. Civil society is one of the important elements of the democratization process in Indonesia. In accordance with the problems formulated above, the purposes of this discussion are to find out the description of civil society in Indonesia, and to find out efforts to strengthen civil society as a logical consequence of the realization of Good Governance in Indonesia. The development of civil society involves all aspects and dimensions of life. Therefore, efforts and commitment are needed to strengthen the community. Cooperation is needed because no party, organization, institution or anything even the government can carry it out alone. The relationship between civil society and good governance is symmetrical between the two. This is because the two concepts were born from the concept of democracy that upholds the values of justice, freedom, individual and group rights. Furthermore, democracy requires the state in carrying out its activities to be open to the public. Strengthening civil society in the flow of democracy must be realized as an absolute necessity for the implementation of a 'strong' and 'clean' government. The weakness of civil society in Indonesia is marked by widespread rejections of state/government policies by the people and these rejections have not received a meaningful response from the state/government. In the process of determining policies, the government bureaucracy still feels that citizens are used as objects of policy. This kind of narrow view will make the government anti-suggestions from citizens in determining policies.

PATRIMONIALISM AND CORPORATISM AS THE BASIC CONCEPTS IN DEFINING THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF TURKEY

Patrimonialism and corporatism are the cultural variables that have a determinant importance in explaining the social structure of Turkey. The relations between the individual and the state, likewise those between the individuals, are shaped by the mold of these cultural variables. Patriarchal family ties, hierarchical expectations, weakness of civil society, and the dominant power of the obedience culture are some examples of the effect of these cultural variables on the social structure. Besides, the patrimonialist and corporatist cultural elements have been nourished by the economic and class variables throughout the history in Turkey. Starting from the Gokturk state, the central authority and the despotic state tradition which did not allow the capital accumulation have nurtured the patrimonial culture. On the other hand, the Ottoman state tradition that attaches importance to the concept of "nizam” (order) or the protection of the order even more than the concept of state, has been influential in the development of the codes of the corporatist culture in Turkey. At the beginning of the 20th century, Kemalists took over the political power and supported the view of "corporatist society" as a function of securing their power against the lower classes. Therefore, it is an obvious necessity to use the concepts of corporatism and patrimonialism in explaining the social structure of today's Turkey. Keywords: social structure, social change, Turkish Modernization, Historical Materialism, Patrimonialism, Corporatism

Civil Society and the Rise of the Radical Right in Poland

The influence of the radical right in the whole of Central Europe not only continues to grow, but has reached its apex by gaining power in Poland and Hungary. Its success is often attributed to two factors: a) the weakness of civil society, and b) economic and social crisis. We shall try to dispute these theses by using the example of Poland. We will defend a thesis that contradicts the usual claim that developed civil society also fosters democracy, and will show that the radical right owes its success precisely to its strength in civil society. This text will also show that there is no direct connection between the radical right and economic crisis, and that the real reason for its success is the dominance over the public discourse. The text is divided into three parts: the first will define the concept of the radical right and give an overview of the theories about its rise; the second part will focus on different explanations of the relationship between civil society and liberal democracy; and the third part will discuss the characteristics and activities of the most important organisations of the Polish radical right and their place in civil society and politics.

State actions in the post-conflict society

The return of the state to sociological discourse can be based on the study of the role of state measures in societies that overcome the consequences of violence. The purpose of the article – is to outline the problems and some ways of overcoming them facing the state in the post-conflict reconstruction of society and can be successfully addressed by state authorities with varying degrees of success.Given that the state in a post-conflict society, as a rule, has a low level of public confidence and limited resources to resolve the conflict, the practice of peacekeeping operations and other organizational arrangements for building peace is widespread.In addition to the organizational component, the assistance of the Western world is in promoting and sometimes imposing in the transitional societies the legal norms and political institutions of the "old world", which often complicated the peace process and did not take into account the local context of peace-building. In addition, the speed at which international donors wanted to obtain a result from international intervention could contradict the long-term process of psychosocial and economic recovery of victims of the conflict.Modern theories of "transitional justice" try to overcome the contradiction between the limited support of international actors on the one hand and the fragility of the state and the weakness of civil society on the other.The researchers are proposing a model where the state interacts with civil society on the path to peace in the long run and reconciliation.A decentralized transitional justice model emerged in Northern Ireland, where local conciliation initia- tives combined community efforts and government and non-governmental interventions. Particular emphasis on overcoming the effects of violence is on reparations. However, there is no unambiguous universal form of payment to victims of the conflict to meet all economic needs. Reparations can take different forms – from money to symbolic ones. In addition, the decision to pay reparations is implemented by the state on the basis of agreements at the level of institutes of transitional justice, first of all, the truth-establishing commissions.In order to overcome the consequences of violence and the post-conflict reconstruction of a society, the state must take into account the whole range of social problems – political, socio-psychological, and economic. The solution to political problems is through the provision of broad political rights and ensuring the inclusiveness of social groups in society. Socio-psychological problems are solved in particular through the transformation of the group identity of the oppositional conflicts of social groups in the context of the exchange of social experience. Economic issues of post-conflict reconstruction concern the development of an effective reparation system at the individual, group and national levels.

Institutionalization and De-institutionalization in Post-communist Party Systems

This article is part of the special cluster titled Parties and Democratic Linkage in Post-Communist Europe, guest edited by Lori Thorlakson, and will be published in the August 2018 issue of EEPS In an article written in 1995 titled “What Is Different about Postcommunist Party Systems?” Peter Mair applied the method that he called “ ex adverso extrapolation.” He matched his knowledge of the process of consolidation of party systems in the West with what was known at that time about Eastern European history, society, and the emerging post-communist party politics. Considering factors such as the existence of fluid social structures, the weakness of civil society, or the destabilizing impact of the so-called triple transition, his article predicted long-term instability for the region. In the present article, we evaluate the validity of Mair’s predictions, thereby also contributing to a lively debate in the current literature about the scale and nature of East–West differences and about the trajectories of the two regions. Going beyond the identification of cross-regional similarities and differences, we also differentiate between individual party systems, establish subgroups, and describe changes across time. Using four major dimensions (i.e., party system closure, party-level stability, electoral volatility, and fragmentation), the article finds that Mair’s predictions were largely, though not in every detail, right. Ironically, however, we also find that changes in the West tend to match over time the trajectory of the East.

Russian Pension Reform under Quadruple Influence

Russia’s government initiated pension reform in 2013 to resolve a crisis: the prolonged recession had created a huge Pension Fund deficit that required unsustainable subsidies from the state budget. The article analyzes four sets of influences on that reform: those from above (high-level policy makers), inside (government ministries, legislators), below (civil society, public opinion), and outside (international actors, policy learning). We find that the strongest influences come from above and inside, and analyze the conflicting policy preferences of key actors on reversal of pension privatization, indexation of payments, and age of eligibility. The policy process is protracted and fails to resolve major issues. Irresolution results from the leadership’s effort to avoid blame for pension benefit cuts despite the weakness of civil society’s influence. The current reform effort has been tentative, halting, and indecisive, indicating a government with a diminished capacity to resolve this major social policy problem.

Democracy in China: Tocquevillian Reflections

One of the strangest phenomena in today’s China is that a thinker as liberal as Tocqueville has become well-known due to the recommendation of a top leader of China’s authoritarian regime. No matter how one interprets this phenomenon, Tocqueville’s theoretical and historical reflections on democracy and revolution provide a framework to understand how democratic China has been and might be. The democratization of Chinese society as reflected in the diffusion of equality as a value and ongoing individualization is facilitating both centralization and empowerment of the state. The limited and dysfunctional grassroots democracy, the weakness of civil society, and the rise of illiberal political Confucianism present serious obstacles to political democratization in China. However, with the possible failure of statism, political democracy would be an alternative. The fragile but increasing demand for freedom in civil society might contribute to the advancement of a long, unsteady and difficult democratization in China.

The Formality of Informal Civil Society: Ukraine’s EuroMaidan

Over a period of three months, starting in late 2013, Ukraine experienced a remarkable civic transformation. What started as peaceful protests largely consisting of young idealists, grew quickly into an organized yet decentralized social movement, a conglomeration of semi-formal initiatives, and a loosely defined network of related formal and informal organizations—a process that ultimately prompted significant political and social changes in Ukraine. This paper offers three case studies related to EuroMaidan to provide insight into the formal and informal dimensions of civil society, contrasting those with official designations. The discussion contributes to the long-debated question of the strength or weakness of civil society in the context of Eastern Europe and suggests directions for future research with regard to the conceptualization of civil society and our understanding of formality.

Discussion about the Essence of the Proletarian State in the CPSU between 1919 and 1923

The author considers a still relevant topic, i.e. the formation of the state mechanism of Bolshevist Russia. The history of the first years of Soviet rule was one of the most politicized issues, and its academic reconstruction is still in progress. The author aims to clarify the reasons for the discrepancy between the Bolsheviks’ pre-revolutionary views on the dictatorship of the proletariat and the political realities of the period of civil war. The methodological basis of the research is the recognition of integrity of the historical process: while having opposite objectives, the autocratic and the Bolshevist regimes were both characterized by the weakness of civil society and the domination of the state in the political system. The author maintains that the transfer of power during 1918 from workers to the party state management was caused by the absence of prerequisites for a socialist revolution. The article describes V.I. Lenin’s views on these prerequisites, as well as his polemics with groups of “democratic centralism” and “working opposition”. The analysis conducted allows the author to draw a conclusion that both the fractional groups and the majority of the Central Committee of the CPSU were wrong. The opposition insisted that the Marxist provision requiring the transfer of power to workers be implemented, while V.I. Lenin emphasized the scholastic character of these requirements and urged to proceed from political realities.

Civil Society and Policy Actors in Post-communist Hungary: Linkages and Contexts

The paper seeks to contribute to the debate on the political strength or weakness of civil society in Eastern Europe by focusing directly on relations between social actors and policy-makers in the broader context of the post-communist political settlement in Hungary. Drawing on concepts from the literature on polity and governance, the paper takes the example on social policy-making in Hungary in the late 1990s and early 2000s to explore the complex relations between civil society organisations and policy-makers in successive governments' attempts to legislate on hospital privatisation.

Making Sense of 'Weakness' of Post-Communist Civil Society: Individual vs. Organized Engagement in Civil Advocacy in the Czech Republic

Starting point of this paper is alleged weakness of civil society in Central-Eastern European countries as often demonstrated by sparse organizational infrastructure, low membership in civil society organizations (CSOs), or insufficient community activism and privatism of citizens in these countries. This paper focuses on the Czech Republic and claims, first, that there is a considerable discrepancy in the citizens' engagement in organized civil society activities depending on whether these are perceived as political (advocacy) or not, and second, that the gap between organized and individual engagement within the field of civil advocacy does not necessarily stem (only) from the “legacy of communism” but (also) from the dissidents´ conception of “non-political” civil society. The paper deals with the empirical analysis of EVS data, original survey data (N=800), and focus group interviews. It aims at understanding what the motives of citizens and advocacy CSOs for keeping their distance are. Furthermore, the paper attempts to sketch more general causes of this disconnectedness through illustrating the roots of the conflict between the categories of collective/individual and political/ethical in the Czech history of thinking about civil society.

The Politics of Civil Society Organisation in Cambodia and Vietnam

The paper examines the correct analytical positioning of foreign donors’ aid support for civil society in Cambodia and Vietnam. It is argued that references to the ‘state’ should include political activities (by donors) in order to better understand the effects of the different donors’ strategies in the two countries. By discussing the question of sovereignty, the paper argues that the weakness of civil society in Vietnam is linked to the weakness of state agency, and vice versa in Cambodia. The paper concludes that donors’ analyses should have taken (and in Vietnam did not take) fuller account of the positive effects of support for civil society upon state strength.

The quality of civil society in post-communist Eastern Germany: a case-study of voluntary associations in Leipzig

Quantitative data show the weakness of civil society in the post-communist countries of East-Central Europe by using such indicators as membership in voluntary associations. Building on this data, this research offers an in-depth case-study of voluntary associations in the Eastern German city of Leipzig in order to examine the quality of the existing civil society. Due to structures put in place by the local government to encourage citizen input in policy decisions and widespread democratic participation both before and after the fall of communism, Leipzig presents an interesting case-study in assessing the vibrancy of civil society, and thus democracy, in a post-communist city that appears to embrace ideals of citizen participation. The study, based on data from 23 qualitative interviews with members of citizen associations, local parliamentarians and city officials, explores three main issues that are found in the theoretical literature on associations and civil society: the development of civic competence; the creation of a public sphere; and the relationship between civil society and the state. The qualitative nature of this study offers a more nuanced assessment of civil society in Eastern Germany than the quantitative data allow. I conclude that there are clear deficits but also strengths in the development of civil society.

Promoting Civil Society Across the Borders of the EU Neighbourhood: Debates, Constraints and Opportunities

One of the aims of this article it to clarify the nature of the debate over ‘civil society’ and its relationship to the state. It begins by suggesting that the EU's borderland provides a context in which deep-rooted ‘Western’ and ‘Eastern’ understandings of state and civil society meet and overlap. The second section outlines the geo-political reshaping of the ‘Neighbourhood’. It concentrates on the influence of non-EU actors, notably Russia, complementing the EU-focused literature on the subject. The third section elaborates the consensus in the literature on the weakness of civil society in the EU ‘Neighbourhood’. This is followed by a discussion of ‘Western’ debates over the role and significance of civil society. This discussion suggests that the ‘export’ of a Western model eastwards begs many questions about which particular model is to be promoted. It concludes that the precise characteristics of state-civil society relationship remains central to the prospects for enhancing civil society co-operation.

Russia's Duma Elections and the Practice of Russian Democracy

Former President Vladimir Putin and official spokespersons for the Russian political leadership have repeatedly proclaimed their commitment democratic values, but western observers and domestic critics are skeptical.1 The most recent election for the Russian parliament on 2 December 2007-the state duma-exemplified the many ambiguities about the state of democracy in Russia. While the elections were ostensibly competitive-11 parties on the ballot and four winning seats in the legislature-international observers, the extent they were present, made contradictory judgements on the democratic credentials of the vote. Not surprisingly, those from the Commonwealth of Independent States approved the election, while the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) refused send observers because the conditions offered by the Russian government were said prevent them from doing a proper j ob. The Council of Europe, on the other hand, carried out its observer mission, concluding that while the elections were to a great extent free in terms of a variety of voting options, they were definitely not fair.3Problems with the election had less do with overt fraud (although opposition forces made some allegations of that as well) but with restrictions on conditions preceding and surrounding the vote. These restrictions included selective enforcement of electoral laws in order exclude some parties from participating, general crackdowns on critics of the regime, restrictions on public gatherings by groups opposing the government, and media bias. The Council of Europe made specific mention of abuse of administrative resources, as well as unequal media access, use of force against and harassment of opposition leaders, restrictive effects of electoral legislation, and voting improprieties on election day.3 In addition, pressure on voters support United Russia was widely reported in the press, with allegations that school teachers, other state employees, and students were threatened with sanctions if they didn't vote correctly.4 In the larger context, many observers considered these actions unfavourable in democratic governance.Given the consistently high level of popularity of Vladimir Putin both preceding and following the election, and the availability of methods of informal influence over regional elites (who in turn have informal tools influence the regional vote), the extraordinary methods applied in order assure a high vote for United Russia seem puzzling. Some of these measures simply opened the door further allegations about a slide toward authoritarianism, while being unlikely affect the outcome in any significant way.This article explores possible reasons underlying the efforts of the Russian leadership assure the election outcome and suggests some criteria for assessing their compatibility with democratic practice. The underlying argument is that the colour revolutions that took place in other postcommunist countries since November 2003, notably Ukraine's orange revolution, offered a powerful impetus for Russian elites manage the 2007 Russian parliamentary election even more firmly than they had in 2003. No doubt other underlying factors reinforced this tendency, including Putin's own career background and personal inclinations, worries about terrorist attacks, cultural predispositions, the weakness of civil society, and legacies of totalitarianism. This analysis resists the temptation of falling back on these standard explanations, and assumes a rational calculation of interest on the part of the Russian leadership.BACKSLIDE FROM DEMOCRACY PRECEDING THE 2007 ELECTION?The 2007 duma elections should be viewed in the larger context of Russia's backslide from the democratization impetus that took hold in the Yeltsin years. Western scholarly literature has identified the establishment of postcommunist institutional structures involving super-presidential systems as a common feature that makes initial commitments democratic processes but then sees regression more authoritarian structures. …

Martin Gorsky and John Mohan with Tim Willis, Mutualism and health care: British hospital contributory schemes in the twentieth century, Manchester and New York, Manchester University Press, 2006, pp. xii, 243, illus., £60.00 (hardback 978-0-7190-6578-1).

Martin Gorsky and John Mohan with Tim Willis, Mutualism and health care: British hospital contributory schemes in the twentieth century, Manchester and New York, Manchester University Press, 2006, pp. xii, 243, illus., £60.00 (hardback 978-0-7190-6578-1).

Democratization and State–Society Relations in East Central Europe: The Case of Hungary

There has been much debate on the character of relations between state and society in post-communist democratic transition in East Central Europe. Approaches range from applications of corporatist theory to analyses in terms of the weakness of civil society in ECE. However, the findings of surveys of Hungarian interest group leaders conducted between 1994 and 2001 suggest that if evidence is sought on interconnections between interest group leaders and the state, and if connections beyond those provided by formal tripartite organizations are studied, arguments concerning the weakness of civil society are called into question, and at least should be qualified. This article draws on research funded by University of Strathclyde Research and Development Fund (1995–96) on ‘Interest Formation and Interest Representation in Eastern Europe’ and by the British Academy on ‘Interest Representation in Contemporary Hungarian Politics’, 2001–2. The author wishes to acknowledge the support of László Vass, Gergely Koppany, Sean Crossan and Irene McMaster for advice and assistance, and the useful comments of participants of panels at the annual American Political Science Association Convention, San Francisco, September 2001 and the International Council for East European Studies World Congress, Berlin, July 2005.

Why the Middle East is Economically Underdeveloped: Historical Mechanisms of Institutional Stagnation

Although a millennium ago the Middle East was not an economic laggard, by the 18th century it exhibited clear signs of economic backwardness. The reason for this transformation is that certain components of the region's legal infrastructure stagnated as their Western counterparts gave way to the modern economy. Among the institutions that generated evolutionary bottlenecks are the Islamic law of inheritance, which inhibited capital accumulation; the absence in Islamic law of the concept of a corporation and the consequent weaknesses of civil society; and the waqf, which locked vast resources into unproductive organizations for the delivery of social services. All of these obstacles to economic development were largely overcome through radical reforms initiated in the nineteenth century. Nevertheless, traditional Islamic law remains a factor in the Middle East's ongoing economic disappointments. The weakness of the region's private economic sectors and its human capital deficiency stand among the lasting consequences of traditional Islamic law.