Download or read book Socioeconomic Fragmentation and Exclusion in Greece under the Crisis written by Dimitris Katsikas and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-03-02 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume uses new empirical evidence and analytical ideas to study phenomena of fragmentation and exclusion threatening stability and cohesion in Greek society in the aftermath of the crisis. The contributors argue that processes of fragmentation and exclusion provoked by the crisis can be observed on both a material and an ideational level. On a material level, rising levels of unemployment, poverty and inequality have produced new social security “outsiders”, while on an ideational level, a discursive-cultural shift is documented, which has led to new understandings and categorizations of new (and old) insiders and outsiders. Moreover, the volume attests to the aspirations, but also the limitations, of spontaneous civil society mobilization to address the social crisis. Finally, the volume offers a discussion of the political management of social fragmentation and exclusion in Greece both before and after the onset of the crisis. The book will be of interest to scholars and students of social policy and phenomena of poverty, social exclusion and economic inequality, civil society studies, and comparative political economy and politics.
Download or read book Multilevel Democracy written by Jefferey M. Sellers and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-05 with total page 413 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores ways to make democracy work better, with particular focus on the integral role of local institutions.
Download or read book Civil Society and Health written by Scott L. Greer and published by World Health Organization. This book was released on 2017-11-20 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) can make a vital contribution to public health and health systems but harnessing their potential is complex in a Europe where government-CSO relations vary so profoundly. This study is intended to outline some of the challenges and assist policy-makers in furthering their understanding of the part CSOs can play in tandem and alongside government. To this end it analyses existing evidence and draws on a set of seven thematic chapters and six mini case studies. They examine experiences from Austria Bosnia-Herzegovina Belgium Cyprus Finland Germany Malta the Netherlands Poland the Russian Federation Slovenia Turkey and the European Union and make use of a single assessment framework to understand the diverse contexts in which CSOs operate. The evidence shows that CSOs are ubiquitous varied and beneficial and the topics covered in this study reflect such diversity of aims and means: anti-tobacco advocacy food banks refugee health HIV/AIDS prevention and cure and social partnership. CSOs make a substantial contribution to public health and health systems with regards to policy development service delivery and governance. This includes evidence provision advocacy mobilization consensus building provision of medical services and of services related to the social determinants of health standard setting self-regulation and fostering social partnership. However in order to engage successfully with CSOs governments do need to make use of adequate tools and create contexts conducive to collaboration. To guide policy-makers working with CSOs through such complications and help avoid some potential pitfalls the book outlines a practical framework for such collaboration. This suggests identifying key CSOs in a given area; clarifying why there should be engagement with civil society; being realistic as to what CSOs can or will achieve; and an understanding of how CSOs can be helped to deliver.
Download or read book Fragmented Civil Society written by Snigdha Ali and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Civil Society in West Maui written by Lance D. Collins and published by North Beach West Maui Benefit Fund. This book was released on 2021 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this wide-ranging collection of essays, Civil Society in West Maui pieces together key political controversies that have animated the social and political life of West Maui. The book is a recounting of struggles. Working within the long shadow cast by the plantation system, and against those who now dominate life in West Maui, the book is concerned with acts of resistance, recovery, and inspiration. There have been amazing people and social movements whose stories must be told. Diverted streams have been restored. Attempts to destroy the landscape have been stopped. Sometimes the successes are grand, while sometimes they are on a smaller scale but have had a lasting impact on our society. Sometimes the struggles fail in the face of overwhelming political and economic power. The playing field is not level and the less powerful, often local, people are at a disadvantage. But the struggles continue, and West Maui is better for it. Taken together, the collection of essays offers a mosaic of perspectives on civil society in West Maui. Civil society is complicated and fragmented. There are tactics and resources that can be shared between people and groups: a social value can support several movements; a legal precedent can be used by others who are threatened; a technical access-to-information rule can improve how much people understand what is happening in their community. Sometimes social movements succeed; sometimes they do not. The editor and writers hope the contribution of Civil Society in West Maui encourages people to recognize that such political activities have taken place--and that the struggles for a just society continue.
Download or read book Civil Society written by Brian O'Connell and published by UPNE. This book was released on 1999 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: O'Connell offers an action guide for citizen leaders and teachers--must-know information to help ensure that the democracy will last another century.
Download or read book Reproducing Sectarianism written by Paul W. T. Kingston and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2013-06-20 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Arab Spring in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and elsewhere has highlighted the growing importance of the politics of civil society in the contemporary Middle East. In Reproducing Sectarianism, Paul W. T. Kingston examines rights-oriented advocacy networks within Lebanon's postwar civil society, focusing on movements and political campaigns based on gender relations, the environment, and disability. Set within Lebanon's postwar sectarian democracy, whose factionalizing dynamics have long penetrated the country's civil society, Kingston's fascinating study provides an in-depth analysis of the successes and challenges that ensued in promoting rights-oriented social policies. Drawing on extensive field research, including interviews and a wealth of primary documents, Kingston has produced a groundbreaking work that will be of interest to Middle East experts and nonexperts alike.
Download or read book Contesting the Iranian Revolution written by Pouya Alimagham and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-19 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the last forty years of Iranian and Middle-Eastern history through the prism of the Green Uprisings of 2009.
Download or read book In the Name of Civil Society written by Eva-Lotta Hedman and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2005-11-30 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In the Name of Civil Society examines Philippine politics in a highly original and provocative way. Hedman’s detailed analysis shows how dominant elites in the Philippines shore up the structures of liberal democracy in order to ensure their continued hegemony over Philippine society. This book will be of interest to everyone concerned with civil society and the processes of democratization and democracy in capitalist societies." —Paul D. Hutchcroft, University of Wisconsin, Madison What is the politics of civil society? Focusing on the Philippines—home to the mother of all election-watch movements, the original People Power revolt, and one of the largest and most diverse NGO populations in the world—Eva-Lotta Hedman offers a critique that goes against the grain of much other current scholarship. Her highly original work challenges celebratory and universalist accounts that tend to reify "civil society" as a unified and coherent entity, and to ascribe a single meaning and automatic trajectory to its role in democratization. She shows how mobilization in the name of civil society is contingent on the intercession of citizens and performative displays of citizenship—as opposed to other appeals and articulations of identity, such as class. In short, Hedman argues, the very definitions of "civil" and "society" are at stake. Based on extensive research spanning the course of a decade (1991–2001), this study offers a powerful analysis of Philippine politics and society inspired by the writings of Antonio Gramsci. It draws on a rich collection of sources from archives, interviews, newspapers, and participant-observation. It identifies a cycle of recurring "crises of authority," involving mounting threats—from above and below—to oligarchical democracy in the Philippines. Tracing the trajectory of Gramscian "dominant bloc" of social forces, Hedman shows how each such crisis in the Philippines promotes a countermobilization by the "intellectuals" of the dominant bloc: the capitalist class, the Catholic Church, and the U.S. government. In documenting the capacity of so-called "secondary associations" (business, lay, professional) to project moral and intellectual leadership in each of these crises, this study sheds new light on the forces and dynamics of change and continuity in Philippine politics and society.
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Civil Society written by Michael Edwards and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-07-04 with total page 532 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Broadly speaking, The Oxford Handbook of Civil Society views the topic of civil society through three prisms: as a part of society (voluntary associations), as a kind of society (marked out by certain social norms), and as a space for citizen action and engagement (the public square or sphere).
Download or read book The Development of Civil Society in Central Asia written by Janice Giffen and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book considers the applicability and use of civil society, both as a concept and in practice, in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The volume examines whether civil society organisations (CSOs) are a progressive force for change, or a safety net. Various forms of CSOs are investigated: NGOs and community based organisations, trade unions, political parties and religious groups, as well as more long-standing soviet and traditional institutions and practices. The book contains lessons and perspectives about civil society growth across time, and considers future directions.
Download or read book Open the Social Sciences written by Gulbenkian Commission on the Restructuring of the Social Sciences and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A distinguished international group of scholars traces the history of the social sciences, describes the recent debates surrounding them, and discusses in what ways they can be intelligently restructured in light of this history and the debates.
Download or read book Uncivil Society written by Petr Kopecky and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2005-08-16 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume makes a significant contribution to the debate about the development of post-communist civil society by focusing on its alleged 'dark side', i.e., on the groups that are excluded from 'civil society' on both conceptual and normative grounds. The chapters, written by specialists in the field, explore in rich empirical detail the complexities involved when such groups - like the skinheads in Hungary, the farmers' 'Self Defence' movement in Poland or the war-veterans in Croatia - challenge the state, engage in community activism, or get involved in protest actions. It also offers a contrasting perspective by focusing on similar activities by the alleged 'pro-democratic' actors of civil society, such as Impulse 99 in the Czech Republic. The book maintains that political protest, or contentious politics, should be included under a broad and positive development of associational activity in the region. Uncivil Society? Contentious Politics in Post-Communist Europe is a fascinating study, and will be of interest to scholars of Eastern European politics and history.
Download or read book Civil Society in Uncivil Places written by Saubhagya Shah and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This monograph analyzes the role of civil society in the massive political mobilization and upheavals of 2006 in Nepal that swept away King Gyanendra's direct rule and dramatically altered the structure and character of the Nepali state and politics. Although the opposition had become successful due to a strategic alliance between the seven parliamentary parties and the Maoist rebels, civil society was catapulted into prominence during the historic protests as a result of national and international activities in opposition to the king's government. This process offers new insights into the role of civil society in the developing world. By focusing on the momentous events of the nineteen-day general strike from April 6-24, 2006, that brought down the 400-year-old Nepali royal dynasty, the study highlights the implications of civil society action within the larger political arena involving conventional actors such as political parties, trade unions, armed revels, and foreign actors. he detailed examination of civil society's involvement in Nepali regime change sheds light on four important themes in the study of civil society. The first relates to a clear distinction between civil society as a spontaneous philosophical and associational form in the West and its mimetic articulation in the developing. The second addresses the nature of the relationship between civil society and political society and the way the former generates its moral authority and efficacy based on claims to universal reason, knowledge, and techniques of polymorphous power. The third theme explores the connection between the ideological and material basis of civil society and distinguishes between its autonomous Western origin and the recent growth in the developing world. Finally, civil society is examined in the international area: the example of Nepal reveals ways in which civil societies in the developing world are burgeoning as alternative policy instruments in interstate relations"--P. [4] of cover.
Download or read book Barrio Democracy in Latin America written by Eduardo Canel and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The transition to democracy underway in Latin America since the 1980s has recently witnessed a resurgence of interest in experimenting with new forms of local governance emphasizing more participation by ordinary citizens. The hope is both to foster the spread of democracy and to improve equity in the distribution of resources. While participatory budgeting has been a favorite topic of many scholars studying this new phenomenon, there are many other types of ongoing experiments. In Barrio Democracy in Latin America, Eduardo Canel focuses our attention on the innovative participatory programs launched by the leftist government in Montevideo, Uruguay, in the early 1990s. Based on his extensive ethnographic fieldwork, Canel examines how local activists in three low-income neighborhoods in that city dealt with the opportunities and challenges of implementing democratic practices and building better relationships with sympathetic city officials.
Download or read book Civil Society Conflicts and the Politicization of Human Rights written by Raffaele Marchetti and published by UN. This book was released on 2011 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This publication explores violence, conflict and peace. It focuses on the non-governmental component in ethno-policitcal conflicts. Civil society actors, or "conflict society organizations" (CoSOs), are increasingly central in view of the complexity of contemporary ethno-political conflicts. CoSOs are key players in ethno-political conflicts, both as violators and as promoters of human rights. Nevertheless, the precise relationships underpinning the human rights-civil society-conflict nexus have not been fully examined. This volume analyses the impact of civil society on ethno-political conflicts through their human rights-related activities, and identifies the means to strengthen the complementarity between civil society and international governmental actors in promoting peace. These aims are addressed in case studies on Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus, Turkey's Kurdish question, and Israel-Palestine.
Download or read book Czech Democracy in Crisis written by Astrid Lorenz and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-04-13 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Democracy theories and comparative political science have been challenged within the last decade by an unexpected democratic deficit and the rise of populism in the new EU-member states. This volume written by German and Czech scholars gives some food for thought for solving these research problems by means of thorough analyses of the polity, the politics and selected policies of the Czech Republic since 1990."Dieter Segert, retired Professor of Political Science (Area Studies on Eastern Europe), University of Vienna, Austria "Czech Democracy in Crisis is a long-overdue comprehensive study of the Czech political system. Using institutional approaches to change, it explores crucial policy outcomes. A perfect book for academics and practitioners who want to understand the challenges of democratic consolidation in a new democracy."Lenka Bustikova, Associate Professor of Political Science, Arizona State University, USA, and author of Extreme Reactions: Radical Right Mobilization in Eastern Europe The image of the Czechs as a poster child of democratization has changed into a crisis narrative in recent years. This edited volume traces this change and examines the suitability of different theories to explain developments in Czech democracy. The contributors, all renowned experts in their fields, offer well-founded and compact insights into the post-1989 Czech political system. They cover political institutions and parties; civil society; the media; and selected policy areas such as foreign, economic, migration and regional policy. The book takes into account processes of democratization and Europeanization, explaining the political picture at various stages of development. Finding that many of today’s problems—fragmented political parties, government instability, inefficient state administration and low quality of governance—have not been new developments but have constantly existed, the authors present a plea for theoretical adjustments that should be read by all academics, students, practitioners and readers with an interest in Czech politics and society.
