Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Social Movements written by Donatella Della Porta and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2015 with total page 865 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Handbook presents a most updated and comprehensive exploration of social movement research. It not only maps, but also expands the field of social movement studies, taking stock of recent developments in cognate areas of studies, within and beyond sociology and political science. While structured around traditional social movement concepts, each section combines the mapping of the state of the art with attempts to broaden our knowledge of social movements beyond classic theoretical agendas, and to identify the contribution that social movement studies can give to other fields of knowledge.
Download or read book Civil Society s Democratic Potential written by Nicole Bolleyer and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2024-01-11 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read on the Oxford Academic platform and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. In Civil Society's Democratic Potential, Nicole Bolleyer explores which civil society organizations (CSOs) contribute to democracy, how, and why. Organized civil society, including interest groups, political parties, and service-oriented associations, is traditionally considered a cornerstone of democracy. Constituting the organizational fabric between government and society, these organizations encompass a wide diversity of entities thought to fundamentally contribute to both democratic participation and representation. However, CSOs' readiness and ability to serve as venues for participation, vehicles of democratic representation, or indeed both at the same time, are increasingly questioned in political science, sociology, and voluntary sector research alike. Bringing those fields together, the author argues that two contrasting organizational templates - the 'voluntary association' and the 'professionalized voluntary organization' - allow theorizing fundamental trade-offs shaping CSOs' 'performance' on three dimensions accounting for their varying democratic contributions: participation, representation, and societal responsiveness. The study's innovative theoretical framework is examined using a mixed-methods design. The latter combines the analysis of survey data covering over 3000 CSOs across four European democracies with qualitative case studies of the evolution of three CSOs - a political party, an interest group, and a service-orientated organization - over several decades.
Download or read book Inclusive Political Participation and Representation written by Raul Cordenillo and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Participation and representation are two fundamental elements and principles of democracy: they affirm that a democracy is dependent on its citizens and that this ownership is expressed through meaningful participation by and representation of all citizens in democratic institutions and processes. Underpinning all this is the idea that every citizen—regardless of class, age, gender, sexual orientation, ability, group, culture, and ethnic or religious background—should have an equal right and opportunity to engage with and contribute to the functioning of these institutions and processes. This publication documents and highlights the experiences and innovation of regional organizations in promoting inclusive political participation and representation. Focused on civil society engagement, gender mainstreaming, and regional parliaments, this publication not only provides food for thought for policymakers and practitioners but also facilitates understanding of the contexts in which regional organizations operate.
Download or read book Democracy at the Local Level written by Timothy D. Sisk and published by International IDEA. This book was released on 2001 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In today's globalising world, there is growing emphasis on local democracy. More than ever, cities need new ideas for ways of managing the political challenges and opportunities that arise from increased urbanisation and globalisation. Governing effectively at the local level is all the more urgent as vigorous local civic engagement builds the foundation for a strong and more enduring national-level democracy. Organised into six chapters and written by experts from around the world this handbook offers: practical suggestions for designing systems of local governance; principles and policies for managing culturally diverse cities; choices for enhancing local elections and representative democracy; options for expanding citizen participation; recommendations for the international community for enhancing local democracy.
Download or read book Democracy Participation and Contestation written by Emmanuelle Avril and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-08-07 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The establishment of democracy on both sides of the Atlantic has not been a smooth evolution towards an idealized presumed endpoint. Far from it, democratization has been marked by setbacks and victories, a process often referred to as ‘contested democracy’. In view of recent mobilizations such as the Arab Spring and the Occupy movement, in which new technologies have played a key role, there is a need for a renewed analysis of the long-term evolution of US and UK political systems. Using new areas of research, this book argues that the ideals and the practices of Anglo-American democracy can be best understood by studying diverse forms of participation, which go beyond classical expressions of contestation and dissent such as voting. The authors analyze political parties, social movements, communications and social media, governance, cultural diversity, identity politics, public-private actors and social cohesion to illustrate how the structure and context of popular participation play a significant role in whether, and when, citizens ́ efforts have any meaningful impact on those who exercise political power. In doing so, the authors take crucial steps towards understanding how a vigorous public sphere and popular sovereignty can be made to work in today’s global environment. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of political science, British and US history, democracy, political participation, governance, social movements and politics.
Download or read book Critical Mass written by James W. St.G. Walker and published by Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. This book was released on 2008-02-21 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Public concern about inequitable economic globalization has revealed the demand for citizen participation in global decision making. Civil society organizations have taken up the challenge, holding governments and corporations accountable for their decisions and actions, and developing collaborative solutions to the dominant problems of our time. Critical Mass: The Emergence of Global Civil Society offers a unique mixture of experience and analysis by the leaders of some of the most influential global civil society organizations and respected academics who specialize in this field of study. Co-published with the Centre for International Governance Innovation
Download or read book Civil Society Participation in European and Global Governance written by Jens Steffek and published by Palgrave Macmillan. This book was released on 2008-01-15 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is often argued that enhanced consultation of civil society may contribute to the democratization of European and global governance. This collection investigates whether this theoretical argument is supported by empirical evidence. Ten original essays analyze current patterns of civil society consultation in thirty two inter-governmental organizations and regimes, concluding that while civil society consultation has great potential, most institutional arrangements developed so far fall short of realizing its democratizing capacity.
Download or read book Groups representation and democracy written by Darren Halpin and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2013-07-19 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whether called pressure groups, NGOs, social movement organisations or organised civil society, the value of ‘groups’ to the policy process, to economic growth, to governance, to political representation and to democracy has always been contested. However, there seems to be a contemporary resurgence in this debate largely centred on their democratising potential: can groups effectively link citizens to political institutions and policy processes? Are groups an antidote to emerging democratic deficits? Or do groups themselves face challenges in demonstrating their legitimacy and representativeness? This book debates the democratic potential and practice of groups; focussing on the vibrancy of internal democracies, and modes of accountability with those who join such groups and to the constituencies they advocate for. It draws on literatures covering national, European and global levels, and presents new empirical material from the UK and Australia
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 NGOs Civil Society and Structural Changes written by Acar Kutay and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-06-22 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book suggests that our notions of civil society have undergone radical changes—including structural changes in the nature of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). Such massive structural changes greatly problematize the older liberal view of a simple split between state and civil society actors which nonetheless remains dominant in much of social and political sciences. The author argues that the naturalist and behaviorist approaches to civil society occlude the fact that citizens increasingly live within a particular and highly contestable way of imagining and constructing civil society. The book shows that changes in how civil society is conceptualized and organized around new practices, might mark radically new conceptions of the state that are ideologically neo-liberal and subtle in the ways they disempower ordinary citizens.
Download or read book The Global Legitimacy Game written by Alison Van Rooy and published by Springer. This book was released on 2004-05-25 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is a heated debate underway on the legitimacy of global activists, a war of words (and sometimes stones and teargas) that is rarely examined from top to bottom. This latest book by Canadian commentator Van Rooy scrutinizes the new legitimacy rules, arguing that they have real impact on how our world is governed. In dissecting representation, rights, experience, expertise, moral authority and other evolving rules of legitimation, Van Rooy points to her own proposals for global supplementary democracy.
Download or read book Participation Representation and Global Civil Society written by Jane W. Muthumbi and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2010-03-18 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on religious fundamentalists' mobilization efforts against abortion in three United Nations Conferences. Using U.S. Christian and Egyptian Islamic fundamentalist groups as empirical cases, this account highlights these groups' efforts against the adoption of abortion in the 1984 Mexico Conference on Population, the 1994 Cairo conference on Population and the1995 Beijing Conference on Women. The account, which examines Northern (U.S. Christian) and Southern (Egyptian Islamists) anti-abortion networks' participation and representation within these forums, provides a unique glimpse into their engagement within international institutions. It also explores whether Northern and Southern groups' growing involvement in decision-making processes has lessened the inequality that historically characterized North-South relations in the international arena and compares the strategies and tactics used by these groups as they attempted to influence the debate on reproductive rights within the conferences' PrepComs, regional forums, NGO Forums and the state-dominated plenary sessions. It also assesses the extent to which these entities were effective in influencing outcomes in these arenas and comments on North-South relations in a contemporary context. Information on these groups was obtained from interviews with leaders of the U.S. Christian and Egyptian Islamic fundamentalist groups as well as secondary sources and official U.N. documents.
Download or read book Global Civil Society written by John Keane and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2003-04-17 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John Keane, a leading scholar of political theory, tracks the recent development of a big idea with fresh potency - global civil society. In this timely book, Keane explores the contradictory forces currently nurturing or threatening its growth, and he shows how talk of global civil society implies a political vision of a less violent world, founded on legally sanctioned power-sharing arrangements among different and intermingling forms of socio-economic life. Keane's reflections are pitted against the widespread feeling that the world is both too complex and too violent to deserve serious reflection. His account borrows from various scholarly disciplines, including political science and international relations, to challenge the silence and confusion within much of contemporary literature on globalisation and global governance. Against fears of terrorism, rising tides of xenophobia, and loose talk of 'anti-globalisation', the defence of global civil society mounted here implies the need for new democratic ways of living.
Download or read book Transnational Actors in Global Governance written by Christer Jönsson and published by Springer. This book was released on 2010-07-21 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The nature of global governance is changing, as are the standards by which we judge its legitimacy. We are witnessing a gradual and partial shift from inter-state co-operation to more complex forms of governance, involving participation by transnational actors, such as NGOs, party associations, philanthropic foundations and corporations.
Download or read book Civil Society and International Governance written by and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Citizen Participation and Democratic Governance in Our Hands written by Rajesh Tandon and published by Concept Publishing Company. This book was released on 2007 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contributed articles with special reference to India..
Download or read book Transnational Civil Society and the World Bank written by C. Pallas and published by Springer. This book was released on 2013-11-12 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Transnational civil society is often seen as an important contributor to the democratization of global governance. In their engagement with the World Bank, however, transnational civil society organizations prioritize pre-existing mission over responsiveness to claimed stakeholders and undercut the authority of developing country governments.
