scholarly journals Global Authenticity, Local Authority: Epistemic Power, Discursive Geographies, and the Creation of Civil Society Knowledge Networks

Author(s):  
E. Fouksman

AbstractHow do networks of civil society organizations spread and contest ideas around the globe? This chapter focuses the ways practitioners within development-focused civil society organizations use spatial discursive practices to label, organize, defend, and undermine the spread and application of ideas. In particular, I look at the way members of civil society organizations defend and promote ideas as authentic and/or authoritative, navigating the need to have their knowledge and practices accepted both by beneficiaries and elite international epistemic communities. I draw on ethnographic fieldwork with two multi-sited case studies of civil society organizations, ranging from global foundations in the USA and Switzerland to their national and regional NGO partners in Kenya and Kyrgyzstan. Actors in both of these networks defend a varied array of ideas that underpin their ecological interventions through invocations of local particularity and global expertise. This chapter thus addresses the ways epistemic communities are formed and knowledge is produced and legitimized via discursive geographies and identities.

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 98
Author(s):  
Allan Hassaniyan

This paper sheds light on the significance of the 1979 Iranian Revolution for the Iranian Kurdish movement, arguing that the Revolution provided Iranian Kurds with multifaceted opportunities as well as challenges. In the ensuing years, the Kurdish movement entered into a new phase of its rise. With the emergence of numerous civil society organizations and political parties, the Kurdish movement experienced a hitherto unprecedented growth and diversification of actors and organisations. Kurdish civil society flourished drastically, and a significant part of the Kurdish movement’s challenge to the newly-established government in Tehran was channelled through collective non-violent resistance. The creation of city councils (şoray şar) across Kurdistan constituted the first important challenge to the authority of the Provisional Revolutionary Government, whilst the mobilisation of collective non-violent resistance introduced new forms of resistance to the post-Revolutionary authoritarian state’s policies in Kurdistan.


2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 239-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
RICHARD J. LADLE ◽  
CHIARA BRAGAGNOLO ◽  
GABRIELA M. GAMA ◽  
ANA C.M. MALHADO ◽  
MEREDITH ROOT-BERNSTEIN ◽  
...  

SUMMARYPrivate protected areas (PPAs) are a board category that includes reserves established and managed by non-government entities, including civil society organizations, businesses and private individuals. It was recently suggested that the creation of a system of PPAs in Brazil may act as a useful model for extending protected area systems internationally. While it is clear that RPPNs have an important role to play in the future development of Brazil's protected area system, there are several significant challenges that need to be overcome if they are fulfil their potential: (1) ensuring that RPPNs contribute to coverage and representation; (2) ensuring adequate governance; and (3) increasing the attractiveness of the RPPN model. While it is still too early to determine whether RPPNs constitute a robust PPA model that could (or should) be exported to other countries, they are creating new opportunities for innovation and novel management strategies that might eventually lead to a vibrant and distinctly Brazilian protected area movement.


Author(s):  
Horace A. Bartilow

Plan Colombia and the Mérida Initiative case studies showed that corporate congressional lobbies not only shaped the militarization of foreign drug enforcement but also drove the federal government’s drug war expenditures. However, how generalizable are these finding beyond Colombia and Mexico? This chapter answers this question by first discussing theories of congressional lobbying and provides an institutional analysis of the relative power of corporations and civil society organizations in shaping U.S. drug enforcement policy. The hypotheses that emerge from these discussions are empirically tested using the Heckman selection estimator that analyze cross-national data of thirty-three corporations who were active in lobbying for drug enforcement in Colombia and Mexico, and eighty countries that were recipients of U.S. counternarcotic aid during the period 2003–12. The finding showed that increases in corporate congressional lobbying expenditures are associated with increases in counternarcotic aid flows to the eighty recipient countries in the data set and that the outcome observed in the Columbia and Mexico case studies are indeed generalizable.


2013 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 731-749 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janine A. Clark ◽  
Bassel F. Salloukh

AbstractThis article explains the endurance of sectarian identities and modes of political mobilization in Lebanon after the civil war. This is done by examining three case studies that demonstrate a recursive relation between sectarian elites and civil society actors: on one side of this relation, sectarian elites pursue their political and socioeconomic interests at the expense of civil society organizations (CSOs); on the other side, civil society actors instrumentalize the sectarian political system and its resources to advance their own organizational or personal advantage. These mutually reinforcing dynamics enable sectarian elites to penetrate, besiege, or co-opt CSOs as well as to extend their clientelist networks to CSOs that should otherwise lead the effort to establish cross-sectarian ties and modes of political mobilization or that expressly seek to challenge the sectarian system. The article fills a gap in the literature on sectarianism in postwar Lebanon and helps explain a puzzle identified by Ashutosh Varshney in the theoretical debate on ethnic conflict, namely the reasons behind the “stickiness” of historically constructed ethnic identities.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farhat Tasnim

Although civil society in Bangladesh is recognized for its vibrant performance in social development, it is often criticized for its inability to ensure good governance and democracy. The aim of this paper is to point out the reasons for this failure of civil society. Through performing case studies upon five civil society organizations representing different sector and level of the civil society, the paper concludes that civil society organizations in Bangladesh are often politicized and co-opted by different political parties. In a typical scenario, civil society can provide a counterbalance or even monitor the state both at the national and local level. However, in Bangladesh, often the civil society organizations have compromised their autonomy and politicized themselves to certain political parties or political block. In such a vulnerable position, civil society can hardly play its expected role to ensure good governance and strengthen democracy.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Urvashi Prasad ◽  
Rakesh Sarwal ◽  
K Madan Gopal ◽  
Vinod K Paul

This compendium details information about various practices and initiativesimplemented by States, Districts and Cities in India for containing and managing theCOVID-19 outbreak. It is important to note that these initiatives are not being termedas ‘best practices’ by NITI Aayog as that would require a separate and comprehensiveevaluation exercise as well as longer term follow-up. Moreover, in a rapidly evolvingsituation, it can be challenging to consistently and fully correlate practices withoutcomes - a practice might yield good results for a certain period of time but cease todo so thereafter.An email was sent to all States and Union Territories (UTs) in July, 2020 requestingthem to share any practices or models that they believe had been useful for COVID-19mitigation and management. The email was followed up with phone calls to officials fromthe health departments in States and UTs. Ten States/UTs responded in writing to thisrequest for information. Additional information was provided by States telephonically aswell as during review meetings with Member (Health), NITI Aayog.Literature searches were conducted using various combinations of keywords inPubMed, ScienceDirect, Google and Google Scholar. Relevant case studies andpapers were also identified by searching the websites of State/UT Governments andthe National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). The last literature search wasconducted on November 10, 2020.Only case studies/reports/papers published in English between 1 February-10November, 2020 were considered. While efforts have been made by all States and UTsto follow the broad guidelines issued by the Central Government pertaining to differentaspects of COVID containment and management, this review captures the specificpractices adopted by State and UT Governments to make the implementation of theCentral Guidelines effective and relevant to their local context.All case studies/reports/papers highlighting practices/interventions/models implementedby State or Sub-State Governments on their own or in collaboration with civil society,private sector, volunteers were included in this review. Case studies/reports/papersfocusing on interventions implemented by civil society organizations, private sectoror individuals independent of any partnership with State/Local Governments wereexcluded from this review.Practices have been categorized into the following broad themes: public health andclinical response, governance mechanisms, digital health, integrated models as well 10 Report on Mitigation and Management of COVID-19as welfare of migrants and other vulnerable groups. While governance and technologycut across several themes, they have been included separately to highlight certainpractices adopted by States which pertain primarily to putting in place governancemechanisms or leveraging technology for COVID containment and management.A summary of the relevant Government of India guidelines has been included for theaforementioned categories, wherever applicable. It is important to note that theseguidelines are continually revised based on the emerging scenario with respect to theCOVID-19 outbreak.


2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 313-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurizio Ambrosini

Migration policies in recent years have turned to growing restrictions and tighter controls in most countries, not only at national level but often also at local level. But several actors from civil society have tried to counteract this trend, protesting, organizing advocacy actions, providing services and promoting networks. Italy is a case in point: from the beginning of the arrival of immigration flows in the ’80, the reception of the newcomers and the defence of their rights has been provided mainly by non-public actors: trade unions, voluntary associations, social movements, catholic institutions. In the last decade, Italian immigration policies have hardened, above all in the period 2008-2011, with the advent of a securitarian discourse. Many civil society organizations struggled against these policies. The article will present two case studies: 1) the Association “Avvocati per niente”, that defends the immigrants against local policies of exclusion; 2) NAGA and OSF, two Associations engaged in health care for irregular immigrants in Milan. The articles explore motivations, discourses, strategies, alliances and outcomes of their action.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 639-647
Author(s):  
Mengesha Robso Wodajo ◽  
Tănase Tasențe ◽  
Teshale Aklilu Gebretsadiq

The aim of this paper is to identify the major advantages and disadvantages of NGOs and Civil Societies in the post independent Africa. A note I want to give is the terms 'advantages' and 'disadvantages' should be understood in a sense that the paper is not evaluating the works of NGOs and Civil Society Organizations but pinpointing their benefits and side-effects to Africa. For that reason, the terms advantages and disadvantages can be interchangeably used by ‘benefits’ and ‘side-effects’ respectively. Another case I want to notify is the types of NGOs and Civil Society Organizations/Civil Societies that will be discussed throughout the paper are the entities found at the international level; not the national or local ones. This is due to the fact that the NGOs and CSOs(which were/are steered by the Western Europe and the USA) at the international level had/have the lion's share influences in the Third World in general and Africa in particular. Ultimately, although the topic of this paper is wide, it is presented in a short and precise volume, henceforth, all each of the advantages and disadvantages are not listed but few of them. So, I hope this small book will be used to produce a larger volume on the same topic.


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