Liberal visions and actual power in grassroots civil society: local churches and women's empowerment in rural Malawi

2002 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter VonDoepp
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Political Efficacy ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Community Study ◽  
Local Churches ◽  
Civil Society Organisations ◽  
Authority Structures

Research from a community study in rural Malawi speaks directly to contemporary debates about civil society. Investigating the role of local churches in empowering citizens, the study found that the local Catholic church was more effectively fostering a nascent sense of political efficacy among women than were local Presbyterian churches. Explaining this finding, the article presents two issues that expose problems in the liberal understanding of civil society, and underscore important themes raised in the critical discourse. First, the study reveals that organisations characterised by decentralised authority structures and internal democracy may fail to contribute to the empowerment of marginalised citizens. Such organisations are prone to reproduce and exacerbate local inequalities and conflicts within their structures. Second, corroborating critical views, the study highlights the importance of recognising how power relations affect the character and operation of civil society organisations. The adjusting of power relations within organisations may be a prerequisite to their serving an empowering role with marginalised citizens.

scholarly journals Antimicrobial resistance control efforts in Africa: a survey of the role of Civil Society Organisations

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1868055
Author(s):  
Jessica L. Fraser ◽  
Yewande H. Alimi ◽  
Jay K. Varma ◽  
Tracie Muraya ◽  
Tapiwanashe Kujinga ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Antimicrobial Resistance ◽  
Civil Society Organisations

Investigating the political economy of the territory: The contradictory responses of organisations to spatial inequality

Organization ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 135050842110612
Author(s):  
Daniel S Lacerda
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Spatial Inequality ◽  
The Political ◽  
Civil Society Organisations ◽  
Dialectical Tension ◽  
History Of ◽  
Territorial Division

The spatial imaginations of organisations can be particularly insightful for examining power relations. However, only recently they have gone beyond the limits of the workplace, demonstrating the role of the territory for organised action, particularly in mobilising solidarity for resistance. In this article, I investigate power relations revealed by the political economy of the territory to explain contradictory actions undertaken by organisations. Specifically, I adopt the theoretical framework of the noted Brazilian geographer Milton Santos, who recognises spatial multiplicity and fragmentation while maintaining an appreciation of the structural conditions of the political economy. This perspective is particularly useful for the analysis of civil society organisations (CSOs) in a Brazilian favela (slum), given the context of high inequality perpetuated by the selective flows of urban development. First, I show that the history of favelas and their role in the territorial division of labour explain the profiles of existing organisations. Then, I examine how the political engagement of CSOs with distinct solidarities results in a dialectical tension that leads to both resistance based on local shared interests and the active reproduction of central spaces even if the ends are not shared. The article contributes to the literature of space and organisations by explaining how territorial dynamics mediate power relations within and across organisations, not only as resistance but also as the active reproduction of economic and political regimes.

scholarly journals ‘Moving life stories tell us just why politics matters’: Personal narratives in tabloid anti-austerity campaigns

Journalism ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 1346-1363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jen Birks
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Welfare Reform ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Personal Narratives ◽  
Political Agency ◽  
The Political ◽  
Civil Society Organisations

This article examines the use of personal narratives in two tabloid newspaper campaigns against a controversial welfare reform popularly known as the ‘bedroom tax’. It aims first to evaluate whether the personal narratives operate as political testimony to challenge government accounts of welfare reform and dominant stereotypes of benefits claimants, and second to assess the potential for and limits to progressive advocacy in popular journalism. The study uses content analysis of 473 articles over the course of a year in the Daily Mirror and Sunday People newspapers, and qualitative analysis of a sub-set of 113 articles to analyse the extent to which the campaign articles extrapolated from the personal to the general, and the role of ‘victim–witnesses’ in articulating their own subjectivity and political agency. The analysis indicates that both newspapers allowed affected individuals to express their own subjectivity to challenge stereotypes, but it was civil society organisations and opinion columnists who most explicitly extrapolated from the personal to the political. Collectively organised benefits claimants were rarely quoted, and there was some evidence of ventriloquisation of the editorial voice in the political criticisms of victim–witnesses. However, a campaigning columnist in the Mirror more actively empowered some of those affected to speak directly to politicians. This indicates the value of campaigning journalism when it is truly engaged in solidarity with those affected, rather than instrumentalising victim–witnesses to further the newspapers’ campaign goals.

Ethical Appraisal of the Role of Civil Society in Nigeria

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Essien D. Essien
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Contemporary Literature ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Significant Implication ◽  
Civil Society Organisations ◽  
Inclusive Society

Contemporary studies surrounding the creation of civil society in Africa have revealed two important findings. First, despite the effort of civil society organizations in supporting inclusive democratic governance, promoting participation, advocating for transparency and accountability, sustainable development and stability remain elusive due to the challenges of social exclusion. Second, institutions central to the exercise of governmental powers exhibit inefficiency, weakness, lack transparency, and low credibility which worsen extreme poverty, inequality, and deprivation. Drawing upon extensive contemporary literature on social exclusion and inclusive growth, this study examines the role of civil society organisations as a pathway for social inclusion and sustainable development. Findings reveal that the management and distribution of services in the Nigerian society is largely inefficient and exclusionary, leading to myriad of social problems. This study has a significant implication for cumulative research on the subject of inclusive society and sustainable development.

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