Deliberate Differentiation by the Chinese State: Outsourcing Responsibility for Governance

2019 ◽  
Vol 240 ◽  
pp. 880-905
Author(s):  
Taiyi Sun
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Public Goods ◽  
Field Experiment ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Advocacy Groups ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Policy Responses ◽  
Chinese State

AbstractDo authoritarian governments’ responses towards different civil society organizations (CSOs) reflect policy differentiations? Building on the existing literature of graduated control, diversification of civil society, and consultative authoritarianism, this paper utilizes an online field experiment,1 and interviews with government officials and CSO leaders to demonstrate that local governments have the tendencies to intentionally treat different CSOs with different policy responses, referred to as “deliberate differentiation” in this paper. However, contrary to what the existing literature would suggest, this study reveals that at the local level, such differentiation is driven more by the state's interest in extracting productivity and outsourcing responsibility for the provision of public goods and less by the state's need to acquire information from CSOs, including politically sensitive advocacy groups.

The Meritocratization of Civil Society

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Bovens ◽  
Anchrit Wille
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Third Sector ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Advocacy Groups ◽  
Interest Representation ◽  
The People ◽  
Professional Advocacy ◽  
Education Gap

Civil society organizations are, if not schools, at least pools of democracy. In the ‘third sector’, too, active engagement and participation ‘by the people’ have given way to meritocracy, or, in other words, to rule by the well-educated. Many popularly rooted mass organizations have witnessed a decline in membership and political influence. Their role as intermediary between politics and society has been taken over by professionally managed advocacy groups that operate with university educated public affairs consultants. First, the chapter describes the associational revolution, the enormous increase in the number of civil society organizations. Then it in analyses the education gap in membership and the shift from large membership organizations to lean professional advocacy groups, which has occurred over the past three decades. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the net effect of this meritocratization of civil society for political participation and interest representation.

scholarly journals Seducing for Truth and Justice: Civil Society Initiatives for the 1965 Mass Violence in Indonesia

2013 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 115-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sri Lestari Wahyuningroem
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
Mass Violence ◽  
The World

The article examines both civil society initiatives that seek to address the mass violence of 1965 and 1966 and the state's responses to them. Unlike other political-transition contexts in the world, a transitional justice approach is apparently a formula that state authorities have found difficult to implement nationally for this particular case. The central government has, through its institutions, sporadically responded to some of the calls from civil society groups and has even initiated policy reforms to support such initiatives. Nevertheless, these responses were not sustained and any suggested programmes have always failed to be completed or implemented. Simultaneously, however, NGOs and victims are also voicing their demands at the local level. Many of their initiatives involve not only communities but also local authorities, including in some cases the local governments. In some aspects, these “bottom-up” approaches are more successful than attempts to create change at the national level. Such approaches challenge what Kieran McEvoy refers to as an innate “seductive” quality of transitional justice, but at the same time these approaches do, in fact, aim to “seduce” the state to adopt measures for truth and justice.

scholarly journals Women's Voices in Civil Society Organizations: Evidence from a Civil Society Mapping Project in Mali

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie Bleck ◽  
Jessica Gottlieb ◽  
Katrina Kosec
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Organizational Capacity ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
The State ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
Self Help Groups ◽  
Technical Capacity

How does women's engagement in civil society organizations (CSOs) differ from that of men, and what factors predict women's willingness to hold the state accountable? We analyze these questions in the context of rural and urban Mali, leveraging face-to-face data collected as part of a civil society mapping project during February -- March 2020 and December 2020, and an in-depth survey conducted with leaders from a randomly-selected subset of these CSOs during January -- March 2021. First, we explore the characteristics of women's groups compared to other CSOs. Second, we explore their likelihood of sanctioning a hypothetical corrupt mayor. We use an embedded survey experiment to try to understand these groups' willingness to report on the mayor as well as the payments they expect to receive from the mayor in order to not share information about the mayor's corruption. We find that women in Mali are often highly organized at the local level---frequently in self-help groups or organizations related to gendered economic activities. However, these more economically-focused groupings of Malian women frequently do not translate into civic activity. They are not typically recognized by outside actors as viable CSOs that could incentivize better governance; their strong networks and group infrastructure represent untapped social capital. We also find that CSOs comprised of women have lower informational and technical capacity, especially due to lower levels of political knowledge, and incur a higher cost of sanctioning public officials---though they have greater mobilization capacity. Women's engagement in decision-making in the home also predicts one's CSO being more hierarchical and having greater technical capacity, as well as having higher expected transfers from the mayor---findings that do not vary with respondent or CSO gender. Turning to the extent to which women involved in CSOs are willing to sanction the state, we find that they are generally less willing than men to sanction, but become more likely when their CSO is less hierarchical, when their technical capacity is higher, and when their political knowledge is greater. However, priming their importance as a CSO (by telling them they were identified by well-connected citizens as being influential) actually reduces sanctioning---perhaps by making them fear that those recommending them will engage in reprisals. Overall, our findings provide useful evidence on the organizational capacity of women and how it is likely to affect the state.

scholarly journals Collective Action on Public Goods for Sustainable Development: Ethics in Action

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 14-27
Author(s):  
Lichia Y iu ◽  
Raymond Saner ◽  
Roland Bardy
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Public Goods ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Stakeholder Group ◽  
Moral Foundation ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Private And Public

Maintaining and expanding public goods is synonymous with promoting sustainable development but discussions are needed to clarify how policies need to be coordinated to enable collective action on public goods. Collective action for Public Goods will only be successful if all who partake in such actions can gain complimentary benefits that would be either more costly or impossible to achieve without the collective effort. Such complementary benefits are possible provided all stakeholders contributing to the public good of social peace and social cohesion cooperate with each other and preserve this and other public goods be they citizens, civil society organizations, all public authorities and all business firms. This concerted effort for a good cause can certainly be coined “ethics in action” – a notion which exhibits the moral foundation of the private and public choices inherent in sustainable development implementation of which interactions amongst stakeholders are no longer transactional, but rather aspiring toward greater good. Civil society organizations are key stakeholders producing, maintaining, and benefitting from Public Goods. They should strive for full inclusion, as there are many people who are either excluded or under-provided with respect to public goods. Public authorities, another key stakeholder group, need to cooperate with other stakeholders through collaborative frameworks and mechanisms for collective action that bind states and international organizations at a global scale. Another important stakeholder group, private and public enterprises need to operate within a level playing field globally, conduct business based on Responsible Business criteria and be welcomed to contribute to Public Goods creation in a sustainable and proactive manner without causing negative impacts due to their business activities. This paper presents and discusses how collective action can be achieved through concerted efforts by all members of society aiming to produce and maintain public goods essential for the sustained and equitable functioning of society. The UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development serves as a shared roadmap in achieving a shared future. Keywords: Collective Action, Public Goods, Sustainable Development, Corporate Social Responsibility, UN Agenda 2030.

scholarly journals Discovering the Future Canadians Want: Insights from the We Canada Cross-Country Tour

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Nasteska and V. Wee
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Earth Summit ◽  
Environment And Development ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Heads Of State

In 1972, the first United Nations Conference on Human Environment (UNCED) was held in Stockholm, Sweden. At the conference, government officials from industrialized and developing nations met alongside civil society organizations to create the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). “This conference put environmental issues on the international agenda for the first time, and marked a turning point in the development of international environmental politics. It has also been recognized as the beginning of modern political and public awareness of global environmental issues” (Baylis & Smith, 2005, pp. 454-455). Twenty years later, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio Earth Summit, was held in Rio de Janeiro. One hundred and seventy two government officials participated, of which 108 were heads of state (United Nations, 1992, United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, para. 1). This conference was one of the largest gatherings of heads of state, civil society organizations, and individuals in human history to date. Stakeholders met with the purpose of charting a course for a more sustainable future. From the conference emerged agreements, most notably Agenda 21, which created a framework for developing global, national, and regional plans for sustainability. The Rio Earth Summit has since stood as an example of what is possible when governments and citizens work together. The outcomes of this conference still affect human lives today, mainly through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meetings, which led to the Kyoto Protocol, the only legally binding agreement to cut down carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as Earth Summit 2012 or Rio+20, is regarded as one of the most crucial events in United Nations history and has been referred to by the Secretary General of the United Nations (2011), Ban Ki-moon, as “the most important global meeting on sustainable development in our time" (The Future We Want, p 2).

Federal Arrangements and the Provision of Public Goods in India

Asian Survey ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 339-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pradeep Chhibber ◽  
Sandeep Shastri ◽  
Richard Sisson
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Public Goods ◽  
National Survey ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
The State ◽  
State Governments ◽  
National Governments

Current intellectual trends advocate devolution of authority from national governments to local governments and civil society, especially for the provision of public goods. This paper, based on a large national survey conducted in India, shows that most Indians still look to the state, and state governments in particular, to address the problems that they face.

scholarly journals THE FINANCES OF THE CIVIL SOCIETY IN UKRAINE: KEY TRENDS, MODELS AND OBSTACLES IN ACHIEVING SUSTAINABILITY

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Entrepreneurship ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Political Environment ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Political Role ◽  
The Social

The financial viability is one of the most important element in achieving sustainability for a civil society, especially in post-Socialist states of Eastern and Central Europe. Despite positive assessments of the role and potential of civil society in Ukraine from scholars and analysts and comparatively high score of civil society organizations’ sustainability index taking in comparative perspective for a whole region, its financial capabilities remains its weakest part during decades of Ukrainian independence. Having comparatively friendly legal and political environment and achieving some impressive results in advocacy, building coalitions and networks and enhancing its organization capabilities Ukrainian CSOs still remain dependant from international donors. Some shifts in financial resilience of civil society demands not only efforts from its side, but finding a consensus with a state on the model to achieve. Three typical models of interrelations by civil society and government, emerged in contemporary Europe are provided, they could be distinguished based on the social and political role of CSOs and their functions in public services provision. These models based on the scales of institutionalization and level of independence of civil society relatively to the authorities and include Social-democratic (Scandinavian), Liberal (Anglo-Saxon) and Corporativism (Continental) types. Ukrainian civil society, regardless achievements in organizational capacities and sectoral infrastructure, still remains in the «emerging» transitional spot due to the extremely small amount of public funds it attracts and based on uncertainty of its role on national and local level. Perspective destinations for civic-state dialogue are emphasized, among which there are finding the consensus of desired model and adopting new National Strategy of Stimulation Civil Society in Ukraine for next five years, changes in legal framework for local self-government, social entrepreneurship, taxation of charity and means earned by CSO themselves and establishing new practices and institutions for public financing of CSOs on national and regional levels.

scholarly journals Motivations and Intended Outcomes in Local Governments' Declarations of Climate Emergency

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 17-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xira Ruiz-Campillo ◽  
Vanesa Castán Broto ◽  
Linda Westman
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Environmental Action ◽  
Future Planning ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Global And Local

Near 1,500 governments worldwide, including over 1,000 local governments, have declared a climate emergency. Such declarations constitute a response to the growing visibility of social movements in international politics as well as the growing role of cities in climate governance. Framing climate change as an emergency, however, can bring difficulties in both the identification of the most appropriate measures to adopt and the effectiveness of those measures in the long run. We use textual analysis to examine the motivations and intended outcomes of 300 declarations endorsed by local governments. The analysis demonstrates that political positioning, previous experience of environmental action within local government, and pressure from civil society are the most common motivations for declaring a climate emergency at the local level. The declarations constitute symbolic gestures highlighting the urgency of the climate challenge, but they do not translate into radically different responses to the climate change challenge. The most commonly intended impacts are increasing citizens’ awareness of climate change and establishing mechanisms to influence future planning and infrastructure decisions. However, the declarations are adopted to emphasize the increasing role cities are taking on, situating local governments as crucial agents bridging global and local action agendas.

scholarly journals Open Government and Citizen Participation: Perceptions between Civil Society Organizations and Government.

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edgar Alejandro Ruvalcaba-Gomez
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Research Question ◽  
The State ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Open Government ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
The Government

The concepts of citizen participation and open government (OG) are increasingly being used by politicians, government officials, and civil society organizations (CSOs). However, there are differences about how the concepts are assumed and used by different social actors. The objective of this research is to analyze the perception of citizen participation and open government from the perspectives of two fundamental sectors: CSOs and government using the State of Jalisco, Mexico as a case study. The research question is: How are citizen participation and open government perceived in the State of Jalisco by civil society organizations and the government? This research presents statistical results of a survey given to members of civil society and public officials involved in OG actions. The results show a huge gap between the perceptions of government officials and CSOs; this affects the relationship between the two sectors, which can impede development and implementation of public policies.

Policy analysis for decision making in Colombian local governments

2020 ◽  
pp. 135-150
Author(s):  
Claudia N. Avellaneda ◽  
Ricardo A. Bello-Gómez
Keyword(s):  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Performance Management ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Local Policy ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Unique Approach ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Tools And Techniques ◽  
Municipal Development

This chapter applies a unique approach to examining policy analysis at the local level, confirming which local government officials use policy analysis and under what circumstances. It explores the availability of policy analysis tools and techniques and their use by Colombian local governments. It also introduces policy analysis and performance management as tools to achieve local effectiveness, including a framework to understand “when and who” is expected to use policy analysis in local governments. The chapter explains the use of policy analysis by local governments for the formulation, implementation and evaluation of their Municipal Development Plan. It develops some conclusions and suggests some prescriptions to enhance local policy analysis in Colombia.

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