The Great Eastern Crisis (1875–1878) as a global humanitarian moment

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Adrian Ruprecht

Abstract This article explores the global spread of the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement to colonial India. By looking at the Great Eastern Crisis (1875–78) and the intense public ferment the events in the Balkans created in Britain, Switzerland, Russia and India, this article illustrates how humanitarian ideas and practices, as well as institutional arrangements for the care for wounded soldiers, were appropriated and shared amongst the different religious internationals and pan-movements from the late 1870s onwards. The Great Eastern Crisis, this article contends, marks a global humanitarian moment. It transformed the initially mainly European and Christian Red Cross into a truly global movement that included non-sovereign colonial India and the Islamic religious international. Far from just being at the receiving end, non-European peoples were crucial in creating global and transnational humanitarianism, global civil society and the world of non-governmental organizations during the last third of the nineteenth century.

1988 ◽  
Vol 28 (262) ◽  
pp. 59-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodor Meron

The tragedy of internal strife affects a large and growing number of countries throughout the world. The situations in many of these countries have been studied by UN bodies, governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations and, of course, by the International Committee of the Red Cross. On the basis of their reports, it would be possible to describe the symptoms of internal strife specific to these particular countries. However, this paper focuses on the general features characteristic of internal strife, without reference to particular countries, since accounts of the situation in any specific country inevitably prompt debate over conflicting factual allegations. Such debate would deflect us from our tasks of developing and understanding of the nature of internal strife and suggesting the necessary remedies.


1998 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 587-616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus S. Schulz

This paper analyzes the dynamics of the Zapatista uprising with research tools inspired by recent social movement theory. It finds that the insurgent indigenous peasants of Chiapas rose up in arms under conditions of relative economic and political deprivation at a particularly opportune moment after developing a project of insurgency and acquiring significant organizational strength. Militarily, the Zapatistas would not have been able to hold out long against the overwhelming force of the federal army. But enormous media attention and massive national and international protest prevented the regime from military crackdowns. The Zapatistas' ability to link personal, organizational, and informational networks has helped to gain crucial support. Using globalized means of communication, they were able to disseminate their messages around the world where they touched a chord in the discourse of an incipient global civil society linked by non-governmental organizations, fax machines, and the internet.


Author(s):  
Lamia Askar Guliyeva

The article examines the role of UNESCO in the modern global cultural processes, with the specific focus on Azerbaijan. The mankind owes awakening of a genuine interest in key global problems of a new rank at the turn of the 20th–21st centuries primarily to the leading social structures. While the entire civil society of the world today is being challenged, it is gratifying to know that some structures accept and respond to such challenges. In our opinion, UNESCO, being a representative, authoritative, and prestigious organization, isthe most striking example ofsuch effective response. The paper examines the permanent public forums in the field ofscience, culture, and education that are directly supervised by the largest international non-governmental organizations, namely, UNESCO.


Author(s):  
Iryna TKACHUK

The article discusses and generalizes the principles of creation, operation and financing of civil society organizations that are used and understood in international practice. Specialized legal acts regulating the activity of nongovernmental organizations in Ukraine have been analyzed to determine the principles of activity and financing of non-governmental organizations.Also, their compliance with the principles approved by the world-wide authoritative civil society organizations was investigated. It is revealed that not all national regulative acts contain the following principles. This situation creates significant difficulties for the activities of certain types of non-governmental organizations in Ukraine (including the formation and using of financial resources) and complicates the process of state control over civil society institutions. Thus, it is suggested to use a systematic approach, which should amend the regulations governing the activities of non-governmental organizations in Ukraine in order to remedy these shortcomings.


2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 342-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Apostolos G. Papadopoulos ◽  
Christos Chalkias ◽  
Loukia-Maria Fratsea

The paper explores the challenges faced today, in a context of severe economic crisis, by immigrant associations (ΙΜΑs) and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Greece. The data analysed here was collected between October 2009 and February 2010 and incorporates references to all recorded migration-related social actors operating in Greece. The paper takes into account such indicators as legal form, objectives, financial capacity and geographical range of activity, concluding with a typology of civil society actors dealing with migration issues. This study aims at informing the migration policymaking and migrant integration processes. By a spatial hot-spot clustering of IMAs and NGOs, we also illustrate the concentration patterns of civil society actors in Greece.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 23-40
Author(s):  
Brydie-Leigh Bartleet ◽  
Gillian Howell

An increasing number of creative artists, arts organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are working on socially-engaged initiatives that aim to bring about positive change in communities. Examples of outstanding arts practices can be found throughout the world; however, there are major gaps in our understanding about how this work operates. Drawing on insights from 100 Australian arts organizations and NGOs working in this field, this article aims to address some of these gaps. It outlines a typology of change agendas in these organizations, in order to advance a deeper understanding of this field and inform future research, practice and policy.


1989 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 26-28
Author(s):  
Patricia A. Made ◽  
Nyorovai Whande

Five years ago, women in Africa moved to the center stage of the continent. The U.N. Decade for Women Conference held in Nairobi brought together women from all over the world to exchange ideas and discuss future strategies. African women turned out for the meeting in force. Women representing governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and grass-roots women's clubs converged on Nairobi to tell their story to other women in the common struggle for equality, justice and peace.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 577-604 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yana Gorokhovskaia

Conventional wisdom holds that civil society is a sphere of activity separate from the state and the private realm. Due to a combination of historical, developmental and institutional factors, Russian civil society today is dominated by the state. While not all interactions with the state are seen as harmful, scholars acknowledge that most politically oriented or oppositional non-governmental organizations today face difficult conditions in Russia. In response to the restrictions on civil society and the unresponsive nature of Russia’s hybrid authoritarian regime, some civil society actors in Moscow have made the transition into organized politics at the local level. This transition was motivated by their desire to solve local problems and was facilitated by independent electoral initiatives which provided timely training and support for opposition political candidates running in municipal elections. Once elected, these activists turned municipal deputies are able to perform some of the functions traditionally ascribed to civil society, including enforcing greater accountability and transparency from the state and defending the interest of citizens.


Author(s):  
Hannah Smidt ◽  
Dominic Perera ◽  
Neil J. Mitchell ◽  
Kristin M. Bakke

Abstract International ‘naming and shaming’ campaigns rely on domestic civil society organizations (CSOs) for information on local human rights conditions. To stop this flow of information, some governments restrict CSOs, for example by limiting their access to funding. Do such restrictions reduce international naming and shaming campaigns that rely on information from domestic CSOs? This article argues that on the one hand, restrictions may reduce CSOs’ ability and motives to monitor local abuses. On the other hand, these organizations may mobilize against restrictions and find new ways of delivering information on human rights violations to international publics. Using a cross-national dataset and in-depth evidence from Egypt, the study finds that low numbers of restrictions trigger shaming by international non-governmental organizations. Yet once governments impose multiple types of restrictions, it becomes harder for CSOs to adapt, resulting in fewer international shaming campaigns.


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