From #MeToo to #ProtestToo: How a Feminist Movement Converged with a Pro-democracy Protest in Hong Kong

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Ruby Y. S. Lai
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Feminist Movement ◽  
Sexual Assaults ◽  
Collaborative Model ◽  
Police Violence ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government

The #MeToo movement in Hong Kong emerged in late 2017, subsequently converged with the Anti-Extradition Law protest in 2019, and evolved into the #ProtestToo campaign against police violence and sexual assult. This essay traces the development of the #MeToo movement and analyzes the collaboration among the government, civil society, and the media in fostering the movement to combat sexual violence. It argues that whether the collaborative model succeeds or fails depends upon sociocultural and political circumstances: the failure of existing measures in preventing, investigating, and prosecuting the alleged sexual assaults inflicted on protesters in 2019 reveals how a shift to authoritarian governance may cripple the established anti–sexual violence collaboration.

Budget oversight in territorial autonomies: A comparative analysis of Hong Kong and Macao

2021 ◽  
pp. 002085232110338
Author(s):  
Brian C.H. Fong
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Comparative Studies ◽  
Survey Methodology ◽  
State Level ◽  
Sovereign State ◽  
Systems Model ◽  
One Country Two Systems ◽  
The Media ◽  
The One

Traditionally, comparative budgeting scholars have focused on analysing budget oversight at the sovereign state level. Budget oversight at the territorial autonomy level remains largely under-investigated. Drawing on the Open Budget Survey methodology, this study is a pioneering attempt to compare the budget oversight institutions and practices in Hong Kong and Macao under the ‘one country, two systems’ model. This study finds that the varying practices of budget oversight of Hong Kong and Macao are the consequence of their different bases of opposition politics, including democratic opposition, the media and civil society. This study extends the research focus of existing comparative budgeting literature from sovereign states to territorial autonomies. Thus, it has important implications for budget oversight analysis and policy worldwide. Points for practitioners This article uses comparative studies of Hong Kong and Macao to illustrate how different bases of opposition politics have led to varying practices of budget oversight. For policymakers, the lesson from the comparative studies is that the rise of democratic opposition, the media and civil society will bring about pressures for budget oversight. More policy learning is necessary for policymakers across democracies and semi-democracies to share the experiences of handling the politics of budget oversight.

Cologne and the (un)making of transnational approaches to sexual violence

2020 ◽  
pp. 135050682093809
Author(s):  
Júlia Garraio
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Sexual Assaults ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Immigration Laws ◽  
State Surveillance ◽  
The Media ◽  
Muslim Immigration ◽  
Internal Pressures

The sexual assaults reported on New Year’s Eve 2015 in Cologne posed major challenges to feminists struggling with the tensions and entanglements of feminism, imperialism, racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, sexism and nationalism. The aim of the present article is to examine these tensions through an analysis of the pressures framing the positionality of discourses. It examines how feminists, framed by the larger Western debates about the ‘failure of multiculturalism’ and the global Islamophobia underpinning the ‘war on terror’ era, engaged with the moral panic which pervaded the mediatization of the assaults. It argues that feminist initiatives like #ausnahmslos’, which situated anti-racism at the core of any engagement for gender equality, were a reaction to the femonationalist approach to the events pervading the media and the political debate, and attempts to counter arguments which associated the sexual assaults with cultural practices imported through (Muslim) immigration and which demanded (or condoned) stricter immigration laws and state surveillance of Muslims. Then, this article addresses the challenges posed by some feminists from Germany and from North African countries and/or with a Muslim background, who argued that the analysis of Cologne should address the religious-cultural background of the suspects. The article argues that the difficulty in engaging with their contributions in Germany derives from internal pressures, namely the risk of having their arguments co-opted by Islamophobic and anti-immigration agendas. By pointing at the role of positionality in defining priorities in a globalized world, this article addresses the constraints and potentials in developing transnational approaches to sexual violence.

scholarly journals MEDIA FREEDOM IN KENYA in 2017: A REALITY OR A MIRAGE?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shirley Genga
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Information Management ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Bill Of Rights ◽  
Media Freedom ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government ◽  
Free Media ◽  
Freedom House

Media freedom is the capacity of the media to act as a barometer to call government to account vis-à-vis the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 especially the values, spirit and ethos enshrined therein. So much so that countries which are strong democracies always have strong and free media. A free and democratic society is not possible without an independent, free and responsible media and an active civil society. Freedom House Report results from the fact that Kenya currently finds itself in a very interesting position where media freedom exists boldly on paper, but the reality on the ground is something else. The current Constitution of Kenya which came into force on 27 August 2010, has not only been hailed as reformist, but it has a new and progressive Bill of Rights requiring extensive reforms to both the media and information management frameworks. However, the government seems to have another agenda. As will be observed below, the government has introduced several laws that, on the outside appear to be progressive and in line with the new Constitution, but upon closer inspection clearly has an agenda that undermines media freedom in Kenya. In the sections which follow, this paper will analyse the legal framework and social factors relevant to media freedom in Kenya.

scholarly journals Democratic Dawn? Civil Society and Elections in Myanmar 2010-2012

2012 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Lidauer
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Transition Process ◽  
International Community ◽  
National Election ◽  
Democratic Regime ◽  
Electoral Process ◽  
General Elections ◽  
Election Observation ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government

While the general elections in Myanmar in November 2010 were widely condemned, both national and international actors approached the by-elections of April 2012 as a political rite-de-passage to improve relations between the government and the opposition inside, and between the former pariah state and the international community outside the country. An undercurrent of the government-led transition process from an authoritarian to a formally more democratic regime was the development of a politically oriented civil society that found ways to engage in the electoral process. This article describes the emerging spaces of election-related civil society activism in the forms of civic and voter education, national election observation, and election-related agency in the media. Noting that, in particular, election observation helps connect civil society to regional and international debates, the paper draws preliminary conclusions about further developments ahead of the general elections in Myanmar expected to take place in 2015.

The Response to Violence against Women in Côte d’Ivoire

2020 ◽  
pp. 109-120
Author(s):  
Peace A. Medie
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Cote D'ivoire ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Police Force ◽  
Security Sector ◽  
The Government

This chapter covers the state’s, the women’s movement’s, and international actors’ responses to rape and domestic violence before, during, and after the Ivoirian conflict. It explains that unlike Liberia, there was some government and civil society attention to violence against women before the outbreak of armed conflict in 2002. Pressure from the UN and other international actors also contributed to the introduction of initiatives within the security sector to address violence against women during the conflict, including a specialized mechanism within the police force. The chapter explains how the UN’s attention to sexual violence during the Ivoirian conflict increased after the second civil war and generated pressure on the government to create the gender desks.

State–Press Relationship in Post-1997 Hong Kong: Constant Negotiation amidst Self-Restraint

2007 ◽  
Vol 192 ◽  
pp. 949-970 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ma Ngok
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Professional Ethics ◽  
Press Freedom ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Moral Force ◽  
The Press ◽  
Negative News ◽  
Multiple Pressures ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government

AbstractTen years after the handover, Hong Kong's media faced multiple pressures. There were few cases of outright prosecution of the media, but there were subtle political and economic pressures. Co-optation of media bosses, fear of losing advertising revenue and media takeovers by pro-Beijing figures brought some of the media into line. This brought editorial shift and self-censorship, as the media systematically shied away from stories that might antagonize Beijing, underplayed negative news for the government and gave the democrats less favourable coverage. Interviews with journalists showed little evidence of ostensible intervention from government officials or media bosses, but newsroom socialization and editorial gatekeeping are effective constraints. The constitutional guarantee of freedom of the press and the moral force of professional ethics lent the media the room to defend and negotiate their freedom, but the pervasive fear induced by the political environment invariably overpowered the resistance and constrained press freedom in Hong Kong.

scholarly journals Information management in government policy: the challenges of time and responses to them

2021 ◽  
pp. 31-36
Author(s):  
S. Bulbeniuk ◽  
Yu. Maneliuk
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Mass Media ◽  
Information Management ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Government Policy ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Communication Techniques ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government

The article examines the peculiarities of the formation of government policy in the field of information management under the influence of systemic challenges of recent years. Particular attention is paid to the role and place of civil society, in particular its network segment, in the relationship between the state and the media in the media market. The authors propose a rationale for information management and social capital of society as interrelated political and social phenomena. After all, the effective promotion of certain models of information management is possible under the conditions of attracting social capital to the mechanisms of political communication. At the same time, social capital as an exclusively group resource is both an object and a subject of information flows involved in the processes of political communication. The problem of mass media involvement is covered in two aspects. First, through the consideration of communication techniques. Secondly, it was found that in recent years the practice of forming qualitatively different models of mass media financing has become established. The article analyzes the prospects of diversification of mass media funding sources through public activist campaigns of donors and crowdfunding, in particular in Ukraine. In the domestic socio-political realities, according to the authors, it is worth talking more about attempts to introduce such a systemic practice. And this is not surprising, because the spread of donor and crowdfunding practices of the mass media is one of the indicators of the maturity of civil society. However, traditional and modern channels of interaction between the government and civil society in the field of information management can have unpredictable consequences, such as the threat of manipulative influences of different directions.

Transformative Violence and Mobilization

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica Marat
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Public Order ◽  
Police Reform ◽  
Police Violence ◽  
Popular Resistance ◽  
Flexible Approach ◽  
Ruling Elites ◽  
The Government

Chapter 2 constructs a theoretical model on the pathways to police reform: that police reform takes place in the aftermath of police violence in urban areas in countries where civil society groups are able to take on a long-term and flexible approach in engaging with the government. The chapter demonstrates that incidents of tougher-than-usual means of policing against civilians—transformative violence—and popular resistance to government overreach lead to a mobilization of civil society against the ways ruling elites use the police to sustain public order. It then explains that civic actors’ motivations—from serving the community to achieving political goals—define their methods of persuading the Interior Ministry to implement change in the interest of the greater public.

Islam in the Spotlight: The Mediatisation of Politics in an Amsterdam Neighbourhood

Urban Studies ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 1325-1342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justus Uitermark ◽  
Amy-Jane Gielen
Keyword(s):  
Field Theory ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
Media Representations ◽  
Van Gogh ◽  
Political Struggles ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government ◽  
Discursive Power

Conflicts over the presence of migrants and Muslims in Western societies have become increasingly ‘mediatised’ in recent years. Interactions between governments and migrants are now subject to constant scrutiny and the media have become a prime battle ground for political struggles. This paper investigates the effects of mediatisation on the relationships between the government and civil society associations in one Amsterdam neighbourhood before and after a Muslim extremist assassinated film maker Theo van Gogh in November 2004. With the help of field theory, it is shown that media representations do not just reflect local realities, but in fact are a part and outcome of struggles between actors unequally invested with discursive power. Mediatisation thus transforms the logic of politics and alters the balance of power between different actors.

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