Does a plural civil society matter? Reflecting on the varieties of associational life in India

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-17
Author(s):  
Gurpreet Mahajan
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Associational Life

Playing with Positionality?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Kingston
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Civil War ◽  
The Political ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Associational Life ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
Research Site ◽  
Theoretical Assumptions

The chapter outlines how researchers take on different roles and positionalities as they adapt to the field, moving, for instance, from that of an “outsider” laden with externalized theoretical assumptions and having few contacts with and knowledge of the research site to one approaching, to varying degrees, that of a “pseudo-insider.” Indeed, the argument here is that researchers make choices when moving from outsider to insider roles (and between them), contingently adapting their positionality in the hope to better understand the political dynamics that underlie research projects. The setting is post-civil war Lebanon and the research project revolves around an examination of the micropolitics of civil society and associational life in this re-emerging but fragmented polity.

Relocating Civil Society: Theories and Practices of Civil Society between Late Medieval and Modern Society

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maarten F. Van Dijck ◽  
Bert De Munck ◽  
Nicholas Terpstra
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Voluntary Associations ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Associational Life ◽  
The Public ◽  
Civic Virtues ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The Church

Civil society is widely considered as a crucial element in contemporary society. Academics and policy makers have traditionally associated it with voluntary associations and organizations, assuming that associational life is an ideal intermediary between citizens and government. While members of associations form large social networks, which they can mobilize at critical moments, the conviviality of group sociability fosters the development of a set of common values, such as a democratic political culture and other civic virtues. Its origins are generally situated in the eighteenth century, and are mostly attributed to secularization, Enlightenment thinking, the birth of the “public sphere,” and growing emancipation from oppressive structures such as the church and the state.

‘Civil Society’ and the Limits of Democratic Assistance

2005 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 379-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivelin Sardamov
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Causal Relationship ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Democratic Representation ◽  
Associational Life

AbstractA correlation between the strength of civil society and democratization is often assumed to imply a causal relationship between the two variables. In fact, this correlation may be spurious, both phenomena being shaped by deeper social processes related to modernization and individualization. An excessive focus on ‘civil society assistance’ may paradoxically hamper the deeper changes necessary for the development of a vigorous associational life and of democratic representation. It would therefore be more prudent to focus democratic assistance on the establishment of stable and efficient social and political institutions, and on the maintenance of key social infrastructures crucial to political legitimacy.

Jews, Ukrainians, and Russians in Kiev: Intergroup Relations in Late Imperial Associational Life

Slavic Review ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 475-501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natan M. Meir
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Voluntary Association ◽  
Positive Interactions ◽  
Interethnic Relations ◽  
Associational Life ◽  
Late Imperial ◽  
Jewish Experience ◽  
The Russian Empire

This article explores the associational life of late imperial Kiev to gauge the extent of Jewish participation in the city's civil society and the nature of interethnic relations in the voluntary sphere. Natan Meir demonstrates that, despite political and societal circumstances that often discouraged positive interactions between Jews and their Russian and Ukrainian neighbors, the voluntary association made possible opportunities for constructive interethnic encounters. These opportunities included a range of experiences from full Jewish integration to a segregation of Jewish interests within the sphere of activity of a particular association. While taking into account the central role of intergroup tensions and hostility in Kiev, Meir notes that the frequency of contacts between Jews and non-Jews was higher than most scholars have assumed. By placing the case of Kiev against the larger framework of the Russian empire as well as other European states, Meir contributes to our understanding of the development of late imperial civil society and of the modern Jewish experience in the late Russian empire and across urban Europe.

scholarly journals Liberal outcomes through undemocratic means: the reform of the Code de statut personnel in Morocco

2009 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 487-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Cavatorta ◽  
Emanuela Dalmasso
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
Individual Decision ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Associational Life ◽  
Whole Process ◽  
New Family ◽  
The Family ◽  
Family Code

ABSTRACTThe 2004 reform of the family code in Morocco has been held as one of the most significant liberal reforms undertaken in the country, and has led scholars and policy makers to argue that this demonstrates the democratic progress Morocco and the King are making. At the same time, the role of the women's movement in getting the reform approved has seemingly confirmed that associational life is crucial in promoting democratisation. This paper, building on theoretical work questioning the linkage between a strong civil society and democratic outcomes, argues that civil society activism does not necessarily lead to democratisation, and may reinforce authoritarian practices. Far from demonstrating the centrality of civil society, the process through which the new family code was passed highlights the crucial institutional role of the monarch, whose individual decision-making power has driven the whole process. Authoritarianism finds itself strengthened in Morocco despite the liberal nature and outcome of the reform.

scholarly journals The Dialectic of Civil and Uncivil Society—Fragility, Fault Lines, and Countervailing Forces

2021 ◽  
pp. 19-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heinz-Dieter Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Alexis De Tocqueville ◽  
Social Analysis ◽  
Economic Dimension ◽  
Associational Life ◽  
Limited Government ◽  
The Past ◽  
Causal Necessity ◽  
Fault Lines

AbstractIn light of the experience of the past three decades—1989 to 2020—the civil society appears as a fragile institution that seems capable of giving rise to the overthrow of dictators as well as to their ready installation; to engender movements of solidarity and inclusion as well as of hatred and violence. To understand what allows these different tendencies to arise from within the civil society requires that we move past a pre-occupation with the structural and socio-economic dimension of the civil society and recover a conception of the civil society as an inherently moral institution. In this regard, the tradition of social analysis pioneered by Alexis de Tocqueville remains singularly instructive. The cultivation of civility, we can learn, is not an automatic by-product of tamed markets, limited government, and vibrant associational life—necessary and important though these are. The dispositions needed to maintain the civil society do not arise with causal necessity even where associations flourish, markets are tamed, and institutions are well-designed. By facing more squarely the deep moral fault-lines of the civil society we can develop a keener sense of the countervailing forces needed to keep the project of the civil society on track.

The Future of Christianity in Latin America

2009 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
DANIEL H. LEVINE
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
Associational Life ◽  
The Future ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
Pentecostal Churches ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe Christianity of the future in Latin America will remain dominant but now plural and competitive. The decline of Catholic monopoly and the surge of Protestant and Pentecostal churches, visible since the 1980s but with deeper roots, are explained in the context of social, cultural and political changes that have drawn churches into public space in new ways. The impact of democracy, violence, and a newly open civil society on churches and religious life is visible in new ideas about rights and associational life and in the withdrawal of the institutional churches from political confrontation, diversification of political positions and multiplication of voices in all churches.

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