scholarly journals Practice Theory and the Opening Up of International Organizations

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonie Holthaus
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Practice Theory ◽  
Field Research ◽  
General Level ◽  
Civil Society Organization ◽  
Internal Dynamics ◽  
Self Evaluation ◽  
Theoretical Literature ◽  
Opening Up

Abstract Scholars researching international organizations’ (IO) inclusion of transnational and local civil society organization (CSO) have provided compelling insights; however, according to their self-evaluation, many of these insights remain at a general level. Against this backdrop, I propose two complementary claims. First, I identify a bias in the literature that has focused on large, Western IOs. What non-Western or small IOs do and how their practices interact with CSO inclusion in different localities is often missed. Second, based on bourgeoning practice theoretical literature on IOs and CSOs, I claim that practice theory can add to research on IO-CSO. In spite of internal pluralism, practice theory refines constructivist methodologies for zooming in on IOs’ internal dynamics, daily practices, and performances of the practice of CSO inclusion, including in IO country offices. On the basis of my own field research, I also suggest that the practice of CSO inclusion interacts with power, gender, and race dynamics. In sum, practice theory can inform research on marginalized and often power-ridden specificities among and within IOs in relation to IO-CSO interaction.

Keeping Your Enemies Close? The Variety of Social Movements’ Reactions to International Organizations’ Opening Up

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix Anderl ◽  
Priska Daphi ◽  
Nicole Deitelhoff
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
International Relations ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Global Justice ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Global Justice Movement ◽  
History Of ◽  
Opening Up

Abstract Starting in the 1990s, international organizations (IOs) have created various opportunities of access for civil society to voice criticism. While international relations (IR) scholarship has increasingly addressed the resulting interaction between IOs and civil society with a focus on NGOs, we know little about the particular reactions to IOs’ opening up by social movements. This paper analyzes reactions to opening up by a transnational social movement centrally addressing IOs: the Global Justice Movement (GJM). Examining reactions by different groups of the GJM in Europe and Southeast Asia to IOs’ opening up, we demonstrate that reactions differ considerably depending on activists’ assessments of the nature of opening up. In particular, we identify four pathways of reactions on a continuum from (1) strong cooperation with IOs as a reaction to opening up, (2) temporally limited cooperation with different IOs, (3) a hybrid reaction that combines cooperation with specific IOs with a strong opposition to other IOs in reaction to their opening up, to (4) a continuous rejection of all cooperation with IOs. We show how these different reactions are shaped by activists’ perceptions of the quality of the international opening up in conjunction with national and local context factors. Furthermore, our analysis demonstrates that such perceptions can significantly change over time depending on experiences of interactions. Reactions to opening up are therefore not predictable on the basis of a movement's shape and resources only, but rather depend on a variety of factors such as the movement's perception of the IO's sincerity in a strategic and consequential interaction, as well as the movement's ideological framework and its history of interaction with institutions at other levels, especially in the domestic realm.

scholarly journals Attrition as a bottom-up pathway to subnational democratization

2021 ◽  
pp. 019251212110192
Author(s):  
Trix van Mierlo
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Causal Process ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
System A ◽  
Extensive Field ◽  
Democratic System

Oftentimes, democracy is not spread out evenly over the territory of a country. Instead, pockets of authoritarianism can persist within a democratic system. A growing body of literature questions how such subnational authoritarian enclaves can be democratized. Despite fascinating insights, all existing pathways rely on the actions of elites and are therefore top-down. This article seeks to kick-start the discussion on a bottom-up pathway to subnational democratization, by proposing the attrition mechanism. This mechanism consists of four parts and is the product of abductive inference through theory-building causal process tracing. The building blocks consist of subnational democratization literature, social movement theory, and original empirical data gathered during extensive field research. This case study focuses on the ‘Dynasty Slayer’ in the province of Isabela, the Philippines, where civil society actors used the attrition mechanism to facilitate subnational democratization. This study implies that civil society actors in subnational authoritarian enclaves have agency.

scholarly journals The Construction of Peace in the Chiapas Highlands: Indigenous Resistance to Structural Violence

2020 ◽  
pp. 0094582X2097501
Author(s):  
Efrén Orozco López ◽  
Leonardo Nicolás González Torres
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Structural Violence ◽  
Volunteer Work ◽  
Civil Society Organization ◽  
Solidarity Economy ◽  
Social Fabric ◽  
Indigenous Resistance ◽  
The Social ◽  
Sociedad Civil

The indigenous community of Acteal in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico, has been subject to both direct and structural violence in the form of the massacre that took place there in 1997 and the impunity that has persisted ever since. In response to the violence, the community has constructed political, social, and cultural alternatives through the movement known as the Las Abejas of Acteal Civil Society Organization. Its reconstruction of the social fabric has included participation in assembies, volunteer work for the collective, exchange of experiences, food production for subsistence, a solidarity economy, and the systematization and sharing of experiences. La comunidad indígena de Acteal en las tierras altas de Chiapas, México, ha sido objeto de violencia tanto directa y estructural a partir de la masacre que tuvo lugar allí en 1997, así como la impunidad que ha persistido desde entonces. En respuesta a la violencia, la comunidad ha construido alternativas políticas, sociales y culturales a través del movimiento conocido como Organización Sociedad Civil Las Abejas de Acteal. Su reconstrucción del tejido social ha incluido la participación en asambleas, el voluntariado para el colectivo, el intercambio de experiencias, la producción de alimentos para subsistencia, una economía solidaria, y la sistematización e intercambio de experiencias.

scholarly journals From Black to Blue Skies: Civil Society Perceptions of Air Pollution in Shanghai

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Amanda K. Winter ◽  
Huong Le ◽  
Simon Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Qualitative Case Study ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Ecological Civilization ◽  
Civil Society Participation ◽  
Quality Indexes

Abstract This paper explores the perception and politics of air pollution in Shanghai. We present a qualitative case study based on a literature review of relevant policies and research on civil society and air pollution, in dialogue with air quality indexes and field research data. We engage with the concept of China's authoritarian environmentalism and the political context of ecological civilization. We find that discussions about air pollution are often placed in a frame that is both locally temporal (environment) and internationally developmentalist (economy). We raise questions from an example of three applications with different presentations of air quality index measures for the same time and place. This example and frame highlight the central role and connection between technology, data and evidence, and pollution visibility in the case of the perception of air pollution. Our findings then point to two gaps in authoritarian environmentalism research, revealing a need to better understand (1) the role of technology within this governance context, and (2) the tensions created from this non-participatory approach with ecological civilization, which calls for civil society participation.

“boys of God”: the experience of re-socialization of adolescents and young people in conflict with the law in the Santa Filomena community

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zilmara Alves da Silva ◽  
Maria Helena Santana Cruz
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Young People ◽  
Open Space ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Youth Gang ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
The Law ◽  
Mutual Care

This research aims to analyze the resocialization process of the second generation of adolescents and young people from the Meninos de Deus project and the contributions of socio-affective relationships in the resignification of individual trajectory in the context of violence in the Santa Filomena community. The study is necessary to understand the importance of strengthening the resocialization processes in an open space, which has the triad of public authorities, civil society and the community as the executing nucleus of socio-educational measures. The Meninos de Deus group was born in 2007 and was born from a pact, among youths in conflict with the law, based on the premise of mutual care, commitment to life and in the re-socializing walk with the community. In this group, the feeling of belonging is opposed to the feeling that young people and adolescents in conflict with the law had with the youth gang or the criminal faction they belonged. The methodology to be used is ethnography, where we will use field research, characterized as an integration of data obtained in the field and by bibliographic reading.

scholarly journals Involvement of Civil Society Organization in Facilitating the Implementation of Ten Steps for Successful Breastfeeding: Analysis of Health Care Workers’ Perspectives?

2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (Supplement) ◽  
pp. S436-S442
Author(s):  
Pande Putu JANURAGA ◽  
Edwina FRISDIANTINY ◽  
Yessi CROSITA ◽  
Wahdini HAKIM ◽  
Doddy IZWARDY ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Health Care Workers ◽  
Civil Society Organization ◽  
Care Workers

scholarly journals PERAN CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATION (CSO) DALAM PERUMUSAN KEBIJAKAN PUBLIK (KAJIAN DI KABUPATEN PONOROGO)

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 59
Author(s):  
Ardhana Januar Mahardhani ◽  
Sulton Sulton ◽  
Sunarto Sunarto
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Civil Society Organization

Setelah memasuki era reformasi, pergerakan Civil Society Organization (CSO) di Indonesia lebih berperan sebagai penyeimbang negara, peran itupun juga berlaku pada CSO yang ada di daerah, keberadaan CSO tersebut menjadi sangat penting karena menjadi alternatif penyeimbang antara kepala daerah dan DPRD, oleh karena itu keberadaan CSO dapat menjadi bagian terpenting dalam proses  perumusan kebijakan agar lebih sehat, bersifat terbuka dan partisipatif. Kabupaten Ponorogo merupakan salah satu kabupaten yang sangat dinamis dalam hal keberadaan CSO yang ada ataupun kegiatan pemerintah dalam keluarnya kebijakan. Dalam proses politik yang timbul dalam penentuan kebijakan juga melibatkan peran CSO dalam rangka untuk memperkecil polemik yang ada di masyarakat Penelitian ini menggunakan desain kualitatif diskriptif karena akan menafsirkan fenomena yang terjadi di Kabupaten Ponorogo. Dari hasil penelitian, didapatkan kesimpulan yaitu Kabupaten Ponorogo akan melibatkan CSO dalam rangka menjaga prinsip keterbukaan dalam good governance, adapun peran CSO tersebut adalah: 1) Menjadi penghubung antara masyarakat dan pemerintah, 2) Mengakomodasi kepentingan masyarakat, 3) Mendorong adanya jaringan antar kelompok masyarakat, dan 4) Membangun kolaborasi antara pemerintah, masyarakat, serta pihak ketiga.

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