Youth as Agenda-Setters between Donors and Beneficiaries: The Limited Role of Libyan Youth after 2011

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-71
Author(s):  
Chiara Loschi
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Political Change ◽  
International Project ◽  
Old Regime ◽  
Professional Advancement ◽  
Foreign Demand ◽  
New Class ◽  
International Projects

Abstract Based on interviews with young Libyan professionals carried out between 2017 and 2018, this paper examines their role as agenda-setters in international organizations operating in their country since 2011. The growing foreign demand for local expertise after the fall of the old regime was met mostly by the young activists who had helped organize the 2011 uprisings. For foreign organizations, Libyan youth have come to embody brokers, fixers, go-betweens, and persons-in-between, becoming key supporting actors in international project implementation. Despite the opportunities seemingly afforded by the collapse of the old regime, this paper shows that Libyan youth, torn between desires for political change and professional advancement, have struggled to influence the agendas of international organizations, leading to feelings of disenfranchisement. The transformative capacity of international projects is thus often limited by this new class of young, globalized elites who are disengaged from the local needs and realities facing Libyan civil society.

Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Jehan Bseiso ◽  
Michiel Hofman ◽  
Jonathan Whittall
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Services ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Recent History ◽  
Laws Of War ◽  
War On Terrorism ◽  
Internally Displaced ◽  
Entire Country

Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and millions displaced in a decade of conflict in Syria. The devastation caused by the unrelenting war makes this crisis one of the most serious humanitarian disasters in recent history. The widely reported and available numbers—more than six million internally displaced and five million refugees, roughly half the population of the entire country—reflects only a fraction of the conflict’s toll (OCHA 2019). Hundreds of thousands of people have been besieged, hospitals have been destroyed, and humanitarian access has been restricted. This has led to countless denunciations from international organizations, states, and civil society movements calling for the laws of war to be respected, sieges lifted, and humanitarian access facilitated. But beneath each of these humanitarian appeals lies a complex reality extending beyond the binary narratives that have come to define the Syria war: of an “evil regime” willing to demolish neutral hospitals in its quest to defeat a popular uprising, or of “terrorists” using hospitals to launch attacks against a legitimate government. Indeed, each reasonable demand for a more humane conduct of warfare interacts with the complexity of Syria’s history and the role of social services in the postcolonial period, the evolution of the application of the law of war in the context of a war on terrorism, the lived experiences of the tactic of siege that follows Syrians across borders, the use and manipulation of humanitarian narratives to fuel complex ...

11. Social Capital and Civil Society

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Letki
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Change ◽  
New Democracies ◽  
Modern Democracy ◽  
Civic Activism ◽  
Trust And Reciprocity ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter examines the role of civil society and social capital in democratization processes. It begins by reconstructing the definitions of civil society and social capital in the context of political change, followed by an analysis of the ways in which civil society and social capital are functional for the initiation and consolidation of democracies. It then considers the relationship between civil society and attitudes of trust and reciprocity, the function of networks and associations in democratization, paradoxes of civil society and social capital in new democracies, and main arguments cast against the idea that civic activism and attitudes are a necessary precondition for a modern democracy. The chapter argues that civil society and social capital and their relation to political and economic institutions are context specific.

Social and Political Victims Become the Founders of a New Democratic Civil Society under Dictatorial Rule

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Musil
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Institutional Change ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Spanish History ◽  
Democratic Change

With this paper I would like to contribute to the on-going re-evaluation of the role of the different agents of social and political change during the Democratisation process not only in Catalonia, but also in overall Spain. Re-evaluation, in which sometimes Democratisation of society, political change and institutional change are confounded. The anti-Francoist Movements in Barcelona, I will present here, are not anything new for the scientific community of the late Francoism and Democratic Change in Spain.However,  I ask you to read this article in the broader framework of this present re-evaluation of the contemporary Spanish history.

Civil Society Approach

2019 ◽  
pp. 151-160
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Ekiert
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Distinct Mode ◽  
Quality Of Democracy ◽  
Beneficial Role ◽  
Political Transformations ◽  
Over Time

The idea of civil society resurrected in the 1970s has been one of the most important concepts guiding reflection on political transformations of contemporary societies. This chapter discusses various understandings of the concept and the asserted role civil society has in shaping political and economic outcomes. It points to established consensus on the beneficial role of civil society as a political project and a set of normative principles, but it emphasizes disagreements about how civil society is defined and measured, how it evolves over time, what dimensions of politics and public policy it shapes, and what are the mechanisms through which it affects the quality of democracy and resistance to authoritarianism. It also explores the idea of the civil society strategy as a distinct mode of political transformations as opposed to the revolutionary strategy. Finally, it suggests that civil society can be construed as a discrete analytical optics for analysing political change.

scholarly journals Captured by State and Church: Concerns about Civil Society in Democratic Hungary

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnes Kover
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Service ◽  
Nonprofit Sector ◽  
Third Sector ◽  
Old Regime ◽  
The Past ◽  
The One ◽  
Civil Sector ◽  
Church Organizations

AbstractThis paper conceptualizes challenges and dangers that have impacted Hungary’s civil society (third sector, nonprofit sector, voluntary sector) over the past decade. The cases presented illustrate the fragility of both the civil sector and its underlying democracy in Hungary. The boundaries between state and nonprofits reveal pervasive paternalistic/cliental processes stemming from the period between the two world wars and pre-1989 experience of public–private relations and issue management. On the one hand, old regime strategies have survived and been maintained by the overt and unreflected dependency of the civil sector on the state. Secondly, the boundaries between church organizations and civil nonprofits present a politically mis(non)managed process that has resulted in a fading role of non-church NGOs in the field of social service. This process can be traced back to an unequal and biased treatment of service provider organizations in an allegedly sector-neutral environment. Both cases illuminate operations that have resulted in a significant dismantling of the civil sector and a consequent deterioration of democracy in Hungary.

Looking for Solidarność in Central Asia: The Role of Human Rights Organizations in Political Change

Slavic Review ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 442-462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Grodsky
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Critical Factor ◽  
Resource Dependency ◽  
Effective Strategy ◽  
Human Rights Organizations

According to scholars of resource dependency, foreign funding can weaken rather than strengthen civil society abroad, ultimately impeding its effectiveness. Yet the spate of recent “democratic revolutions” in semiauthoritarian, postcommunist states suggests that pumping foreign money into the nongovernmental sphere can be an effective strategy. In this paper Brian Grodsky argues that a critical factor in assessing the likelihood that a given organizational movement will succumb to the ills of resource dependency is the type of politicization within that movement. Those organizations composed of members primarily motivated by ideology are logically less likely to succumb to resource dependency than those organizations dominated by political aspirants intent on converting democratization into their own political power. Two case studies, communist-era Poland and contemporary Uzbekistan, provide support for this theory.

scholarly journals The Relationship between Local and International Organizations and Community Development

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 24
Author(s):  
Manal Farouk Sayed Ali
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Services ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
The Past ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Self Reliance ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
The Relationship

Although there are numerous definitions and theories of the concept of development, many developing countries continue to suffer from problems associated with lack of development and environmental degradation. It seems that states in developing countries are not effectively facing the increasing requirements for development. In response, institutions and organizations of civil society stepped-up to promote the realization of social development and self-reliance among the citizens. In consequence, the past twenty years witnessed the birth of many national and international non-governmental organizations which started to deliver social services to the population. However, and with reference to Egypt, conflicting opinions questioning the relationship between these organizations and the development of civil society have started to emerge. This paper attempts to investigate first the role of these societies in the development of civil society and review the controversy over this role. The attempt will also touch upon and evaluate several studies which relate to the role of these organizations in the development of civil society in Egypt.  

scholarly journals De Civiele Maatschappij: Een 'Nieuwe' Partner in een 'Oud' Systeem?

Afrika Focus ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 19 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 5-42
Author(s):  
Thomas Vervisch
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
International Development ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
International Consensus ◽  
The World ◽  
Formal Relations ◽  
Governance Reforms

Civil Society in Africa: A 'new' partner in an 'old' system? Since the 1990s, there has been a growing consensus in the international development community about the role of civil society as a relevant partner in economic development and political change all over the world. This article places this debate in the context of state-society relations in Sub-Sahara-Africa. As will become clear, the international consensus is based on one specific and highly normative interpretation of this relation between state and civil society. This consensus defines civil society as an independent actor vis-à-vis the state, capable of championing democratic and governance reforms. Our own argument starts from the assumption that this interpretation ignores the complex interrelatedness of state and civil society in African societies. As such, we propose a theoretical framework that recognizes a plurality of different state-society relations and also pays attention to informal as well as formal relations between state and civil society. By doing so, we question the international consensus about the role civil society can play in Sub-Sahara-Africa.

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