‘What Will We Be without Them?’ Rural Intellectuals in the State and NGOs in Zimbabwe’s Crisis-Ridden Countryside

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 595-610 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Moore ◽  
Zenzo Moyo

Research on NGOs in rural Zimbabwe suggests that ideas of automatic opposition between ‘civil society’ and/or non-governmental organizations and authoritarian states are too simple. Rather, relations between state and non-state organizations such as those referenced in this article, in the rural district of Mangwe about 200 kilometres south-west of Zimbabwe’s Bulawayo, are symbiotic. This contrasts with urban areas where political histories have led to more contested state-civil society relations in the last two decades, during which social movements with a degree of counter-hegemonic (or counter-regime) aspirations were allied with many NGOs and opposition political parties. Gramsci’s idea of ‘rural intellectuals’ could complement the widely used notion of ‘organic intellectuals’ to examine the members of the intelligentsia appearing to be at one with subordinate groups in the countryside and at odds with the state. Likewise state workers distant from the centre and close to their class peers in NGOs as well as their ‘subjects’ may operate with autonomy from their masters in ruling parties and states to assist, rather than repress, citizens and also to co-operate with NGO workers. This research indicates that discerning how hegemony works across whole state-society complexes is more complicated than usually perceived, given the many regional variations therein.

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):  
Inese Grumolte-Lerhe ◽  
◽  
Ainārs Lerhis ◽  

The aim of this article is to analyse the activity of agents of civil society – the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Russia, which create and disseminate the interpretations of historic milestones of the 20th century. The article demonstrates how factors, which have classically been regarded as characte-ristics for the civil society that is independent from direct interference of the state, become the tools directly controlled by the state. Thus, democratic and rational discussion on milestones of history is dis-torted. Several NGOs disseminate narratives elaborated and supported one-sidedly by the state while pre-sented as independent from it and thus – reliable and sound. The arguments put forward by these agents to justify their claims marginalize alternative views due to their imperative nature.


Politics ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Ferdinand ◽  
Robert Garner ◽  
Stephanie Lawson

This chapter examines the ways in which governance and organizations influence global politics. It first provides an overview of what an international organization is, focusing on intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental organizations, before discussing the rise of organizations in the global sphere from the nineteenth century onwards. It then takes a look at the major intergovernmental institutions that emerged in the twentieth century and which have played a major role in shaping global order, including the League of Nations and its successor, the United Nations (UN). The chapter concludes with an analysis of ideas about social movements and civil society, along with their relationship to contemporary governance and organizations.


Author(s):  
Bohdan Kopylchak

Relevance of the research topic. It is impossible to build a civil society without forming an effective engine of its development in all spheres of the state. In order to take measures in a sphere of youth politics, the public authorities should get support to its subjects including Youth NGO’s. NGO which is able to develop singly and develop subjects around during a long period of time should become a basis for improving youth policy of the state. Such development is only possible with the help of mechanisms and tools of strategic management, which makes this research up-to-date. Formulation of the problem. Strategic management of developing an organisation requires a detailed study from the point of view of development and implementation of management concept. It states mechanisms and tools which should be used in the organisation`s activity. In regard with the fact that development of NGO was forced by both evolutional and revolutionary changes, the possibility of applying the developed concepts of strategic management for the functioning of concrete types of organisations should be critically analysed. Analysis of the last research and publications. Theory of concepts of strategic management was thoroughly reviewed in works by M. Nebava, O. Ratushnyak, V. Ortina, L. Fedulowa, Z. Shershnyova and O. Stoliarenko. In addition to this, researches on strategic management were also considered. In works of A.Tompsom and A.Stricland, K.Prahalad and H.Hamel, I.Nonaka and H.Takeuchi and B.Wernerfeld. Strategic management in NGO’s was considered by M.Zemba, V.Melenivska, O. Hlebushkina, H.Kachura, T.Azarova, L.Abramova etc. However, the implementation of concepts of strategic management in the activity of NGO’s is not studied enough. This causes a need for thorough comprehensive research which requires a detailed analysis of existing concepts and approaches to strategic management. Selection of unexplored parts of the general problem. It is hard for youth NGO’s in Ukraine to pick up an effective concept of strategic management. It is a result of both operating conditions and absence of thorough theoretical basis so as most of the concepts were developed for the functioning of the commercial organisation. So, the important part of the problem which needs a solution is a definition of main provisions of the concept of strategic management which will meet the needs of development of Youth NGO. Setting the task, the purpose of the study. Among the main objectives of the article which let to approach the solution of the stated problem can be highlighted the necessity of developing a system of methods and tools of strategic management of Youth NGO. On the basis of this system and existing concepts, it is expedient to form a model of a concept of strategic management of Youth NGOs. Method or methodology of conducting research. Methods of system-structural analysis and synthesis, retrospection, dialectical and methods of generalization, grouping, comparison and other methods became a methodological basis of the article. Presentation of the main material (results of the work). The article considers the necessity of using the paradigm of strategic management for the development of the organization. The system of methods and tools of strategic management of youth non-governmental organizations is developed. The stages of development of the concepts of strategic management are analysed. The link between the strategic objectives of youth non-governmental organizations is determined. The concept of comprehensive strategic management for use by youth non-governmental organizations is proposed. Field of application of the results. Results of this research may be applied during management of the Youth NGO and during the formation of the state’s youth policy according to participants of NGOs in building up the civil society. Conclusions according to the article. Application of the concept of strategic management allows the youth NGOs to change the way of acting from management according to operative tasks to strategic management with the help of a comprehensive approach to perspectives of NGO’s development.


2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-72
Author(s):  
Grażyna Szymańska-Matusiewicz

In this essay, I analyze Vietnamese migrant associations in Poland, which have been routinely classified as “non-governmental organizations.” And yet, through their involvement in networks of relationships with a broad range of actors, including transnational connections with institutions back in Vietnam, they are in fact positioned in a liminal zone between the state and civil society. On the one hand, migrant associations are to a large extent entangled with the politics of the Vietnamese state through various channels, including the embassy, and through personal and institutional connections maintained with mass organizations such as the Fatherland Front and the Women’s Union. On the other hand, they are able to retain some degree of autonomy and pluralism, remaining active agents engaged with the fraught social and political activities of Vietnamese diasporics in Poland.


2000 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 441-463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard T. Antoun

In the 1990s, the concept of civil society has inspired a variety of publications by Western scholars studying the Middle East and has become the rallying cry for representatives of Western governments interested in promoting democracy in the region. The great majority of such publications and government promotions assume that the Middle East does not have, or has only in very weakly developed forms, the institutions that constitute a civil society. By “civil institutions” they mean such things as labor unions, political parties, independent newspapers and universities, and, most important, voluntary associations—for example, human-rights organizations, professional associations, charitable organizations, and non-governmental organizations.1 Discounted in this discussion is the possibility that the Middle East has its own resilient civil institutions undergoing their own transformations in the global society at the end of the century. In Jordan, this gigantic oversight reflects a misunderstanding of what “tribal” institutions are and do.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-98
Author(s):  
Mahmut Ulas Gozutok

Non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) play a key role for providing a platform for citizens to raise their discontents in democratic settings. NGO activities for encouraging democratic public engagement pose no threats against stability in consolidated democratic regimes with effectively functioning political parties. On the other hand, they can be acontentious issue in countries with shaky foundations of democracy. In fact, Huntington mainly champions in one of his most widely cited works by the civil society literature the idea that associations of social capital such as civil society can have detrimental repercussions on stability and order in infantile democratic regimes since political parties in such contexts are argued to be ill‐equipped to handle challenges brought bymodernization. On the other hand, primary elements of social capital (i.e.civil society) are acknowledged to be the prerequisites for effectivefunctioning of democracies.Keywords: NGOs, democracy, civil society, social capital


2021 ◽  
Vol 01 (01) ◽  
pp. 4-8
Author(s):  
Jaloliddin Ne'matjonovich Polvanov ◽  

This article discusses the formation of views on a democratic state governed by the rule of law and civil society. The article also discusses the state guarantees and support for the protection of non-governmental organizations. In legal democracies, strong governance is largely the responsibility of civil society institutions. At the same time, the direct participation of the public in the implementation of governance will be expanded. A self-governing society is based on strong non-governmental structures.


2021 ◽  
pp. 230-247
Author(s):  
Marva Khan ◽  
Muhammad Atif Sheikh ◽  
Abia Akram

This chapter delves into the evolution of disability rights and assistive technology in Pakistan. The chapter firstly highlights various initiatives toward increasing inclusivity for disabled persons by all three branches of the state, namely, the executive, legislature, and the judiciary. Next, the chapter traces how contemporary advancements in technology have bolstered inclusivity, with a considerable role played by private educational and corporate institutions and non-governmental organizations. It then highlights the various avenues of public–private partnerships that have opened up because of information and communications technology (ICT) advancements. The chapter culminates with recommendations for the state and civil society to further tap into channels such as corporate social responsibility and provide a nurturing ground to the private sector to further bolster the ongoing efforts.


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