Chinese NGOs at the interface between governmentality and local society: An actor-oriented perspective

2020 ◽  
pp. 0920203X2094209
Author(s):  
Qing Liu ◽  
David A. Palmer
Keyword(s):  
International Development ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
The State ◽  
State Agencies ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Local Society ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Anthropological Study ◽  
Chinese Ngos

The relations between society and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been relatively neglected in the field of China NGO studies, which remains largely wedded to a state–NGO problematic within a state–society framework. In this anthropological study of an NGO’s post-Wenchuan earthquake recovery programme, we adopt an actor-oriented approach to identify the main lines of tension between the strategies, rationalities, and techniques deployed by the different actors in the field. Focusing on NGO–society relations, we take the NGO not as an incarnation of society vis-a-vis the state, nor as an incarnation of the state vis-a-vis society, but as a key link in a shifting chain of state and non-state actors that aims to introduce to local society an assemblage of techniques, discourses, and values for the promotion of self-government. This ‘international development package’ is a specific form of what social scientists have theorized as ‘governmentality’. In this case study, the modalities of participation and cooperative self-government promoted within this development package are in tension with local values, social relations, and political structures. The case shows that dynamic tensions between the actors are mediated by the deployment of practices of governance that circulate between international institutions and networks, state agencies, NGOs, and local authorities and actors.

International NGOs as intermediaries in China's ‘going out’ strategy

2021 ◽  
Vol 97 (6) ◽  
pp. 1945-1962
Author(s):  
May Farid ◽  
Hui Li
Keyword(s):  
International Development ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
State Agencies ◽  
Intangible Resources ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Global Engagement ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
International Ngos ◽  
Chinese State ◽  
Depth Interviews

Abstract China's ascendancy as a global development actor has significant implications for geostrategic dynamics and international development. While the push to ‘go out’ has been seen as a major strategy of the Chinese state, the actors are increasingly diversifying, including Chinese state agencies, businesses and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). We analyse the inconspicuous but important involvement of international NGOs (INGOs) in China's globalizing strategy. Drawing on in-depth interviews, we develop an integrated framework for INGOs as intermediaries in China's ‘going out’ strategy, based on the content of intermediary support (tangible vs intangible resources) and the function of the intermediary (bridging vs initiating). These intermediary roles have implications for how INGOs navigate conflicts between their domestic work in China and their outbound efforts, INGO legitimacy as actors that promote global norms or as ambassadors of the party-state, and the extent to which they facilitate Chinese expansion and soft power or shape China's global engagement. We show how INGOs as northern actors continue to play a role in South–South Cooperation. Our findings shed light on how global civil society chooses to invest its significant material and discursive resources, and how global actors under authoritarianism internalize, resist or promote its projects.

scholarly journals The role of civil society in fostering government accountability in contemporary Serbia: On the limits of depoliticized social activism

Sociologija ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 637-661 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danilo Vukovic
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
International Development ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Social Activism ◽  
The State ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Government Accountability ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations

It is often assumed that vibrant civil society is precondition for democracy, government accountability and rule of law. Following this assumption, international development agencies, civil society organizations and even governments are participating in activities aiming for the social accountability, that is, accountability of governments towards societies. In this article I am analyzing activities of prominent Serbian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the field of fostering government accountability. The analysis focuses on their ability to shift the balance of social and political power away from the state. The analysis is primarily based on empirical data collected through a series of in-depth interviews with representatives of NGOs. It reveals that NGOs follow policy-not-politics, that is, a depoliticized approach, that they target individual citizens and not social groups and nurture relationships with state institutions and public officials with whom they cooperate. They demonstrate a weak ability to (1) initiate wider civic mobilization or (2) establish solid institutional preconditions for government accountability. Thus, available data suggests that Serbian NGOs have weak potential to contest power of the state and thus contribute to strengthening government accountability and rule of law.

scholarly journals The Role of Donor Agencies in Promoting Standardized Project Management in the Spanish Development Non-Government Organizations

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1490
Author(s):  
Agustín Moya-Colorado ◽  
Nina León-Bolaños ◽  
José L. Yagüe-Blanco
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
International Development ◽  
Management Practice ◽  
Development Cooperation ◽  
Management Tools ◽  
Governmental Organization ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Funding Mechanisms ◽  
Donor Agencies

Project management is an autonomous discipline that is applied to a huge diversity of activity sectors and that has evolved enormously over the last decades. International Development Cooperation has incorporated some of this discipline’s tools into its professional practice, but many gaps remain. This article analyzes donor agencies’ project management approaches in their funding mechanisms for projects implemented by non-governmental organizations. As case study, we look at the Spanish decentralized donor agencies (Spanish autonomous communities). The analysis uses the PM2 project management methodology of the European Commission, as comparison framework, to assess and systematize the documentation, requirements, and project management tools that non-governmental organizations need to use and fulfill as a condition to access these donors’ project funding mechanisms. The analysis shows coincidence across donors in the priority given to project management areas linked to the iron triangle (scope, cost, and time) while other areas are mainly left unattended. The analysis also identifies industry-specific elements of interest (such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals) that need to be incorporated into project management practice in this field. The use of PM2 as benchmark provides a clear vision of the project management areas that donors could address to better support their non-governmental organization-implemented projects.

Democratization, Nationalism and Regional Security in the Southern Caucasus

1997 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Neil MacFarlane
Keyword(s):  
International Development ◽  
The United States ◽  
Regional Security ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Pressure Groups ◽  
Democratic Reform ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Independent States

FOR SOME YEARS NOW, WESTERN ACADEMICS AND POLICY-MAKERS HAVE embraced the cause of democratic reform in Central and Eastern Europe. To take but one well-known example, President Clinton in the 1994 State of the Union Address cited the absence of war among democracies as a reason for promotion of democracy around the world. Assistance to former Warsaw Pact and newly independent states has been made conditional to varying degrees on the acceptance of democratic change. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the European Union, the United States Agency for International Development and associated non-governmental organizations have unleashed armies of promoters of democracy throughout the region to: observe elections; monitor human rights; draft new constitutions and laws defending civil and political rights; train judges and police personnel; and organize and assist political parties, media and non-governmental pressure groups. In short, they have sought to transplant the fabric of civil society and democratic institutions. These armies have landed on terrain often quite foreign to them and have often displayed little sensitivity to the social, economic and political context in which they are operating. This may have contributed to results other than those intended.

From Local Activism to Local Politics: The Case of Moscow

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 577-604 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yana Gorokhovskaia
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Local Politics ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Candidates ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Private Realm ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Local Problems ◽  
Training And Support

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.

scholarly journals СУБ'ЄКТНИЙ СКЛАД МУНІЦИПАЛЬНОЇ ПРАВОВОЇ ПОЛІТИКИ УКРАЇНИ

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Руслан Миколайович Хван
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Management ◽  
The State ◽  
Development Trends ◽  
Legal Policy ◽  
Legal Personality ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
The Status

Annotation. The article examines the essence of municipal legal policy as a system of strategic management of self-government activities. The essence and characteristics of local self-government entities, their individual categories, patterns and development trends have been investigated. It is emphasized that territorial communities, directly or indirectly, their authorities, non-governmental organizations exercise their legal personality both within the state and outside it. The prospects of functioning, improving the status of local self-government subjects have been determined..

الأحكام الإجرائية والموضوعية لانضمام فلسطين للمعاهدات الدولية

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Ahmed A. A. Shehab ◽  
Nurazmallail Marni
Keyword(s):  
Legal System ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Competent Authority ◽  
The State ◽  
International Treaties ◽  
International Treaty ◽  
Historical Method ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
National Constitution

The international treaties are among the most important sources of international law. Recent years have witnessed an exaggerated interest by the international community in the development of the international legal system through the legislation of treaties and the implementation of international commissions, bodies and non-governmental organizations. The State is no longer bound by the national Constitution and domestic legislations, but also by a series of international treaties and their obligations and responsibilities at the international and national levels. In order to ensure the validity of these procedures, the treaty requires the parties to regulate procedures for the accession to treaties within the national legal system and to determine the legal value of the international treaty in national law and the mechanism of integration and harmonization, whether by an independent law or by texting in the Constitution on the validity of the signing of treaties and its ratification. There is no doubt that the legal position in the Palestinian legislation is unclear regarding the procedural and substantive provisions of international treaties and their application in the legal system, compared to other laws that deal strictly with the legal organization of international treaties. This study aims at separating the procedural and substantive provisions of the accession to international treaties and their applications in the State of Palestine including the identification of the competent authority to sign the Convention, the mechanism for its ratification and the legal value accorded to the international treaty in Palestinian legislation by using the analytical descriptive method, the historical method, and the comparative method. تعد المعاهدات الدولية من أهم مصادر القانون الدولي، ولقد شهدت السنوات الأخيرة اهتماما مبالغا من المجتمع الدولي في تطوير المنظومة القانونية الدولية، من خلال تشريع المعاهدات وإعمال اللجان والهيئات الدولية، والمنظمات غير الحكومية، ولم تعد بذلك الدولة ملزمة بالدستور الوطني والتشريعات الداخلية فحسب، بل بمجموعة من المعاهدات الدولية أيضا،ً وما يترتب عليها من واجبات والتزامات ومسؤوليات على الصعيد الدولي والوطني. ولضمان صحة هذه الإجراءات توجب المعاهدة على الأطراف تنظيم إجراءات الانضمام المعاهدات ضمن المنظومة القانونية الوطنية وتحديد القيمة القانون للمعاهدة الدولية في القانون الوطني وآلية الإدماج والمواءمة، س واء بإصدار قانونٍ مستقل، أو النص في الدستور على صلاحية عقد المعاهدات والتوقيع والتصديق عليها. ولا شك أن الموقف القانوني في التشريع الفلسطيني يتسم بعدم الوضوح فيما يتعلق بالأحكام الإجرائية والموضوعية بإبرام المعاهدات الدولية وتطبيقها في النظام القانوني، مقارنة بقوانين أخرى تتناول بدقة التنظيم القانوني لإبرام المعاهدات الدولية، وتهدف هذه الدراسة لبيان الأحكام الإجرائية والموضوعية للانضمام للمعاهدات الدولية، وتطبيقاتها في دولة فلسطين بما يشمل تحديد السلطة المختصة بالتوقيع على الاتفاقية، وآلية التصديق عليها، والقيمة القانونية الممنوحة للمعاهدة الدولية في التشريعات الفلسطينية. وذلك باستخدام المنهج الوصفي التحليلي، والمنهج التاريخي، والمنهج المقارن.

The Reach of the State

Unruly People ◽  
2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Antony
Keyword(s):  
Military Personnel ◽  
The State ◽  
Community Leaders ◽  
State Agencies ◽  
Local Society ◽  
Mutual Advantage ◽  
Grassroots Level ◽  
State Agents ◽  
State And Local ◽  
The Relationship

Contrary to conventional wisdom, which informs us that the reach of the state stopped at the county yamen, in chapter 4 the author argues that state agencies, particularly subcounty officials, yamen staff, and military personnel, actually penetrated deep into local society and played an indispensable role in law enforcement efforts at the grassroots level. Although there were tensions in the relationship, nonetheless it was to their mutual advantage that state agents and community leaders cooperate to rid the countryside of social disorders caused by bandits. Major conduits for this cooperation were the mutual surveillance (baojia) and local constable (dibao) systems, both of which operated in the nebulous space between state and local society. All of these efforts, I argue, had mixed results for local crime prevention.

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