scholarly journals Can EU Civil Society Elites Burst the Brussels Bubble? Civil Society Leaders’ Career Trajectories

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 86-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayeon Lindellee ◽  
Roberto Scaramuzzino
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Environmental Policy ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
Career Trajectories ◽  
Revolving Doors ◽  
The Eu

The Brussels-based civil society organizations (CSOs) have been conceived by the EU to act as a bridge between the bureaucratic elites and the citizens of Europe. The institutionalized presence of the major EU-based CSOs has, however, called their legitimacy into question, as exemplified by notions such as ‘revolving doors’ implying homogeneous social, educational, and professional backgrounds shared by both EU officials and CSO leaders. This article therefore asks the following questions: To what extent do the leaders of EU-based CSOs merely reproduce the types of capital that mirror those of the political elites in the so-called ‘Brussels bubble’? To what extent do the CSO leaders bring in other sets of capital and forms of recognition that are independent of the Brussels game? How can we explain differences in the salience of EU capital found across policy areas, types of leadership positions, and types of organizations? Empirically, this article qualitatively analyzes the career trajectories of 17 leaders of EU-based peak CSOs that are active in social and environmental policy areas. Despite the highly integrated and institutionalized characteristics shared by all organizations, we find diversity in the composition of the leaders in terms of the extent to which their career trajectories are embedded in the EU arena.

The World. Challenges of the Global Crisis. Germany

2014 ◽  
pp. 38-52
Author(s):  
I. Semenenko ◽  
G. Irishin
Keyword(s):  
Economic Policy ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Social Market Economy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
Economy Model ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
The World ◽  
Social Market ◽  
The Eu

The economic crisis of 2008–2009 highlighted new problems in the development of the German social market economy model and brought to the forefront the factors of its resilience that have ensured Germany’s leadership positions in the EU. Changes in economic policy have affected in the first place the energy and the financial sectors. Shifts in the political landscape have led to the appearance of new political parties. These changes have affected the results of the 2013 elections, the liberal democrats failure to enter the Bundestag has made the winner – CDU – seek new coalition partners.

scholarly journals Trajectories of Civil Society Leaders in Italy: Individual Careers, Organizational Structures, and Ideological Affiliations

SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 215824402110615
Author(s):  
Cecilia Santilli ◽  
Roberto Scaramuzzino
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
National Level ◽  
Organizational Structures ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Third ◽  
Career Trajectories ◽  
Member Organization ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
The Relationship

The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between individual leaders’ career trajectories and organizational structure and identity in Italian civil society organizations (CSOs) active at national level. The analysis in this qualitative study draws on two sets of data, semi-structured interviews with leaders on their career trajectories and their understanding of what it takes to become a leader of a CSO and short biographies of leaders’ career trajectories. Three main representational logics are idenitified: within: multi-level, within: member-organization, and outside: supporting organization. The two first logics are based on a trajectory within the organizations either departing from the local and regional levels of the same organizations or within one or more member organizations. The third logic is based on a trajectory outside the organization that is marked by the ideological affiliation of the president through leading positions in other organizations within the same movement or field.

Indymedia in Belgium: the delicate balance between media activism and political activism

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 1031-1038
Author(s):  
Robin Van Leeckwyck ◽  
Pieter Maeseele ◽  
Maud Peeters ◽  
David Domingo
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
European Countries ◽  
The Political ◽  
Media Activism ◽  
The Media ◽  
Original Website

Belgium was one of the first European countries to establish a local ‘national’ branch of the global Indymedia network. The diversity of those involved in this ‘national movement’ ultimately turned out to be both the strength of the original website and the cause of its decline. Indeed, due to political and organizational disagreement, many activists decided to create their own ‘local’ Independent Media Centre (IMC). This article distinguishes two perspectives on the role of Indymedia: the political activists saw Indymedia as a means to an end, as an instrument to discuss strategies and tactics, and to coordinate social movements and grassroots movements. The media activists, on the contrary, saw Indymedia as an end in itself, as a platform for civil society organizations to make their voices heard and facilitate democratic debate – in this vein, the experience of Indymedia.be was transformed into the alternative news site DeWereldMorgen.be.

scholarly journals Meta-Cognition of Efficacy and Social Media Usage among Japanese Civil Society Organizations

Information ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 118
Author(s):  
Tomoya Sagara ◽  
Muneo Kaigo ◽  
Yutaka Tsujinaka
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Interest Group ◽  
Political Efficacy ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
The Political ◽  
Media Usage ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Flow Of Information

This paper examines how social media are affecting Japanese civil society organizations, in relation to efficacy and political participation. Using data from the 2017 Japan Interest Group Study survey, we analyzed how the flow of information leads to the political participation of civil society organizations. The total number of respondents (organizations) were 1285 (942 organizations in Tokyo and 343 from Ibaraki). In the analysis of our survey we focused on the data portion related to information behavior and efficacy and investigated the meta-cognition of efficacy in lobbying among civil society organizations in Tokyo and Ibaraki. We found that organizations that use social media were relatively few. However, among the few organizations that use social media, we found that these organizations have a much higher meta-cognition of political efficacy in comparison to those that do not use social media. For instance, social media usage had a higher tendency of having cognition of being able to exert influence upon others. We also found that organizations that interact with citizens have a higher tendency to use social media. The correspondence analysis results point towards a hypothesis of how efficacy and participation are mutually higher among the organizations that use social media in Japan.

Mapping the substance of the EU’s civil society support in Central Asia: From neo-liberal to state-led civil society

2016 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 207-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera Axyonova ◽  
Fabienne Bossuyt
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Program Implementation ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Internal Governance ◽  
Grass Root ◽  
Implementation Level ◽  
Soviet Central Asia ◽  
The Eu

Over the years, civil society empowerment has become an integral part of the European Union’s (EU) external and internal governance as a way to advance democracy and enhance citizen participation. While there has been increasing scholarly attention to the instruments and impact of the EU’s civil society support, so far there has been little research on the question what kind of civil society the EU actually promotes. This article intends to fill this gap by examining the substance of the EU’s civil society support in post- Soviet Central Asia, a region where various forms of civil society organizations (CSOs) exist. The findings reveal a differentiation between civil society types promoted in EU strategic documents and those that are supported in practice. While at the strategic planning level the EU seeks to strengthen civil society broadly construed, at the program implementation level the (neo-) liberal CSOs are the main beneficiaries. At the same time, the EU customizes its civil society assistance depending on the realities on the ground and at times finds itself empowering state-led civil society, while communal groups rarely benefit from the EU assistance schemes. This has severe implications for the advancement of citizen participation, considering that the actual grass-root initiatives are largely excluded from the EU assistance.

scholarly journals Indian Elites and the EU as a Normative Power

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 105-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajendra K. Jain ◽  
Shreya Pandey
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Shared Values ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eurozone Crisis ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Normative Power ◽  
Normative Identity ◽  
The Eu

AbstractDrawing on thirty face-to-face interviews with Indian business, civil society, media and political elites during the period from September 2011 to April 2012, this article seeks to examine the perceptions of Indian elites of the European Union as a normative power. It discusses the evolution of the concept of normative power and the evolution of the EU’s normative identity. It clearly outlines the expansion of the varied roles played by the EU in the course of assuming responsibilities in the capacity of civilian, ethical and normative power of Europe both within its borders and abroad. The article seeks to highlight the diverse external perceptions about the normative power of EU by focusing upon the elite opinion from India. The article captures the changing mood of the elites about the effectiveness of the normative power of the EU with the intensification of the eurozone crisis. It argues that the normative disconnect in worldviews, mindsets and practical agendas between India and the European Union has made it difficult to transform shared values into coordinated policies.

Empowering and Engaging Civil Society in Conflict Resolution: The Case of Nagorno-Karabakh

2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irina Ghaplanyan
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Family Members ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Actual Process ◽  
Political Bargaining ◽  
Civil Societies

AbstractCivil societies in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh have become alienated from the actual process of conflict resolution and need to be engaged in the political bargaining of the issue. This article addresses the importance of engaging civil society more deeply in this process. Only by empowering citizens through greater awareness and engaging civil society will the political elites from all sides of the conflict be forced to act more responsibly and participate in a more sincere and significant dialogue based on compromise rather than threats. To break the current deadlock, a new citizen-based initiative is needed based on a willingness to humanize the alleged enemy, consider options other than war, realize that the lives of immediate family members are at stake, learn about the benefits of compromise, and engage in reconciliation processes.

scholarly journals “We are fortress Europe!” Nativism and religion in the ideology of Pegida in the context of the European crisis

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 53-68
Author(s):  
Mihai Murariu
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
The Other ◽  
Western Civilization ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
European Crisis ◽  
Fortress Europe ◽  
The One

This article deals with the movement known as “Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the Occident,” or Pegida, focusing primarily on the nativist dimension which often takes centre stage in its ideological discourse. Pegida describes itself as a defender of Western Civilization and of its Christian legacy from what it sees as the perils of Islamisation on the one hand, and of globalist political elites on the other. In the context of the political changes and rise of alternative visions of civil society, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, Pegida should arguably be seen as a representative of a growing European nativist wave. Lastly, the article looks at the “Prague Declaration,” a document which was signed in 2016 by Pegida and a number of allied movements from outside of Germany.

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