scholarly journals Capturing resources: The role of professional communities and middle classes in fostering social reforms within Serbia

Sociologija ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danilo Vukovic
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Professional Associations ◽  
Professional Communities ◽  
Social Reforms ◽  
Middle Classes ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Public Resources

In this article, I analyze the role of professionals (as part of the middle classes) and their communities in fostering reforms within the fields of higher education and social protection, and working towards, and supporting, the development of civil society. The analysis is based on the series of studies that explored lawmaking and policy-making processes in the fields of law, employment, social protection, rural development, tax policies and civil society development. The analysis of the work of professional communities, and the course of changes in these fields, indicates that policy networks had a major impact on the public policymaking process. These networks bring together typical representatives of the middle class: professionals, government officials, professional associations, representatives of modern non-governmental organizations, etc. The interests, upon which these networks were based, can be classified into three groups: (1) control of conditions of reproduction of the profession, (2) control of public resources in a given system (which includes, but is not limited to, control of the funding channels) and (3) control of conditions of reproduction of a given system. All these interests have a clear redistributive character, are -in general - focused on the control of public resources and have created an alliance between the middle classes and the elite. Middle classes have participated in the process of making laws and public policies in a way that has deepened the political inequalities, and to phenomena which, by analogy with the process of state capture by the elite, can be recognized as the capture of resources by the middle classes. The analysis points to an important aspect of sluggish social reforms: the lack of enthusiasm among middle classes and professional elite in fostering deep social change which is due to their ideological and redistributive alliances and strategies of ?resources capturing.?

Religion and Sustainability in Global Civil Society

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 269-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan Berry
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Global Politics ◽  
Religion And Ecology ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Ethnographic Interviews ◽  
Fields Of Study ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Role Of Religion ◽  
Religious Actors

This paper presents basic empirical research about the role of religion and religious actors in the global politics of sustainability. Drawing on insights from three overlapping fields of study—environmental politics, religious transnationalism, and religion and ecology—this study analyzes data gathered through ethnographic interviews with representatives of religious non-governmental organizations at the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, known as Rio+20. These interviews asked respondents to discuss their understanding of the meaning, role, and position of religion within civil society efforts to address sustainability concerns. Content analysis of interview responses suggests that religious actors hold divergent views about the salience of religion to global sustainability politics. The central finding is that the boundary between religious and secular civil society groups is a permeable one.

scholarly journals AID FOR AFRICA AS ONE OF THE ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY POLISH NGOs: LEGAL AND SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACH

MEST Journal ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-81
Author(s):  
Marek Stych ◽  
Beata Pawlica ◽  
Malgorzata Kmak
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Humanitarian Aid ◽  
International Aid ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Sociological Approach ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
The People

This article tackles the issue of aid for African states. Africa is one of the poorest continents, with many people living on the verge of poverty and suffering from malnutrition or famine. Hence, the humanitarian aid provided to the people of this continent is of particular importance. In Poland, such aid activities undertake entities defined in the Polish legal system as non-governmental organizations (NGOs). NGOs also conduct many other kinds of activities. The Act on public benefit and volunteer work is an example of creating legal mechanisms for the functioning of civil society in the legal system to provide international aid to those it needs. Assisting other societies is important for modern civil society the same as political or economic cooperations are. The role of NGOs operating in health protection, education, or entrepreneurship areas is crucially important. The authors of this paper discuss the issue of the said aid provided by selected Polish NGOs. The article aims to determine the extent and scope of the assistance to African countries provided by the NGOs, based on the respondents' experiences, whether such assistance is necessary, and what form it should take.

DEVELOPMENT IN WADI RUM? STATE BUREAUCRACY, EXTERNAL FUNDERS, AND CIVIL SOCIETY

2001 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 571-590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurie A. Brand
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Project Planning ◽  
Democratic Transitions ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Local Participation ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Seeking Behavior ◽  
State Bureaucracy

One of the most important lessons development agencies claim to have learned over the past decades is that the absence of local participation at various stages of project planning and implementation leads to what at best can be termed “inferior results.”1 The conclusion that community participation is necessary (if not sufficient) for project success has developed concomitantly with the belief in the halls of power that the state is not the ideal executor of a variety of tasks previously deemed its proper realm. Both of these changes in development thinking converged in practical terms beginning in the 1980s in the emergence of a greater stress on the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Not only were NGOs and other civil-society actors (including the private sector) seen as untainted by the rent-seeking behavior attributed to state bureaucracies; they were also seen as products of more local or community-based and -interested organizing, a critical vehicle for local participation that so many development projects had lacked. Some of this literature also regarded such institutions as the forerunners of and central to democratic transitions.2

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 The Role of UNESCO in Contemporary Global Cultural Processes

2021 ◽  
pp. 153-158
Author(s):  
Lamia Askar Guliyeva
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Effective Response ◽  
World Today ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
The World ◽  
Global Problems ◽  
Cultural Processes

The article examines the role of UNESCO in the modern global cultural processes, with the specific focus on Azerbaijan. The mankind owes awakening of a genuine interest in key global problems of a new rank at the turn of the 20th–21st centuries primarily to the leading social structures. While the entire civil society of the world today is being challenged, it is gratifying to know that some structures accept and respond to such challenges. In our opinion, UNESCO, being a representative, authoritative, and prestigious organization, isthe most striking example ofsuch effective response. The paper examines the permanent public forums in the field ofscience, culture, and education that are directly supervised by the largest international non-governmental organizations, namely, UNESCO.

scholarly journals Non-governmental organizations as subjects of social development of communities: the experience of the international charity fund «necessary»

2021 ◽  
pp. 105-111
Author(s):  
Oksana Kravchenko ◽  
Maina Kulik ◽  
Maksym Skochko
Keyword(s):  
Private Sector ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Small Towns ◽  
City Council ◽  
Youth Organizations ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Intersectoral Cooperation ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations

The article analyzes the current trends in the development of public institutions in Ukraine. The role of non-governmental public organizations in providing social services is considered. The main trends in the development of the private sector have been studied. The role of grant projects is highlighted. The role and place of the private sector in the provision of social services has been considered. Examples of implementation of local initiatives and receiving grant support have been analyzed. The importance and urgency of the problems of non-governmental organizations in the field of social services have been highlighted. Youth organizations that join socially-oriented initiatives are developing. Directing relevant initiatives and work of youth organizations activates young people in local communities, involves in the advisory bodies formation, localization of relevant projects implemented at the level of united territorial communities of villages and small towns, where in previous years youth activity was low. In a decentralized environment, no matter how capable the community is, there are always issues that are difficult to solve at the expense of the local budget. As practice shows, several issues of local importance, which cannot be solved by the budget of the united territorial community, can be successfully solved at the expense of other resources, including grants. Most of the international projects were implemented territorially in Uman and adjacent territorial communities. Their success depended on fruitful intersectoral cooperation with the Faculty of Social and Psychological Pedagogy, which provided organizationally, volunteer and psychological support, and the Department of Labor and Social Protection of Uman City Council, which provided effective communication between all branches of government, information and financial support.

New Responses to the Legitimacy Crisis of International Institutions: The Role of ‘Civil Society’ and the Rise of the Principle of Participation of ‘The Most Affected’ in International Institutional Law

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jochen von Bernstorff
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Institutions ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Civil Society Participation ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Legitimacy Crisis

Abstract The article offers a description and assessment of the most important discursive strategies used to enhance and justify various models of ‘civil-society participation’ in international institutions since the late 19th century. It starts from the assumption that the two main rationales for, or concepts of, ‘civil-society’ participation are functionalism and democratization. The article also notes that, as an offshoot of the democratization rationale, a new empirical and discursive 21st-century trend has partially replaced classic non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with so-called ‘affected person’s organizations’ in international institutions. In this context, the article claims that the field of international institutional law is currently witnessing the rise of a principle of participation of ‘the most affected’. This shift arguably is an institutional strategy to respond to a profound legitimacy crisis of both international NGOs and the so-called ‘global governance’ structures shaped over the last 30 years. Against the backdrop of various theoretical approaches to the problem of representation and affectedness in political philosophy and international law, the article critically assesses if, and to what extent, the involvement of ‘the most affected’ in international organizations can alter the legitimacy resources of international law and its institutions.

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