scholarly journals Knowledge and Power of the Civil Society: an empirical study of Brazilian professionals working in the NGOs

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Júnia Fátima do Carmo Guerra ◽  
Armindo dos Santos de Sousa Teodosio ◽  
Walter Mswaka

This study critically analyses the way Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) operate in Brazil and their contribution to the development of the Brazilian civil society. The notion of "power fields" and "habitus", proposed by Bourdieu (1989; 1996), provides the theoretical backdrop to our discussions. This focusses largely on the recursive connection between structure and agency which resonates with the work of Fligstein (2006). This study seeks to critically analyse the learning and social practice developed by professionals in NGOs in their daily activities. This study is based on qualitative research and the results indicated that the knowledge produced by Brazilian NGOs, through the recursive connection between the agents of the fields and the structures underpinning them, contributes to the expansion and transformation of the field in which they operate. This perspective shows that the knowledge generated by this NGOs give them a certain level of power and influence in the Brazilian civil society.

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 430-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Watson ◽  
Regan Burles

Securitization theory (ST) has succeeded in putting the relation between politics and security at the forefront of research in security studies. Despite this success, little attention has been given to the way states themselves produce the boundaries of legitimate political activity, particularly in relation to the boundaries between civil society and the state and between the foreign and domestic. This article is concerned with how states see the boundary between the political and the non-political as a matter of security. It investigates this question by examining the international and national efforts to restrict the financing of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society actors. It demonstrates that these entities are deemed threatening to the established boundaries of legitimate political activity and thus subject to harassment, increased regulation, and eradication. This is done by the depiction of their activities as political, rather than humanitarian/cultural/social, demonstrating that the concepts of politics operative in the ST literature are already delimited through processes of securitization and depoliticization. Continued research into the relation between politics and security must therefore consider the ways that the political itself is securitized.


2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 342-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Apostolos G. Papadopoulos ◽  
Christos Chalkias ◽  
Loukia-Maria Fratsea

The paper explores the challenges faced today, in a context of severe economic crisis, by immigrant associations (ΙΜΑs) and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Greece. The data analysed here was collected between October 2009 and February 2010 and incorporates references to all recorded migration-related social actors operating in Greece. The paper takes into account such indicators as legal form, objectives, financial capacity and geographical range of activity, concluding with a typology of civil society actors dealing with migration issues. This study aims at informing the migration policymaking and migrant integration processes. By a spatial hot-spot clustering of IMAs and NGOs, we also illustrate the concentration patterns of civil society actors in Greece.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Adrian Ruprecht

Abstract This article explores the global spread of the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement to colonial India. By looking at the Great Eastern Crisis (1875–78) and the intense public ferment the events in the Balkans created in Britain, Switzerland, Russia and India, this article illustrates how humanitarian ideas and practices, as well as institutional arrangements for the care for wounded soldiers, were appropriated and shared amongst the different religious internationals and pan-movements from the late 1870s onwards. The Great Eastern Crisis, this article contends, marks a global humanitarian moment. It transformed the initially mainly European and Christian Red Cross into a truly global movement that included non-sovereign colonial India and the Islamic religious international. Far from just being at the receiving end, non-European peoples were crucial in creating global and transnational humanitarianism, global civil society and the world of non-governmental organizations during the last third of the nineteenth century.


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):  
Hannah Smidt ◽  
Dominic Perera ◽  
Neil J. Mitchell ◽  
Kristin M. Bakke

Abstract International ‘naming and shaming’ campaigns rely on domestic civil society organizations (CSOs) for information on local human rights conditions. To stop this flow of information, some governments restrict CSOs, for example by limiting their access to funding. Do such restrictions reduce international naming and shaming campaigns that rely on information from domestic CSOs? This article argues that on the one hand, restrictions may reduce CSOs’ ability and motives to monitor local abuses. On the other hand, these organizations may mobilize against restrictions and find new ways of delivering information on human rights violations to international publics. Using a cross-national dataset and in-depth evidence from Egypt, the study finds that low numbers of restrictions trigger shaming by international non-governmental organizations. Yet once governments impose multiple types of restrictions, it becomes harder for CSOs to adapt, resulting in fewer international shaming campaigns.


Author(s):  
Андрій Матвійчук

Сформульовано визначення поняття «міжнародна неурядова організація» (МНУО) як організоване об'єднання представників громадськості різних країн, створене відповідно до національного законодавства для досягнення цілей і завдань розвитку громадянського суспільства й міжнародних відносин, що діє відповідно до загальновизнаних принципів Уставу ООН і норм міжнародного права на території двох і більше держав і володіє консультативним статусом. З’ясовано, що видовими ознаками, які містять у собі: цілі й завдання, характер діяльності, форму організації, наявність консультативного статусу тощо визначається відмінність міжнародної НУО від інших суб'єктів міжнародних відносин. Такі родові ознаки (як от: факт об'єднання людей, наявність постійних органів управління, Статуту тощо) є загальними для всього класу (роду) організацій. Обгрунтовано, що МНУО як учасник міжнародних відносин, є суб'єктом міжнародного права, однак їх правосуб'єктність має функціональний характер, тобто обмежений її консультативним статусом. Продемонстровано, що МНУО є неофіційною сполучною ланкою між національними урядами й міжнародним співтовариством, беруть активну участь у розробці міжнародних стандартів, методів, моделей і співвідносять їхню національну значимість з міжнародно-правовою. Зазначається, що у національному законодавстві України спостерігається тенденція оптимальної розробки питань, що стосуються правового статусу МНУО з огляду на міжнародні принципи й стандарти. Водночас, не можна йти шляхом повного їхнього копіювання, оскільки держава, ґрунтуючись на своєму суспільно-історичному досвіді, досвіді функціонування правової системи, на існуючих суспільних відносинах і своїх національних інтересах, сама має право визначати правовий статус МНУО. Пропонується у змінах до закону «Про неурядові організації» відобразити основну ідею, яка полягає в тому, що неурядові організації є ядром громадянського суспільства, найважливішим фактором розвитку демократичної держави й міжнародних відносин, засобом реалізації громадянами своїх прав і свобод. Matviichuk Andriy V. Activities of international nongovernmental organizations in the legislative and legal space of Ukraine The definition of the concept of "international non-governmental organization" (international NGO) as an organized association of representatives of the public of different countries, formulated in accordance with the national legislation for the achievement of the goals and objectives of the development of civil society and international relations acting in accordance with the generally recognized principles of the Charter of the United Nations and the norms of international law on the territory of two or more states and has consultative status. It was found out that the specific features that include: goals and objectives, the nature of activity, the form of organization, the presence of consultative status, etc., is determined by the distinction of the international NGO from other subjects of international relations. Such generic attributes (such as the fact of association of people, the presence of permanent bodies of government, the Statute, etc.) are common to the entire class (kind of) organizations. It is substantiated that international NGO as a participant in international relations is a subject of international law, but their legal personality is functional, that is, limited by its consultative status. It has been demonstrated that the international NGO is an informal link between national governments and the international community and is actively involved in the development of international standards, methods, models and their national relevance with international legal law. It is noted that in the national legislation of Ukraine there is a tendency for the optimal development of issues related to the legal status of the international NGO, taking into account international principles and standards. At the same time, it is impossible to go through the full copying of them, since the state, on the basis of its socio-historical experience, the experience of functioning of the legal system, in existing social relations and its national interests, has the right to determine the legal status of the Ministry of the Interior. The proposed amendments to the law "On Non-Governmental Organizations" reflect the basic idea that non-governmental organizations are the core of civil society, the most important factor in the development of a democratic state and international relations, as a means of citizens' realization of their rights and freedoms.


Author(s):  
Kamil Demirhan

This study finds out the use of Facebook by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Turkey to engage the social and political events of the country. NGOs are civil society organizations aiming at promoting participation of citizens in social and political issues. They are a part of democratic system and they have important role to struggle with corruptions and improve the legitimacy of political-legal organization in political system. NGOs work using social networks and promoting civic culture. Therefore, the use of new communication and interaction channels is necessary for NGOs to develop social networks and civic participation. Social media can be a new channel to promote social and political life. This study focuses on Facebook activities of 40 NGOs selected from eight different activity fields: politics, environment, woman rights, economy, emergency, education, human rights, and democracy. It uses content analysis method to understand the NGOs' activities in Facebook, in terms of social and political issues realized in the year of 2012.


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