Socially Oriented Non-Profit Organizations in the Welfare State

In recent years, the rapid development of the institutions of self-organization of citizens emerging and existing in various forms actualizes the issues related to their emergence and role in the implementation of social policy. This type of organization whose task was to provide social assistance and support to social risk groups has become the subject of scientific discussions and research in recent years. Scientists focus on various aspects and directions of development of the welfare state, forms of implementation, models of social policy, factors that determine its evolution, which includes the formation, flourishing and entry into an era of crisis. The purpose of the study is to consider the evolution of the welfare state as the basis for the emergence of institutions of self-organization of citizens. The methodological basis of the study is formed by the concepts of post-industrial society, which made it possible to consider the emergence and evolution of institutions of self-organization of citizens as a reflection of the processes taking place in society, to determine their place and role in the state of general welfare. A historical approach was also used, which made it possible to analyze the stages of the emergence of socially-oriented non-profit organizations (SO NPOs), the forms of their involvement in the social policy of the state; a method for identifying cause-and-effect relationships, which made it possible to identify factors that influence the interaction of SO NPOs and the state. This article describes the activities of various forms of the welfare state in the field of social protection of the population. We highlighted the positions on the problem of the emergence of institutions of self-organization of citizens in scientific thought and analyzed the reasons for the emergence of SO NPOs. The conclusion was drawn that it was the evolution of the welfare state that became the basis for the emergence of institutions of self-organization of citizens. Keywords: social structure, types of welfare state, institution of citizens’ self-organization, confrontation, rivalry, social policy, socially oriented non-profit organizations – SO NPOs

Is There a Link Between Complementary Economic Institutions and Ideologies?

Since the publication of Max Weber’s “Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism” in 1904, the author’s idea about the positive relationship between Protestantism and capitalism has taken root in social sciences. Even though since then, multiple authors have questioned Weber’s idea, it still remains popular. Douglass C. North’s theory of institutions is interesting in this respect. He pointed to the intentionality behind the emergence of institutions. For North, institutions are an attempt to reduce the uncertainty by providing a structure to our everyday life, including interactions. The forms of these interactions depend not only on the climatic, demographic, technological and other factors, but also on people’s ethical attitudes. In our study, we proceed from the assumption that there is a relationship between institutions and ideologies in the broad sense of the term, on the one hand, and, on the other, from the concept of complementary institutions. The latter implies the presence in the institutional environ- ment of two or more complementary institutions. Complementary institutions determine the structure of contractual relations between agents pursuing simple tasks, which means that there are various systems of stimuli and principles of how these agents should deliver on their obligations. In this respect the question arises as to how such institutional complementarity fit into the ideologies prevailing in this or that society? Is it possible for complementary institutions to coexist? In this study we focus on two cases from Chinese history to show that institutional complementarity is possible only if the adherents to the dominant ideology are ready to accept the possibility of flexible interpretations of such ideology and of the existence of complementary ideologies. The first example is the popularity of Taoism as a complementary ideology of Confucianism among the merchants in Qing China. Since Confucianism could not create the necessary ethical incentives for those people who were engaged in trade, Taoism filled the ethical void with its magical practices. The second case relates to the era of the Han Dynasty and the dispute about the limits of the state’s influence on the economy between the representatives of different philosophical schools. In both examples, complementary ideology creates necessary incentives for building complementary institutions.

The formation of bodies of power and self-government in the Kuban region during the revolutionary changes of 1917

The present article studies the emergence of institutions of government and autonomy in the Kuban region during the revolutionary transformations of 1917. In the Kuban region, this process diff ered from the development of similar institutions in other provinces of the Russian Empire; these diff erences resulted from the peculiarities of colonization and from the social structure of the region’s population, as well as from the pre-revolutionary management of the region. As the authors demonstrate, the system of government and self-administration in the region encompassed all social estates, in line with post-February democratic processes. The article analyzes the reasons for the failure of this system. The authors identify two periods. Between March 1917 and July 1917, the establishment of governmental bodies and bodies of self-administration was in line with postFebruary democratic processes and aimed at the formation of a more democratic system of regional and local government. The second period, which began in July 1917, was of counter-revolutionary nature; the authorities seized the bodies of Cossack self-government. The abolition of land committees, the closure of the oblast’ council and executive committee, the restriction of the activities of left parties, the elimination of civil committees and the transfer of all power to the Kuban Military government left no legal room for considering the interests of all classes. By the autumn of 1917, the system of governance formed in the Kuban region was not aimed at achieving social harmony and peace but formed the basis for acute social confl ict.

Voluntary leadership and the emergence of institutions for self-governance

Strong local institutions are important for the successful governance of common-pool resources (CPRs), but why do such institutions emerge in the first place and why do they sometimes not emerge at all? We argue that voluntary local leaders play an important role in the initiation of self-governance institutions because such leaders can directly affect local users’ perceived costs and benefits associated with self-rule. Drawing on recent work on leadership in organizational behavior, we propose that voluntary leaders can facilitate a cooperative process of local rule creation by exhibiting unselfish behavior and leading by example. We posit that such forms of leadership are particularly important when resource users are weakly motivated to act collectively, such as when confronted with “creeping” environmental problems. We test these ideas by using observations from a laboratory-in-the-field experiment with 128 users of forest commons in Bolivia and Uganda. We find that participants’ agreement to create new rules was significantly stronger in group rounds where voluntary, unselfish leaders were present. We show that unselfish leadership actions make the biggest difference for rule creation under high levels of uncertainty, such as when the resource is in subtle decline and intragroup communication sparse.

The Collapse of State Power, the Cluniac Reform Movement, and the Origins of Urban Self-Government in Medieval Europe

Several generations of scholarship have identified the medieval development of urban self-government as crucial for European patterns of state formation. However, extant theories, emphasizing structural factors such as initial endowments and warfare, do little to explain the initial emergence of institutions of urban self-government before CE 1200 or why similar institutions did not emerge outside of Europe. We argue that a large-scale collapse of public authority in the ninth and tenth centuries allowed a bottom-up reform movement in West Francia (the Cluniac movement), directed by clergy but with popular backing, to push for ecclesiastical autonomy and asceticism in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. These social realignments, facilitated by new norms about ecclesiastical office holding, stimulated the urban associationalism that led to the initial emergence of autonomous town councils. Using a panel data set of 643 towns in the period between 800 and 1800, we show that medieval towns were substantially more likely to establish autonomous town councils in the period between 1000 and 1200 if they were situated in the vicinity of Cluniac monasteries. These findings are corroborated by regressions that use distance from Cluny—the movement's place of origin—to instrument for proximity to Cluniac monasteries.

The evolution of the institutional structure of the agricultural education in Russia

The article is devoted to the analysis of the history of the formation of agricultural education in Russia. On the basis of the analysis of historical data, documents on creation of educational institutions and statistical data dynamics of emergence of new agricultural lowest schools, secondary schools, academies and institutes is established. It is shown that the first agricultural institutions were established in the 18th century with the participation of the great Russian scientist M. Lomonosov with the support of the Emperor. The first agricultural schools used foreign experience. A total of three agricultural schools were established. However, in the future there was a transition to training without the participation of foreigners. An analysis of the development of the education system in the 19th century found that the institutional structure changed significantly towards the emergence of institutions and academies. Model farms, model estates and new training areas have appeared personnel for horticulture, agronomists, beekeepers, horse breeders, etc. Private initiatives have facilitated the opening of new specialties. The state opened new specialized academies and faculties in polytechnic institutes. It is shown that traditions of improving the institutional system of training of personnel persist in modernRussia.

Against the “Moonlight and Magnolia” myth of the American South. A new materialist approach to the dissonant heritage of slavery in the US: The case of Whitney Plantation in Wallace, LA

The article presents an analysis of the operations of the Whitney Plantation Museum, which opened in 2014 in Wallace, LA (USA), situated within the context of plantation heritage tourism in the American South. The argumentation offers an illustration of the significant transition, even though still of marginal character, of the dominant tendencies of representing slavery in heritage sites (plantation museums) devoted to cultivating knowledge about the history of the region. New materialist in its orientation, the analysis subscribes to the most fundamental assumption of this philosophical tendency, namely that knowledge is generated in material-semiotic ways, and applies this approach in an enquiry into the educational experience offered to visitors by this heritage site. The article argues that although the emergence of institutions such as Whitney Plantation is meant to pluralise the memorial landscape of a given community, rather than serving as multivocal spaces they tend to remain steeped in fragmentation.

Deliberative Democracy and Science

What might a deliberative politics of science look like? This chapter addresses this question by bringing together science studies and the theories and practices of deliberative democracy. This chapter begins by discussing the importance of considering the role of deliberation within scientific communities and institutions, particularly as it bears on the production of scientific judgments and decisions at the boundary between science and politics. The chapter then discusses the emergence of institutions for communicating scientific knowledge to policy-makers, public officials and citizens, which include not only expert tribunals but also the development of citizen panels, consensus conferences, and other forms of mini-publics. Finally, the chapter considers the role of “uninvited” ’ participation in science, emphasizing the role of social movements and critical civil society in both challenging and informing scientific knowledge production.

Governance of substance use as a by-product of policing in Norway

Aim: The aim of this article was to study governance of drug use in Norway through a historical account. Method: A genealogy was conducted through the study of documentation and legal texts from the 1600s until contemporary times. Findings: Based on legal texts addressing people using substances (both drugs and alcohol) various strategies for governance of drug use appears. The first section describes the emergence of institutions where people with alcohol problems were confined in a system originating the Dutch discipline houses. The second section describes the poor laws of the 1800s and the practice of the local poorhouses. The third section takes a look at the Vagrancy Act of 1900 and the state-owned labour camp at Opstad. The fourth section discusses the establishment of the sobriety boards and their role in confining alcoholics at cure homes. The fifth section describes developments in post-world-war Norway, with increased attention to illicit substances. Conclusions: The terminology justifying interventions is increasingly medicalised. Descriptions of the “drunkard” that appeared in 18th-century legal texts as immoral and free are contrasted by a positioning of this character as being a slave to his drinking in 20th-century political discourses, or as substance-dependent patients in the 21st century, alongside concerted efforts to dissolve open drug scenes.