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We have the honour to inform you of the official recognition of the Belize Red Cross Society by the International Committee of the Red Cross. The recognition is effective as of 15 March 1984 and brings to 132 the number of National Society members of the International Red Cross.

In response to criticisms by John Keane (see Democracy and Civil Society, London, 1988) on the conceptions of civil society as the foundations for the reconstruction of leftist radical political theory proposed by Jean Cohen & Andrew Arato (eg, see SA 33:5/85Q1600), three issues are elaborated on to reveal discrepancies in his theoretical homework. The relationship of history & theory in the concept of civil society is reviewed & Keane's claim is systematically challenged: his accusations of the minimalist historical context of Cohen's & Arato's works are deemed unsubstantiated. In addition, Keane's critique of Arato's & Cohen's interpretation of the meaning of socialist civil society is inconsistent, & his counterargument & model based on a dualist construction of civil society from liberalist & Marxist frameworks & of two socioeconomic realms is distorted & unviable. The prospects for the reconstruction of civil society in Soviet-type societies & Keane's apparent misconceptions, overgeneralizations, & oversights of political processes & infrastructural designs of East Central Europe's social & economic systems are compared & evaluated. T. Francis

In modern France, power and society are developing in different directions. President E. Macron has built a rigid "vertical of power", which was further strengthened under the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Power in France has exceptional autonomy and an ability to make and implement decisions that do not have public support. The president can implement reforms by decree, and the prime minister – relying on the Article 49.3 of the Constitution, which allows laws to be passed without a vote in parliament. Society, in turn, has become more demanding in the field of obtaining individual rights and expanding political rights. While power was growing more and more "vertical", society developed in the opposite direction. The individual rights of citizens have expanded (legalization of same-sex unions and sex change); French citizens have become more demanding of representative institutions and politicians. It is customary to consider French society depoliticized. In reality, modern French people, even if they don't go to the polls and don't trust political parties, are interested in politics. The mood of "critical citizenship" has become widespread in society, an increasing number of citizens would like to participate in political decision-making, and the ideas of direct democracy are very popular. The multidirectional development of society and power inevitably gives rise to a systemic socio-political conflict. The protests against raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 that unfolded in France in 2023 were a continuation of the protest movements of past years. Three scenarios for the development of the political situation in France are formulated: normalization; political crisis and way out of it; renewal of the political regime.

Extensive research has been conducted in the field of peacebuilding concerning the role of civil society in peace negotiations. However, although research has stressed the importance of coordination among civil society groups, we have limited knowledge concerning the impact civil society coordination can have on the content of a peace agreement. This article addresses this gap by examining how the extent of coordination among civil society groups during peace negotiations influences the reflectiveness of a peace agreement in regard to civil society viewpoints. We argue that a high extent of coordination, where civil society actors coordinate tasks and spearhead viewpoints together, can help facilitate peace agreements that are more reflective of civil society group views. Based on a comparative analysis of Guatemala and El Salvador, the findings show that whereas coordination between different civil society groups was quite extensive in both peace processes, civil society viewpoints were inscribed into the peace agreement to a larger extent in the Guatemalan case. We identify two factors that contribute in shaping how coordination influences the content of peace accords: symmetrical transfer of information, and openness from the negotiation parties to consider suggestions from civil society.

Extensive research has been conducted in the field of peacebuilding concerning the role of civil society in peace negotiations. However, although research has stressed the importance of coordination among civil society groups, we have limited knowledge concerning the impact civil society coordination can have on the content of a peace agreement. This article addresses this gap by examining how the extent of coordination among civil society groups during peace negotiations influences the reflectiveness of a peace agreement in regard to civil society viewpoints. We argue that a high extent of coordination, where civil society actors coordinate tasks and spearhead viewpoints together, can help facilitate peace agreements that are more reflective of civil society group views. Based on a comparative analysis of Guatemala and El Salvador, the findings show that whereas coordination between different civil society groups was quite extensive in both peace processes, civil society viewpoints were inscribed into the peace agreement to a larger extent in the Guatemalan case. We identify two factors that contribute in shaping how coordination influences the content of peace accords: symmetrical transfer of information, and openness from the negotiation parties to consider suggestions from civil society.

The notion of 'society' is increasingly debated, recently, under the impact of 'globalization'. This debate is carried out in both sociology and business studies, and it also has implications in political theory. A theoretical grounding of society is provided following G.H. Mead, which bears sufficient regard to actors and avoids determinism. Society is conceptualized as 'societal space', open to layering in different forms. Incongruent layering is then put forward as a feature of societal evolution which has hitherto been neglected as an engine of modernization. This form of layering is also suggested to be important for current debates. Following this concept, the business and organizational literature can be linked with social theory in a way which shows how 'provincialization' of identity, institutions and culture is pervasively linked with the extension of horizons of action under globalization. Various comparative findings are adduced to show how the dialectics of globalization and provincialization work, and how socio-institutional patterns interact with the evolution of enterprise strategies in order to fuel this dialectic. In such an evolution, society has an important part to play. But this is not because society re-asserts itself as a co-extensive entity on a higher plane. Instead, it is precisely the layering of societal space which makes societal effects a necessary concept.

This paper explores a wide range of cross-country determinants of life satisfaction exploiting a database of 90,000 observations in 70 countries. We distinguish four groups of aggregate variables as potential determinants of satisfaction: political, economic, institutional, and human development and culture. We use ordered probit to investigate the importance of these variables on individual life satisfaction and test the robustness of our results with Extreme Bounds Analysis. The results show that only a small number of factors, such as openness, business climate, postcommunism, the number of chambers in parliament, Christian majority, and infant mortality robustly influence life satisfaction across countries while the importance of many variables suggested in the previous literature is not confirmed. This remains largely true when the analysis splits national populations according to gender, income and political orientation also.

"The extent to which the Great War impacted upon English landed society is most vividly recalled in the loss of young heirs to ancient estates. English Landed Society in the Great War considers the impact of the war on these estates. Using the archives of Country Life, Edward Bujak examines the landed estate that flourished in England. In doing so, he explores the extent to which the wartime state penetrated into the heartlands of the landed aristocracy and gentry, and the corrosive effects that the progressive and systematic militarization of the countryside had on the authority of the squire. The book demonstrates how the commitment of landowners to the defence of an England of home and beauty - an image also adopted in wartime propaganda - ironically led to its transformation. By using the landed estate to examine the transition from Edwardian England to modern Britain, English Landed Society in the Great War provides a unique lens through which to consider the First World War and its impact on English society."--Bloomsbury Publishing

AbstractThe transition to a knowledge society in South East Asia since the 1970s has produced differing effects in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. The paper explores the challenges and existing collaborations of Indonesia's knowledge society. On the basis of a qualitative investigation based on interviews with 18 policymakers in Indonesia, observations from eight meetings and documentary analysis from 2011 to 2016, the paper sheds light on the historical, structural and scientisation problems encountered by Indonesia's knowledge society. This includes the challenges that academia faces in scientific knowledge production at the micro level and macro level. Further, the analysis suggests that existing collaborations between different governmental levels and academia are based on trust and friendship rather than scientific pursuits. Also, collaboration between industry and academia is likely to occur when the industry acts as an initiator. The author contends that for a knowledge society to materialise in Indonesia, challenges need to be managed and certain collaborations that nurture scientific knowledge production need to be cultivated.

The idea of multicultularity is the dominant idea of regulating relations among members of different cultures and religions in Western Europe, North America and Oceania. It rests on the assumption that the future of the world is to mix different cultures. And their coexistence is quite possible in conditions of equality and the existence of the secular political systems. In this idea West have invested substantial resources and a lot of power. Time, however, shown that this is not an achievable goal. And about that have openly declared all the leading politicians of Western Europe. ; Ideja multikultularnosti je dominanta ideja o regulisanju odnosa među pripadnicima raznih kultura i religija u Zapadnoj Evropi, Severnoj Americi i Okeaniji. Ona počiva na pretpostavci da je budućnost sveta u mešanju različitih kultura, a njihova koegzistencija je sasvim moguća u uslovima ravnopravnosti i uz postojanje sekularnih političkih poredaka. U ovu ideju su uložena velika sredstva i mnogo snaga. Vreme je međutim pokazalo da to nije ostvariv cilj. I o tome su se otvoreno izjasnili svi vodeći političari Zapadne Evrope.

Die Regierungen im Nahen und Mittleren Osten, insbesondere die arabischen, sind in eine anhaltende Legitimationskrise geraten, auf die einige mit Liberalisierungsmaßnahmen (Verbesserungen im Bereich der Meinungs- und Vereinigungsfreiheit, Beschränkung staatlicher Willkür) reagiert haben, jedoch nicht mit einer umfassenden Demokratisierung (freie Wahlen, politische Partizipation, Selbstbestimmungsrecht). Die Existenz einer "civil society", in der eine Vielzahl gesellschaftlicher Zusammenschlüsse einen Puffer zwischen Staat und Bürger bildet, ist eine notwendige (wenngleich nicht ausreichende) Bedingung für Demokratie. Unter diesem Aspekt sind die langfristigen Perspektiven für eine Demokratisierung in Libanon, Ägypten und Iran sowie in einem künftigen Staat Palästina günstiger als zumeist angenommen. (DÜI-Hns)

While the topic of 'regionalism' has been well researched & reported in many social science specializations, only scant attention has been given to civil society in studies of regionalism, which suggests a low level of relevance. This is unfortunate because civil society is a dynamic force at the regional level. This study contributes to the debate about civil society by examining the previous emphasis on global- & national-level level processes to the neglect of regional studies. It is argued that the neglect of 'civil society regionalization' is largely a theoretical & methodical problem. It is argued that civil society should be studied & theorized at the regional level, especially the fact that civil society logics are dependent on the sociocultural & political contexts within which they are played out. In this light, it is contended that theories & conceptualizations of civil society rooted in the Western or European experience can lead to misunderstanding of the logic of African civil society. Southern African, since the late 1990s, is a particularly relevant case of regionalism in the developing world. This study conceives of civil society regionalization as a more complex phenomenon & proposes that there are also more pragmatic & revisionist forces at work in its importance. Tables. J. Stanton

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments / Hull, Isabel V. -- Abbreviation -- Introduction -- 1. The Church, Traditional Society, and the Regulation of Sex -- 2. THE REGULATORY NETWORKS OF THE SECULAR COMMUNITY The Absolutist States and the Regulation of Sex -- 3. Rethinking Regulation, 1740-1800 -- 4. The Cameralist Theory of Civil Society -- 5. The Practitioners of Civil Society -- 6. The Sexual Self-Image of Civil Society -- 7. Thought Experiments -- 8. Pre-Napoleonic Liberals and the Sexual Determination of Rights -- 9. Morality and Law: Feuer bach's Reformed Criminal Code in Bavaria -- 10. Public and Private: The Code Napoleon in Baden -- 11. The Sexual Foundations of the Nineteenth Century -- Bibliography -- Index