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Some advocacy groups are becoming more willing to engage in political activism. One is the Ontario Lung Association, which has been calling attention to government inaction on air-pollution issues such as controlling smog and improving indoor air quality. These lobbying efforts are supported by some physicians, who believe that environmental factors are behind the increased incidence of respiratory illness.

by Sing Ming. ; Thesis (M.Ph.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1987. ; Bibliography: leaves 161-171.

New research into the political attitudes and behaviours of union activists challenges traditional beliefs about the prospects for politicizing unionists in Canada. A study of union activists in Alberta finds two significant results. First union activists are more politically active than the average Canadian. This contradicts conventional wisdom about union activists. Second, unions can play a direct and important role in fostering political participation among their activists, a finding that has the potential to extend to the general membership. However, to be effective in mobilizing unionists politically, unions need to approach the project differently than they do at present. It is a project of action, not words, and it must be grounded in the lived experience of union workers. In particular, perceptions of class play a central role in shaping the political decisions of unionists. Relational articulations of class lead to political mobilization, and thus union actions must reflect the lived experience of being working class in Canada.

Bibliography: leaves 229-258. ; This is a study of the personal and social construction of meaning that political activists who have been involved in the South African liberation movement attribute to their lives. It examines the lives of a group of activists who were situated at the heart of the anti- apartheid movement for more than four decades. Their resistance to the wide-ranging laws and non-legal devices that the state employed to maintain white, Afrikaner Nationalist rule became the benchmark against which they lived their lives. 1960 saw an intensity of state oppression and brutality from which some activists escaped with their lives, while others were killed or jailed for life. The struggle to create a society where humanity and justice would triumph over cruelty and racial division was setback a generation. It took nearly three decades of defiance and unrest before Nelson Mandela was released from prison and South Africans sat down to negotiate the Interim Constitution that would guide the country towards its first democratic elections. ANC members in exile received indemnity so that they could return to the country and participate in the negotiations and four years later a new South Africa based on majority rule was won. Since these 1994 elections, South Africa has continued to undergo fundamental change from the old apartheid order to a new democratic dispensation. Oral stories are essential to this process as they contain memories of recent history that contribute significantly to contemporary political and social life, which in tum shape the future. The stories of the activists who comprise this study illustrate how their commitment to their cause and to themselves has shaped their lives, as well as those around them, and how meaningful engagement with the challenges of daily life can strengthen us as individuals.

A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Faculty of Humanities, University of Luton ; The past decade has seen an upsurge ofacademic and popular interest in the political activity undertaken by citizens. This thesis presents a predominantly qualitative analysis ofthe nature of voluntary political participation, and subsequently addresses a number of key concerns about the current state of democracy in Britain. It is argued that existing analysis of political participation tends to focus on quantitative questions such as the levels and socio-demographic composition of political activity, with little attention being given to the experiences of those citizens who engage with political organisations. The analysis utilises the theoretical work of JUrgen Habermas in order to consider the potential role of both state mechanisms of participation and structures of civil society within the development of rational and deliberative democracy. The primary research draws upon sixty interviews conducted within the British Labour Party, the British section of Amnesty International, two Tenants' Associations, one Residents' Association and an alternative lifestyle collective known as Exodus. Three main themes are addressed in the form of a comparative study. Firstly, the thesis considers the nature of the various organisations and their membership policies. Secondly, a typology ofpolitical participation and activism is presented. Finally, analysis is provided of the experiences ofthe respondents of the actual process ofparticipation. Addressing these themes enables the thesis to explore the nature of the discourse that occurs within spheres ofvoluntary political participation, and to provide some insight into the dialectical relationship that exists between structures of participation and the activity that develops within such contexts. It is concluded that a range of conflicting tensions currently inform voluntary political participation. These factors raise a number of serious questions about the role of civil society within processes of democratisation.

Dieser Artikel untersucht die autobiografischen und weitere Schriften von Mamphela RAMPHELE, einer ehemaligen politischen Aktivistin aus Südafrika, hinsichtlich narrationsanalytischer Aspekte. Es wird behauptet, dass diese Schriften in einem Zusammenhang gesehen und als autobiografische Texte verglichen werden können. Diese Sichtweise wirft methodische Fragen auf, die u.a. den Grad der Re-Interpretation und anderer Veränderungen durch das "Nacherzählen" eines Berichts unter verschiedenen Umständen betreffen. In dem Beitrag wird der Einzelfall – Mamphela RAMPHELE – mit Modellen von "politischem Aktivismus" verglichen, in denen Individuen ihr Leben und ihre Aktivitäten an sozialen Ziele ausrichten. Ziel ist es, den besonderen Einzelfall im Rahmen von weiter gefassten Analysen zu politischem Aktivismus zu untersuchen. Es wird angenommen, dass RAMPHELE durch die Art ihres Erzählens und Nacherzählens bestimmter Ereignisse des Gemeinschaftslebens und der Grenzüberschreitung eine "reflektierende biografische Schablone" für ihr Leben entwickelte und auf diese bei neuen Herausforderungen und Situationen zurückgreift. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0403107 ; This article examines the autobiographical and some other writings of Mamphela RAMPHELE, a former political and community activist in South Africa with reference to forms of narrative analysis. It is argued that these writings can be viewed together and compared as auto­biographical texts. This view raises a number of methodological issues concerning the degree of re-interpretation and other changes in the "re­telling" of an account in different circumstances and form. The article compares this single case with models of "political activism" where individuals orientate their lives and activities towards various social goals. Here the attempt is to link and analyse the particular case within wider analyses of political activism. The article argues that in RAMPHELE's narrative telling and retelling certain events in terms of communal rituals and boundary crossings, she has ...

On 11 August 2003, after producing some 1600 cartoons, Malcolm Evans was controversially dismissed from his position as editorial cartoonist atThe New Zealand Heraldbecause he had refused to accept that the editor had the right to dictate the subjects he might address. This invited commentary forPacific Journalism Reviewis published to further debate. Evans argues: 'While I have always respected the editor's right to reject a cartoon, he can never have the right to direct it – an understanding that was mutually agreed as a condition of my hire when I took theHeraldjob six years earlier. Rejection is an editor's prerogative – direction is censorship. Although I have moved on personally as a professional cartoonist, I am concerned that the precedent set has the potential to affect the work of others.'

This article analyses the relation between the judicial function and the political activity. It's in three parts. The first part focuses on the description of the judges's model of the 1978 Spanish Constitution. Regarding this subject, we came to the conclusion that the Magna Carta refuses both the idea of a kind of political judge and the opposite model, which would be that of a politically engaged judge. The second part is a theoretical reflection on the value of neutrality in application to the Judiciary, and the conclusion we came to is that this concept involves a positive reinforcement of the concept of impartiality, so we recommend this use. Finally, in the third part, we apply these conclusions to a particular case: the prohibition of the judges's political activism (art. 127.1 Spanish Constitution).

This paper asks whether new insights can be gained by differentiating between advocacy and activism when examining the work of civil society organisations in relation to gender equality. The scholarly community and practitioners in the field of development have shown increasing interest in the political activities of non-governmental organisations and civil society more broadly. Until fairly recently, these groups have been characterised as innovative and autonomous agents of reform. While this view has tended to provide a relatively homogenised view of civil society, it has also ignored the extent to which individual organisations within the 'third sector' negotiate space within a broader political culture that can at the one time place both opportunities and constraints in their path. This paper is part of a new wave of more critical literature which aims to provide a detailed portrait of this terrain's complexity. Focusing upon the ways in which women's organisations in Fiji approach issues of gender equality, I contrast strategies employed in the 1960s and 1970s with those adopted in more recent times and consider the extent to which the prevailing political culture has afforded these groups the space to exercise a critical political voice.

There is a breakdown of trust and a corresponding rise in corrosive cynicism in both corporate activity and in mainstream politics. Trust is the cement in the relationship between institutions and civil society. When trust breaks down, civil society either withdraws from participation, or expresses protest outside the mainstream channels of participation. Risk-related investment falls. Participation in elections declines, and alternative outlets of political expression arise. The press becomes cynical, hostile or negative, and seeks out bad news. Suspicion sets in and irresistible pressures grow for open­ness, transparency and accountability. The information and opportunities so yielded reap a crop of issues upon which cynics make hay, and the Inter­net spills out more and more information, opening up new fronts as it does so. Even potential good news stories are interpreted and reported negatively, and those with news to tell become defensive and/or incommunicative. The downward spiral continues. Company managers and public affairs leaders lose the ability to predict when and from which direction the next missile will be coming their way. These factors help to explain the climate in which brand-name and other companies have found themselves to be targets of activism, sometimes in very isolated positions. The corporate world reveals a tendency to shoot itself in the foot by yielding a clutch of household-name companies whose financial practice scandals have resulted in losses for millions and acute misery for thousands raising wider public interest agenda . Mainstream public interest groups are turned from potential friend into foes, and the everyday citizen becomes a business critic. Polticians respond with agenda with seemingly limitless regulatory frontiers that catch companies on the back foot.

Udgivelsesdato: SEP ; The paper discusses some of the contributions of environmental activism to the development of knowledge. The paper contrasts some of the main forms of knowledge-making that have emerged among activists and raises a number of questions both about the political and cognitive implications of such "green knowledge". The general argument is that, in the future, new types of interaction and new spaces for communication will need to be developed if green knowledge is not to be incorporated into the dominant culture or reduced to ineffective forms of protest.

This article argues that public choice theory does in fact provide limited support for judicial activism. From an economic perspective, it is useful to think of judicial activism as part of a larger market in which a product called "law change" is bought and sold.

In the context of globalization, transnational social regulation is increasingly the product of private (as opposed to public) interventions into the sphere of global trade. In recognition of the widespread failure of corporations to sufficiently address the socio-economic externalities borne by workers (inadequate wages, poor working conditions, forced overtime, child labor, and lack of the right to free association), various non-governmental organizations have begun to design and implement systems of rules intended to influence corporations and bring to an end a transnational "race to the bottom." Drawing on publicly available materials, interviews, and fieldwork in Southeast Asia, I propose that what matters as much as improvements to life on the factory floor are "spillover" effects whose force extend beyond building walls into the broader society of the host country. I question whether consumer behavior alone can create the conditions in which workers will be free to exercise their rights as guaranteed by both domestic law and International Labor Organization conventions. I conclude that what is needed is greater interaction between global civil society and trade unions. For the moment, the basis for effective labor law—and regulation more generally—lies within states. Activists and civil society should focus on improving legal, political, and social conditions for workers in the host countries, rather than trying to affect corporate behavior through consumer pressure.

In this paper I seek to describe, explain, and evaluate three decades of Left geographical change. Now that 'critical geography'-rather than 'radical geography'-has become the privileged descriptor for Left geographical inquiry, it is argued that this temporal switch of labels is of more than merely semantic significance. Specifically, it is suggested that the supercession of the 'radical geography' label is symptomatic of a substantive shift in the nature and purposes of Left geographical inquiry. This shift has entailed the 'professionalisation' and 'academicisation' of Left geography. Both developments have occurred in the context of a thirty-year transition from a 'modern' to an 'after-modern' higher education system. Taking the Anglo-American case, it is argued that the current vitality of the geographical (read 'critical') Left in the academy correlates with its detachment from 'real world' political constituencies and also a blindness to the academic changes underpinning this inverse correlation. Rather than worrying over their apparent failure to connect with constituencies 'out there', it is argued that geographical Leftists need to recapture something of the radical geography spirit of action and engagement in order to contest changes occurring 'in here': that is, changes in the political and moral economy of the higher system that enables and constrains our academic labours. A brief manifesto for a 'domesticated critical geography' is offered by way of a conclusion.

"Afternoon session opens debate on World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) intiated land mobilisation programme. Students express concern about the Government being used by the two monetary organisations to "sell" Papua New Guinea to foreign developers. By the end of the day, students declared war on the WB and IMF!"