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International audience ; This article examines the development, activities and effectiveness of women's NGOs in 10 Central and Eastern European countries. It begins by examining the establishment of women's organizations post-1989, identifying their structure, funding difficulties and the issues on which they focus. It also addresses the tension between the work of NGOs and the wider development of civil society. The article goes on to explore how negative perceptions of feminism have hindered efforts to develop a unified and coherent agenda among women's NGOs. Finally, it analyses how public attitudes have affected relations between women's organizations and women politicians as well as how competition and fragmentation have complicated relationships between NGOs.

Explanations of successful democratic transitions and subsequent entrenchment of democratic institutions often emphasis the role played in these processes by extensive and densely woven civil society organisms. The associational life assembled in civil society as well as in well organised political parties are both viewed as very important in helping to establish and build democratic political systems. In this presentation we will consider African civil society's contribution to democratic development. We will do this by investigating the politically relevant activities of civil society in six of Africa's stronger democracies, in the six countries in which two alternations in office of parties and or presidents have occurred through elections. Double electoral turnovers are often cited as evidence of democratic accomplishment. We will survey each of the countries in turn. A preliminary consideration of the development of their party politics will provide useful background for an exploration of the extent to which civil society in each setting has enhanced democratic politics. ; N/A

The focus of the paper is on the reactions in civil society on the local level, related to poverty problems in Russia. Local initiatives has become a political aim in the local context, at the same time as political control of civic activities is restricting to implement and further develop such initiatives.

In relation to economic growth and political liberalization, the emergence of a civil society is one of the most significant social transformations which has taken place in Taiwan since the 1980s. The development of the non-profit sector has embarked on a new and unprecedented phase. This process is a dynamic component of social change and offers an interesting perspective on the emergence of a 'civil society', a concept sure to trigger off debate among scholars when applied to Chinese and/or Taiwanese contexts (Huang 1993; Ma 1994). While the legal framework and historical background of civic bodies are both highly relevant to law and political science, studying the working methods of these organizations in daily life, human relationships, team building and networking at a micro-social scale is highly consistent with an anthropological approach. Social organizations have the capacity to access those margins of society government bodies cannot easily reach. This process allows the state to delegate the management of politically sensitive social issues. Although the government has been slow to act in launching a national offensive, a modern AIDS campaign has gradually taken shape with the help of the non-profit sector - secular and religious organizations - working in conjunction with official bodies. The following topics will be discussed in this paper: The emergence of a civil society is investigated through an analysis of the development of the non-profit sector and the working methods of local NGOs. Specific questions related to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, a sensitive health issue, have shed an original light on the debate about civil society: official responses echo non-official organized responses to the epidemic threat. Finally, AIDS memorial rituals are described as voices of society, and the controversial issue of sex education is introduced.

In relation to economic growth and political liberalization, the emergence of a civil society is one of the most significant social transformations which has taken place in Taiwan since the 1980s. The development of the non-profit sector has embarked on a new and unprecedented phase. This process is a dynamic component of social change and offers an interesting perspective on the emergence of a 'civil society', a concept sure to trigger off debate among scholars when applied to Chinese and/or Taiwanese contexts (Huang 1993; Ma 1994). While the legal framework and historical background of civic bodies are both highly relevant to law and political science, studying the working methods of these organizations in daily life, human relationships, team building and networking at a micro-social scale is highly consistent with an anthropological approach. Social organizations have the capacity to access those margins of society government bodies cannot easily reach. This process allows the state to delegate the management of politically sensitive social issues. Although the government has been slow to act in launching a national offensive, a modern AIDS campaign has gradually taken shape with the help of the non-profit sector - secular and religious organizations - working in conjunction with official bodies. The following topics will be discussed in this paper: The emergence of a civil society is investigated through an analysis of the development of the non-profit sector and the working methods of local NGOs. Specific questions related to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, a sensitive health issue, have shed an original light on the debate about civil society: official responses echo non-official organized responses to the epidemic threat. Finally, AIDS memorial rituals are described as voices of society, and the controversial issue of sex education is introduced.

The design and development of this study emerged as the result of an action research partnership between Brad Tucker of Washington University in St. Louis and the Aga Khan Foundation East Africa's Yetu Initiative. Consultations between study collaborators led to the following observations: 1) The conceptualization and the study of organizational sustainability and effectiveness (OS/OE) – both in scholarship and in practice – are fragmented and, while emphasizing the critical importance of context, do not explain how context impacts sustainability. 2) Existing conceptualizations of OS/OE lack the perspectives of key stakeholders – namely the management and staff of the local NPOs themselves. 3) There is a considerable disconnect between the level of investment in organizational development (through international funding and capacity building) and the expected level of return (in the form of enhanced organizational performance/effectiveness) of that investment. 4) There seems to be an increasing belief in the potential of community philanthropy/local fundraising to enhance organizational sustainability/effectiveness of local nonprofits even in the often resource-constrained countries of the Global South. These four observations gave rise to several questions this study was designed to address. Kenya was chosen as the specific context in which to address these questions due to the ongoing work of the Yetu Initiative as well as the primary investigator's previous work experience and contacts there.

Civil society organizations are often seen as playing a crucial role in helping to mitigate the exclusion of weaker states, giving voice to marginalized communities, and raising environmental and developmental concerns within the trade system. The politicization and demystification of the global trade agenda by civil society also opens up space for a more diverse set of actors to influence trade negotiations. This article examines the evolution of the WTO secretariat's engagement with civil society within this context and argues that the dominant mode of engagement, as manifest in WTO Public Forums and civil society participation in ministerial conferences, is no longer fit for purpose. Rather it reflects an outmoded strategy that once served to underscore the existence and value of the WTO as an international organization and works to neutralize political contestation and publicly promote the benefits of free trade. It is now in need of reform.

International audience ; Civil Society Resilience is an area of crisis management that is complementary to professional response. Crisis managers and response organizations need to integrate individuals, communities and local governments in their management efforts, among others by efficient crisis communication via media and the mobilization and handling of citizens as spontaneous volunteers. DRIVER aims at a campaign of experiments: organizational concepts and IT-solutions will be iteratively tested and assessed under realistic conditions to understand and improve their operational benefits. Therefore, this paper outlines the DRIVER approach of addressing the civil society in the context of resilience towards crisis situations. This does not only include a society oriented definition of local resilience as well as an introduction into the DRIVER perspectives of the society to be included in the DRIVER framework, rather it will be explained how DRIVERs consecutive experimentation approach supports the sustainable development of local societal resilience.

International audience ; Civil Society Resilience is an area of crisis management that is complementary to professional response. Crisis managers and response organizations need to integrate individuals, communities and local governments in their management efforts, among others by efficient crisis communication via media and the mobilization and handling of citizens as spontaneous volunteers. DRIVER aims at a campaign of experiments: organizational concepts and IT-solutions will be iteratively tested and assessed under realistic conditions to understand and improve their operational benefits. Therefore, this paper outlines the DRIVER approach of addressing the civil society in the context of resilience towards crisis situations. This does not only include a society oriented definition of local resilience as well as an introduction into the DRIVER perspectives of the society to be included in the DRIVER framework, rather it will be explained how DRIVERs consecutive experimentation approach supports the sustainable development of local societal resilience.

In contrast to those who trace civil society to "community" per se, Foucault is keen to locate this concept as it emerges at a particular moment in respect of specific exigencies of government. He suggests that civil society is a novel way of thinking about a problem, a particular problematization of government that emerges in the eighteenth century and which combines incommensurable conceptions of the subject as simultaneously a subject of right and of interests. This article takes up Foucault's discussion of the Scottish Enlightenment in The Birth of Biopolitics to trace the distinctiveness of his discussion of civil society, but also in order to suggest that we ought to pay closer attention to the tensions between commercial-civilizational and civic republican themes in the literature of the late eighteenth century than does Foucault. It is my tentative suggestion that Foucault's account leaves out significant aspects of these debates that offer counter-valences to the dominant models of the subject available to contemporary political discourse.

This paper presents a cross-cultural overview of the features of the dynamics of the perception of the concepts of "society", "politics", and "state". The work raises the issue of complex and multifaceted individual consciousness of understanding policy. Authors formulate this aspect from the perspective of historical dynamics and propose to explore the process of transformation of the ancient city-state and flowing therefrom political relations in the modern state with its complex political system. It was stressed that the problem of understanding the nature and role of social policy is complicated by language as well as etymological and conceptual differences. ; This paper presents a cross-cultural overview of the features of the dynamics of the perception of the concepts of "society", "politics", and "state". The work raises the issue of complex and multifaceted individual consciousness of understanding policy. Authors formulate this aspect from the perspective of historical dynamics and propose to explore the process of transformation of the ancient city-state and flowing therefrom political relations in the modern state with its complex political system. It was stressed that the problem of understanding the nature and role of social policy is complicated by language as well as etymological and conceptual differences.

This paper presents a cross-cultural overview of the features of the dynamics of the perception of the concepts of "society", "politics", and "state". The work raises the issue of complex and multifaceted individual consciousness of understanding policy. Authors formulate this aspect from the perspective of historical dynamics and propose to explore the process of transformation of the ancient city-state and flowing therefrom political relations in the modern state with its complex political system. It was stressed that the problem of understanding the nature and role of social policy is complicated by language as well as etymological and conceptual differences. ; This paper presents a cross-cultural overview of the features of the dynamics of the perception of the concepts of "society", "politics", and "state". The work raises the issue of complex and multifaceted individual consciousness of understanding policy. Authors formulate this aspect from the perspective of historical dynamics and propose to explore the process of transformation of the ancient city-state and flowing therefrom political relations in the modern state with its complex political system. It was stressed that the problem of understanding the nature and role of social policy is complicated by language as well as etymological and conceptual differences.

The Brussels-based civil society organizations (CSOs) have been conceived by the EU to act as a bridge between the bureaucratic elites and the citizens of Europe. The institutionalized presence of the major EU-based CSOs has, however, called their legitimacy into question, as exemplified by notions such as 'revolving doors' implying homogeneous social, educational, and professional backgrounds shared by both EU officials and CSO leaders. This article therefore asks the following questions: To what extent do the leaders of EU-based CSOs merely reproduce the types of capital that mirror those of the political elites in the so-called 'Brussels bubble'? To what extent do the CSO leaders bring in other sets of capital and forms of recognition that are independent of the Brussels game? How can we explain differences in the salience of EU capital found across policy areas, types of leadership positions, and types of organizations? Empirically, this article qualitatively analyzes the career trajectories of 17 leaders of EU-based peak CSOs that are active in social and environmental policy areas. Despite the highly integrated and institutionalized characteristics shared by all organizations, we find diversity in the composition of the leaders in terms of the extent to which their career trajectories are embedded in the EU arena.

An increasing amount of attention has been devoted to understanding the role of civil society in the global politics, although little has been done to identify and analyze conditions under which civil society can function as agents of democratization and development. This article reviews this changing discourse that acknowledges civil society as an independent actor and the approaches to define "the enabling environment" for civil society development. The main part of the contribution presents the findings of an empirical investigation demonstrating the situation of enabling environment for civil society in Turkey in the EU accession process. Three major tenets of enabling environment are assessed: (1) Operational activity (law on associations and foundations, problems in registration, disproportionate audit, lack of statistical data/ consistent policy towards CSOs); (2) Speech and advocacy (freedom of expression, internet regulation and pressure on social networks); (3) Freedom of Assembly (constitutional rights, law on meeting and demonstrations, responses to Gezi protests). The empirical data is drawn from Third Sector Foundation of Turkey (TUSEV) publications2 on these dimensions and Monitoring Reports drafted by TUSEV within project entitled Monitoring Matrix on Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development Project funded by the European Union

What is the relationship between Islam, democracy, and civil society? This is thequestion which supplies the topic of this essay, Its purpose, more particularly, is to explore theplace of Islam in the modern world-a world which contemporary writers increasingly try tounderstand by invoking the notions of democracy and civil society. But the occasion for thisexploitation has a more precise origin still. The issue of the place of Islam in the modernworld is raised, more often than not, by writers and commentators for whom Islam is, aboveall, a danger, in geo-political terms, it is a danger to the West; in world-historical terms, it is adanger to modernity; and in philosophical terms it is a danger to democracy. For many, then,Islam stands in a relationship of tension with-if not complete antagonism to-democracy andmodernity. It is a religion, and a philosophy, which is a throwback to the middle ages, and anobstacle to human progress.(1) It is, in the end, incompatible with any kind of liberal politicalorder.