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Background China has experienced unprecedented economic growth since the 1980s. Despite this impressive economic development, this growth exists side by side with the human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) crises and the persisting deficiencies in public health provision in China. Acknowledging the prevailing health problems, the Chinese government has encouraged the development of health non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to respond to the health challenges and address the gaps in public health provision of the government. HIV/AIDS-focused NGOs have been perceived as the most outstanding civil society group developed in China. Considering the low priority of health policies since the economic reform, the limitation of the "third sector" activity permitted in authoritarian China, together with the political sensitivity of the HIV/AIDS problem in the country, this article aims to explain the proliferation of HIV/AIDS-focused NGOs in China with the usage of the securitization framework in the field of international relations (IR). Methods The research that underpins this article is based on a desk-based literature review as well as in-depth field interviews with individuals working in HIV/AIDS-focused NGOs in China. Face-to-face interviews for this research were conducted between January and May in 2011, and between December 2016 and January 2017, in China. Discourse analysis was in particular employed in the study of the security-threat framing process (securitization) of HIV/AIDS in China. Results This article argues that the proliferation of HIV/AIDS-related NGOs in China is largely attributed to the normative and technical effects of HIV/AIDS securitization ushered in by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and supported by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (hereinafter Global Fund) observed in China. Despite depicting a positive scenario, the development of HIV/AIDS-focused NGOs in China generated by the international securitization efforts is largely limited. An internal and external factor was identified to verify the argument, namely (1) the reduction of international financial commitments, as well as (2) the fragmentation of HIV/AIDS-focused NGO community in China. Conclusions This article shows that international securitization weakened with the rise of Chinese commitment on HIV/AIDS interventions. In other words, HIV/AIDS-related responses delivered by the national government are no longer checked by the global mechanism of HIV/AIDS; thus it is unclear whether these NGOs would remain of interest as partners for the government. The fragmentation of the HIV/AIDS community would further hinder the development, preventing from NGOs with the same interest forming alliances to call for changes in current political environment. Such restriction on the concerted efforts of HIV/AIDS-related NGOs in China would make achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to foster stronger partnerships between the government and civil society difficult, which in turn hindering the realization of ending HIV/AIDS in the world by 2030.

Central Asia has endured three decades of multiple transitions. The political life of these post-Soviet states has witnessed an active phase of education and reform of the main vectors of development. The most important international actor that has supported and encouraged this process has been the European Union. From the outset, it must be stated that civil societal development has not met the expectations of the immediate post-Cold War period. Any society in transition must correlate its actions with its historical experience based not only on opportunities and flexibility related to the state but also on civil society, representing the quintessential spirit of the people, defining the contours of reform and the potential of society as a whole. One may assert that successful public change largely depends on the institutional matrix and socio-cultural features that can both drive change and create an environment of resistance. Therefore, this research aims to provide insight into the theoretical comprehension concerning Central Asian political reform expectations and to investigate the interaction between Central Asian civil society and the EU.
Received: 30 May 2022Accepted: 25 July 2022

ABSTRACTCurrent debates regarding the degree to which centralization or decentralization of environmental bureaucracies promotes more effective management of natural resources suggest the need for employing new methodologies to empirical analysis, in a variety of political and ecological settings. In this paper, recent state synergy scholarship is adopted to an analysis of the impact of state‐societal relations on the implementation of the U.S. Endangered Species Act in the coastal redwoods region of California. This study suggests that certain state‐societal relations at the peripheries of bureaucratic state systems pose potential sources of both state autonomy and capacity. Effective utilization of such sources may be hampered, however, by policy actions that reflect national‐level political pressure, leading to management decisions that are not necessarily designed to improve either the ecological or social welfare of the region. In conclusion, the author argues that decentralization may be beneficial to bureaucratic effectiveness, however such efforts will be contingent on the ability of states to develop dense connecting networks with social actors that can contribute to policy goals.

Agrobiodiversität besitzt vielfältigen ökologischen, ökonomischen und sozio-kulturellen Wert. Sie ist eine grundlegende Voraussetzung für zukünftige Nutzungen und steht gleichzeitig in einem besonderen Verhältnis zu menschlichem Handeln. Zwar basiert Agrobiodiversität auf Natur, sie ist jedoch wesentlich durch landwirtschaftliche Tätigkeiten gestaltet worden und kann ohne weitere Nutzung durch den Menschen nicht erhalten und erneuert werden. Die vorliegende Dissertation analysiert die Gestaltung gesellschaftlicher Naturverhältnisse in der ländlichen Entwicklung am Beispiel der nachhaltigen Nutzung von Agrobiodiversität. Schutz und Nutzung von Agrobiodiversität wird hierfür in einem ersten Schritt als sozial-ökologisches Phänomen konzipiert. Daran schließen sich Analysen auf agrarpolitischer und landwirtschaftlich praktischer Ebene an. Anhand einer Analyse der der Gemeinsamen Agrarpolitik der EU (GAP) und im speziellen der Politik zur ländlichen Entwicklung wird deutlich, dass eine programmatische Orientierung an Wettbewerbsfähigkeit und einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung besteht und das Paradigma einer multifunktionalen Landwirtschaft integrierende Ansätze bietet. Diese Ansätze werden jedoch weiterhin vor dem Hintergrund einer unhinterfragten Logik realisiert, die davon ausgeht, dass naturerhaltendes Wirtschaften nicht wettbewerbsfähig sein kann. Die GAP löst somit die hierarchische Trennung zwischen Schutz und Nutzung von Agrobiodiversität nicht auf. Trotz der Wirkmächtigkeit der GAP kann mittels der Fallstudie ´Arche-Region Flusslandschaft Elbe´ an einem konkreten Beispiel aus der landwirtschaftlichen Praxis dargestellt werden, wie nachhaltige Agrobiodiversitätsnutzung umgesetzt wird. Aus den Ergebnissen der Fallstudie werden abschließend Schlussfolgerungen für eine Weiterentwicklung der Politik zur ländlichen Entwicklung und EU-Agrarpolitik im Allgemeinen abgeleitet. ; Agrobiodiversity has diverse ecological, economic and socio-cultural value. It is a fundamental prerequisite for a wide range of future uses and at the same time has a special relationship with human action. Although agrobiodiversity is based on nature, it has been shaped essentially by agricultural activities and cannot be maintained and renewed without further human use. The present dissertation analyses the shaping of social relations to nature in rural development using the example of the sustainable use of agrobiodiversity. First, the conservation and use of agrobiodiversity is conceived as a social-ecological phenomenon. This is followed by research on both agricultural policy and practice. An analysis of the EU´s Common Agricultural Policy and, in particular, rural development policy shows that there is a programmatic orientation to integrate competitiveness and sustainable development, and that the paradigm of multifunctional agriculture offers integrated approaches. However, these approaches continue to be implemented against the background of an unquestioned logic that assumes that ecologically sound management cannot be competitive. The CAP thus does not resolve the hierarchical separation between the conservation and use of agrobiodiversity. Despite the effectiveness of the CAP, the case study ´Arche-Region Flusslandschaft Elbe´ illustrates as a concrete example from agricultural practice how the sustainable use of agrobiodiversity can be implemented. Finally conclusions are drawn from the results of the case study for the further development of rural development policy and agricultural policy in general.

Cover -- Half-Title -- Series -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- List of Figures -- Preface and Acknowledgements -- Notes on Contributors -- 1 Introduction: The Role of Social Relations in Human and Societal Development -- Part I: Social Relations in Cognitive and Sociomoral Development: Piaget and Beyond in Education -- 2 Education for Democracy: Cooperation, Participation and Civic Engagement in the Classroom -- 3 The Development of Intersubjectivity: Cognitive, Affective and Action Aspects -- 4 The Architecture of Social Relationships and Thinking Spaces for Growth

Social interaction is part of human life and is the engine which drives an individual's psychological development, creating changes on all levels of society. Through a collection of essays by internationally renowned academics from a range of disciplines, including social psychology, international relations and child development, Social Relations in Human and Societal Development examines the effect of this integral force on human life. Each chapter explores the role of social relations in a particular domain to provide a broad understanding of the role of social relations in human and societal development.

This article discusses the societal multiplicity proposition as a welcome conceptual proposition for IR. First, it argues that against the background of the discipline's trajectory and especially Adler's call for a turn towards 'the social' in the 1990s, Rosenberg's proposition offers a nudge towards scrutinising concepts for a more concise and systematic appreciation of societal multiplicity as a source of knowledge production in a globalised world. Second, this is illustrated with reference to the challenge of building global governance from below as the international liberal order stands contested and alliances are re-negotiated. Third, it demonstrates why during this period of global change it is key to diversify sources of meaning-making and the conceptual categories to reflect this diversification. And fourth, it turns to practices of contestation as drivers of inter-societal negotiations that target both established fundamental norms of global governance (e.g. the rule of law, human rights, and democracy) and more recently, negotiated fundamental norms (e.g. climate justice, gender justice, or intergenerational justice). The article concludes that a conceptual shift from the agency of states and their representatives as carriers of knowledge and mediators of normative change towards engaging societal agency represents a welcome contribution.

In spite of the reestablishment of civilian democracy in Ecuador and Peru, military government continues to be the norm in Latin America. In recent years, many scholars have examined the rise of military regimes in the region in order to gain a better understanding of the dynamics of civil-military relations. Few analysts, however, have studied civil-military relations in the handful of nations where civilian government has persisted. The purpose of this analysis is, therefore, to contribute to a broader understanding of Latin American military behavior by attempting to explain the Colombian armed forces' atypical obedience to civilian authority.