scholarly journals A concept that is everything and nothing: Why not to study (post-)Yugoslav anti-war and pacifist contention from a civil society perspective

Sociologija ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 297-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bojan Bilic
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Complex Geometry ◽  
Power Networks ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Power Asymmetries ◽  
Personal Interactions ◽  
Society Perspective

This paper draws upon a variety of empirical sources to start critically examining the concept of civil society in the context of both (post-)Yugoslav anti-war and pacifist contention and the civic engagement stemming from it in the nationally fragmented post-Yugoslav space. I argue that civil society can no longer be meaningfully used for understanding the complex geometry of social, political and personal interactions, cooperation's and resistances within the regional civic spheres characterized by appreciable power asymmetries. Its definitional volatility and logical incoherence allow civil society to incorporate ideologically and historically extremely divergent phenomena. Due to its conceptual elasticity, civil society is a cognitively easily available device and a depoliticised theoretical paradigm convenient for masking power networks frequently conditioned by foreign political agendas. This paper points to possible alternative perspectives that might prove more productive for analyzing (post-)Yugoslav bottom-up civic engagement.

scholarly journals Attrition as a bottom-up pathway to subnational democratization

2021 ◽  
pp. 019251212110192
Author(s):  
Trix van Mierlo
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Causal Process ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
System A ◽  
Extensive Field ◽  
Democratic System

Oftentimes, democracy is not spread out evenly over the territory of a country. Instead, pockets of authoritarianism can persist within a democratic system. A growing body of literature questions how such subnational authoritarian enclaves can be democratized. Despite fascinating insights, all existing pathways rely on the actions of elites and are therefore top-down. This article seeks to kick-start the discussion on a bottom-up pathway to subnational democratization, by proposing the attrition mechanism. This mechanism consists of four parts and is the product of abductive inference through theory-building causal process tracing. The building blocks consist of subnational democratization literature, social movement theory, and original empirical data gathered during extensive field research. This case study focuses on the ‘Dynasty Slayer’ in the province of Isabela, the Philippines, where civil society actors used the attrition mechanism to facilitate subnational democratization. This study implies that civil society actors in subnational authoritarian enclaves have agency.

scholarly journals A Nation of Organizers: The Institutional Origins of Civic Voluntarism in the United States

2000 ◽  
Vol 94 (3) ◽  
pp. 527-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theda Skocpol ◽  
Marshall Ganz ◽  
Ziad Munson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
The United States ◽  
Institutional Form ◽  
Current Discussion ◽  
Institutional Origins ◽  
Membership Associations

We challenge the widely held view that classic American voluntary groups were tiny, local, and disconnected from government. Using newly collected data to develop a theoretically framed account, we show that membership associations emerged early in U.S. history and converged toward the institutional form of the representatively governed federation. This form enabled leaders and members to spread interconnected groups across an expanding nation. At the height of local proliferation, most voluntary groups were part of regional or national federations that mirrored the structure of U.S. government. Institutionalist theories suggest reasons for this parallelism, which belies the rigid dichotomy between state and civil society that informs much current discussion of civic engagement in the United States and elsewhere.

Ethnic Conflict and Civil Society: India and Beyond

2001 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 362-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashutosh Varshney
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Ethnic Conflict ◽  
Ethnic Violence ◽  
The People

Scholars have worked either on civil society or on ethnic conflict, but no systematic attempt has yet been made to connect the two. In an attempt to explore the possible links, this article makes two interconnected arguments. First, interethnic and intraethnic networks of civic engagement play very different roles in ethnic conflict. Because they build bridges and manage tensions, interethnic networks are agents of peace. But if communities are organized only along intraethnic lines and the interconnections with other communities are very weak (or do not exist), ethnic violence is then quite likely. Second, civic networks, both intra- and interethnic, can also be broken down into two other types: associational forms of engagement and everyday forms of engagement. This distinction is based on whether civic interaction is formal or not. Both forms of engagement, if robust, promote peace: contrariwise, their absence or weakness opens up space for ethnic violence. Of the two, however, the associational forms turn out to be sturdier than everyday engagement, especially when confronted with attempts by politicians to polarize the people along ethnic lines. Both arguments have significance for theories of ethnic conflict and social capital.

scholarly journals POLITICAL REGIONAL TOURISM IN CIVIL SOCIETY PERSPECTIVE (Profile of Development Strategy of Situ Bagendit Tourism Object, Banyuresmi District, Garut Regency, West Java Province)

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-50
Author(s):  
Hasan Mustapa
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Development Strategy ◽  
The State ◽  
Main Question ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Regional Tourism ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Development Politics ◽  
Tourism Potential ◽  
Society Perspective

The main question of this study is how the politics of tourism development in the Situ Bagendit area is in the perspective of civil society. The theoretical foundation used in this paper is the concept of Civil Society expressed by Janoski (1998: 12) which states that the idea of civil society rests on intensive discourse between the four domains, namely the state, markets, public and private / private. To clarify the understanding of the main statements, it was elaborated through several conceptions about the politics of development and regional tourism with various variations. So that the good relations that are correlational in nature and the relevance between the politics of development are positive and the progress of regional tourism through an effective review of civil society implementation The role of the state is very effective by delegating ownership from the center to the district for the management of Situ Bagendit. In contrast, in the realm of the market there seems to be less contribution. There has not been a productive effort in the public domain for the development of this tourist attraction. Similarly, personal awareness to develop this tourism potential so that going international is still low. Every tourism potential can become a regional icon that is able to compete on an international scale. One of the strategies is with productive development politics in the synergy between the state and related institutions.

scholarly journals Between gentrification and reurbanisation: The participatory dimension of bottom-up regeneration in Gdańsk, Poland

Geografie ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 120 (2) ◽  
pp. 210-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maja Grabkowska
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Inner City ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Transformation Processes ◽  
Careful Investigation

Urban regeneration has become a key issue in the development of contemporary cities. The paper discusses bottom-up regeneration practices performed by inhabitants of a decaying inner-city neighbourhood under post-socialist conditions, which differ notably from the widely researched Western European context. Results of a qualitative study in Wrzeszcz Dolny, Gdańsk, have indicated the leading role of newcomers to the area in animating bottom-up regeneration efforts, which in turn translate into an activation and integration of the local community. Thus, it is argued that an in-migration into the inner city, usually interpreted as gentrification, does not necessarily generate losses for the indigenous inhabitants but can also bring a desired social change and significantly contribute to the building of inclusive civil society. The presented case study therefore signals the need for a careful investigation and precise labelling of the post-socialist inner-city transformation processes, as well as demonstrates how increasing participation might be employed as the potential antidote to ills associated with gentrification.

Parenthood and civic engagement

2020 ◽  
pp. 81-108
Author(s):  
Esther Muddiman
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Role Model ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Transition To Parenthood ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Good Citizenship ◽  
The Family ◽  
Family Home

In this chapter, Esther Muddiman draws on qualitative data from interviews with 20 parents of teenagers to explore how parenthood disrupts, complements and triggers various types of civic engagement. The chapter describes how becoming a parent can limit an individual’s ability to maintain their commitment to existing voluntary activities/associational memberships, disrupting previous ties to civil society. However, it also finds that parenthood provides new opportunities for engagement, especially via educational institutions and parental networks; and that the transition to parenthood itself can lead individuals to reflect on their own relationship to society and the values that they would like to pass on to their children: the desire to role-model ‘good citizenship’ within the family home can act as a gateway for participation in civically-minded practices.

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