scholarly journals The State and Civil Society in Social Movements Responding to Globalization

2005 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 400-416
Author(s):  
Hiroshi OHATA
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
The State

Civil Society, Social Movements and the Irish State

2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peadar Kirby
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Political System ◽  
Free Market ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Partnership ◽  
Corporate Profit ◽  
Fianna Fail

This article develops a theoretical framework to consider the symbiotic relationship between civil society, social movements and the Irish state. Civil society, largely through social movements, laid the foundations for an independent Irish state in the half-century before independence. Following independence, the nature of the civil society–state relationship changed; civil society became much more dependent on the state. The article empirically traces the nature of society's relationship to the state since the 1920s, and examines the nature of the political system and its major political party, Fianna Fáil, the structure of the economy, and the dominance of particular understandings of the role of civil society and the nature of society itself. The period since the advent of social partnership in 1987 is examined; this period marks a new attempt by the state to co-opt organised civil society making it subservient to its project of the imposition on society of the requirements of global corporate profit-making. The more forceful implementation of a global free-market project by the Irish state since the 1980s, and the co-option of organised civil society into this project, has left huge space for an alternative to emerge, the potential of which was indicated by the success of the ‘No’ campaign in the 2008 Lisbon referendum campaign.

‘What Will We Be without Them?’ Rural Intellectuals in the State and NGOs in Zimbabwe’s Crisis-Ridden Countryside

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 595-610 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Moore ◽  
Zenzo Moyo
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
The State ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
South West ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
State Organizations ◽  
The Many

Research on NGOs in rural Zimbabwe suggests that ideas of automatic opposition between ‘civil society’ and/or non-governmental organizations and authoritarian states are too simple. Rather, relations between state and non-state organizations such as those referenced in this article, in the rural district of Mangwe about 200 kilometres south-west of Zimbabwe’s Bulawayo, are symbiotic. This contrasts with urban areas where political histories have led to more contested state-civil society relations in the last two decades, during which social movements with a degree of counter-hegemonic (or counter-regime) aspirations were allied with many NGOs and opposition political parties. Gramsci’s idea of ‘rural intellectuals’ could complement the widely used notion of ‘organic intellectuals’ to examine the members of the intelligentsia appearing to be at one with subordinate groups in the countryside and at odds with the state. Likewise state workers distant from the centre and close to their class peers in NGOs as well as their ‘subjects’ may operate with autonomy from their masters in ruling parties and states to assist, rather than repress, citizens and also to co-operate with NGO workers. This research indicates that discerning how hegemony works across whole state-society complexes is more complicated than usually perceived, given the many regional variations therein.

Collective Activism: The Domestic Violence Bill becoming Law in Ghana

2008 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 395-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akosua Adomako Ampofo
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Power ◽  
The State ◽  
Citizenship Rights ◽  
National Coalition ◽  
Domestic Violence Legislation ◽  
Collective Activism

Abstract This article reflects on contemporary struggles for citizenship rights through an examination of civil society's advocacy for the passage of domestic violence legislation in Ghana. The National Coalition on Domestic Violence Legislation, established in 2003 specifically to push for the passage of the legislation, at various times worked closely with, and at other times independently of, or even in conflict with, the state. These processes and engagements point to the vibrancy of civil society and suggest the need for new analyses of social movements, political power and democracy that are rooted in Africa's contemporary realities.

Political Inclusion and the Dynamics of Democratization

1996 ◽  
Vol 90 (3) ◽  
pp. 475-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
John S. Dryzek
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
The State ◽  
Strategic Choices ◽  
Political Equality ◽  
Citizenship Rights ◽  
State And Society ◽  
Political Inclusion ◽  
Progressive Inclusion

Once universal adult citizenship rights have been secured in a society, democratization is mostly a matter of the more authentic political inclusion of different groups and categories, for which formal political equality can hide continued exclusion or oppression. It is important, however, to distinguish between inclusion in the state and inclusion in the polity more generally. Democratic theorists who advocate a strategy of progressive inclusion of as many groups as possible in the state fail to recognize that the conditions for authentic as opposed to symbolic inclusion are quite demanding. History shows that benign inclusion in the state is possible only when (a) a group's defining concern can be assimilated to an established or emerging state imperative, and (b) civil society is not unduly depleted by the group's entry into the state. Absent such conditions, oppositional civil society may be a better focus for democratization than is the state. A flourishing oppositional sphere, and therefore the conditions for democratization itself, may actually be facilitated by a passively exclusive state, the main contemporary form of which is corporatism. Benign inclusion in the state can sometimes occur, but any such move should also produce exclusions that both facilitate future democratization and guard against any reversal of democratic commitment in state and society. These considerations have substantial implications for the strategic choices of social movements.

Indigenous Political Representation in Latin America

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberta Rice
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Political System ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Indigenous Movements

Indigenous peoples have become important social and political actors in contemporary Latin America. The politicization of ethnic identities in the region has divided analysts into those who view it as a threat to democratic stability versus those who welcome it as an opportunity to improve the quality of democracy. Throughout much of Latin America’s history, Indigenous peoples’ demands have been oppressed, ignored, and silenced. Latin American states did not just exclude Indigenous peoples’ interests; they were built in opposition to or even against them. The shift to democracy in the 1980s presented Indigenous groups with a dilemma: to participate in elections and submit themselves to the rules of a largely alien political system that had long served as an instrument of their domination or seek a measure of representation through social movements while putting pressure on the political system from the outside. In a handful of countries, most notably Bolivia and Ecuador, Indigenous movements have successfully overcome this tension by forming their own political parties and contesting elections on their own terms. The emergence of Indigenous peoples’ movements and parties has opened up new spaces for collective action and transformed the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the state. Indigenous movements have reinvigorated Latin America’s democracies. The political exclusion of Indigenous peoples, especially in countries with substantial Indigenous populations, has undoubtedly contributed to the weakness of party systems and the lack of accountability, representation, and responsiveness of democracies in the region. In Bolivia, the election of the country’s first Indigenous president, Evo Morales (2006–present) of the Movement toward Socialism (MAS) party, has resulted in new forms of political participation that are, at least in part, inspired by Indigenous traditions. A principal consequence of the broadening of the democratic process is that Indigenous activists are no longer forced to choose between party politics and social movements. Instead, participatory mechanisms allow civil society actors and their organizations to increasingly become a part of the state. New forms of civil society participation such as Indigenous self-rule broaden and deepen democracy by making it more inclusive and government more responsive and representative. Indigenous political representation is democratizing democracy in the region by pushing the limits of representative democracy in some of the most challenging socio-economic and institutional environments.

Managing Society: Protest, Civil Society, and Regime in Putin's Russia

Slavic Review ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 528-547 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graeme B. Robertson
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
The State ◽  
Hybrid Regimes ◽  
Soviet Space ◽  
The Stability ◽  
New System ◽  
Post Soviet Space

Postcommunist Russia has become a paradigmatic case of contemporary authoritarianism in which elections coexist with autocratic rule. In this paper, Graeme B. Robertson argues that it is vital for the stability of such hybrid regimes for incumbents to maintain an image of political invincibility. This means intensively managing challenges both during elections and in the streets. To do this, Vladimir Putin's regime has built on the Soviet repertoire of channeling and inhibiting protest, creating a new system for licensing civil society and crafting ersatz social movements that rally support for the state. This contemporary style of repression has become a model for authoritarian regimes in the post-Soviet space and elsewhere.

Interactions between Environmental Civil Society and the State during the Ma Ying-jeou and Tsai Ing-wen Administrations in Taiwan

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simona A. Grano
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Social ◽  
Ruling Party

This chapter deals with the political repercussions of popular discontent towards several secondary issues in Taiwan prompting a mainstream political formation like the DPP to revert to its early pro-environmental and social justice rhetoric to attract voters for the 2016 electoral tournament; several activists and academics that trace their origins to the social movements’ galaxy were drafted by the DPP upon winning the elections. The aim of this chapter is to verify whether four years later concrete results have been achieved or whether the activists have become quieter after joining the ruling party. This chapter consolidates research on interactions and conflicts between the state trying to exert more influence across several fields and newly emerging/wellestablished social movements under the Ma Ying-jeou and Tsai Ing-wen administrations.

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