scholarly journals EU, Conflict Transformation and Civil Society: Promoting Peace from the Bottom Up?

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathalie Tocci
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Conflict Transformation ◽  
Bottom Up

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.

Conflict Transformation and Civil Society: The Case of Nagorno-Karabakh

2016 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 441-459 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincenc Kopecek ◽  
Tomas Hoch ◽  
Vladimir Baar
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Conflict Transformation

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.

Participatory Social Policies: Diverging Patterns in Brazil and Bolivia

2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Niedzwiecki ◽  
Santiago Anria
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Institutional Context ◽  
Healthcare Systems ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Social Policies ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Popular Participation

ABSTRACTBolivia and Brazil have universalized their pension and healthcare systems, respectively. Civil society organizations participated actively in social policy expansion, yet they have done so in starkly different ways, reflecting general patterns in each country. Whereas in Brazil, popular participation in social policies takes place through “inside” formal channels, such as conferences and councils, in Bolivia, bottom-up influence occurs mostly via “outside” channels, by coordinating collective action in the streets. Understanding forms of popular participation matters because policies that allow for popular input are potentially more representative, universal, and nondiscretionary. This article argues that differences in the forms of popular participation in social policy expansion can be explained by the characteristics of the institutional context and differences in the types of movements engaged in the policymaking process. By focusing on patterns of participation, these findings add nuance to the literature on Latin America’s welfare states.

Politics, sport mega events and grassroots mobilization. Anticipated triumph and unexpected failure of political elite in Poland

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 367-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wojciech Woźniak
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Olympic Games ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Contrasting Cases ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
The Public ◽  
Mega Events ◽  
Winter Olympic Games

Sport mega events are the most prominent manifestations of the multidimensional and global interrelation between sport and politics. The purpose of the paper is to present the contrasting cases of two Polish SMEs: UEFA European Championships in football (Euro, 2012) and the bid for Winter Olympic Games Cracow 2022. This article pays special attention to the role of Polish political elite in promoting both events and to the grassroots movement that effectively ended the bidding for the latter event. It also discusses how the allegedly successful Euro 2012 tournament was presented in the public discourse in order to avoid conflicts and debates about the very idea of hosting the games. This proved unsuccessful in the latter case. This case deserves scrutiny as it is an unusual example of effective bottom up mobilization of civil society against the whole political elite.

scholarly journals Gender-Aware and Place-Based Transitional Justice in Guatemala

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-344 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tine Destrooper ◽  
Stephan Parmentier
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Truth Commission ◽  
Participatory Approaches ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Opportunity Structures ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Causal Mechanisms ◽  
Justice Process

Place-based approaches to transitional justice, which foreground victim participation, have become increasingly popular in the last decade. The assumption is that these approaches enhance legitimacy, increase the local relevance of interventions, and empower victims. However, the causal mechanisms by which this alleged empowerment takes place, are not usually studied in great detail. This article examines whether altering the opportunity structures of (germinal) civil society organizations is one of the ways by which this empowering effect might take hold. The authors argue that in Guatemala, the transitional justice process, and in particular the truth commission, did indeed significantly alter the opportunity structures of grassroots indigenous women’s groups, most notably by providing these groups with support to develop their own agenda and with access to ‘elite allies’. Yet the fieldwork performed hitherto would also advise against treating localized and participatory approaches to transitional justice as a panacea, for even if a genuine bottom-up approach is promising, the ongoing institutionalization of the field of transitional justice makes adequate implementation of such an approach difficult; and especially in cases where victims face intersectional discrimination positive effects may be slow to materialize.

scholarly journals Civil Society and Latent Mobilisation Under Authoritarian Neoliberal Governance

2021 ◽  
pp. 211-234
Author(s):  
Bilge Yabancı
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Class Politics ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Selective Approach ◽  
Neoliberal Governance ◽  
Left Movement ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Civic Space

AbstractThis chapter reflects on the impact of Turkey’s authoritarian neoliberal governance on the transformation of civil society with a particular focus on latent counter-mobilisation. The first section focuses on how Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party, AKP) has transformed civic space through a selective approach that switches between repression and facilitation. The AKP represses autonomous and dissident organisations and activists through judicial harassment and new regulations while facilitating the growth of a government-oriented civil society sector (GONGOs). The GONGOs fulfil two aims: softening the immediate effects of the state’s withdrawal from social provision and generating bottom-up consent for authoritarian neoliberal governance. The second section analyses resistance against the AKP’s authoritarian neoliberalism by focusing on the case of a unique social movement, Müslüman Sol hareket (Muslim Left movement), which fuses class politics with Islamic social justice. Based on insights from original fieldwork and interviews with activists conducted in 2018–2019 in Turkey, the discussion demonstrates that the syncretic amalgamation of socialism with Islamic justice has emerged at the unexpected intersections of ideologies and everyday experiences and challenges simultaneously the AKP’s neoliberal exploitation, instrumentalisation and politicisation of religion, and authoritarian governance.

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