Chinese civil society groups have achieved iconic policy advocacy successes in the areas of environmental protection, women’s rights, poverty alleviation, and public health. This book examines why ...some groups are successful in policy advocacy within the authoritarian context, while others fail. A mechanism of cultural resonance is introduced as an innovative theoretical framework to systematically compare interactions between Chinese civil society and the government in different movements. It is argued that civil society advocacy results depend largely on whether advocators can achieve cultural resonance with policymakers and the mainstream public through their social performances. The effective performance is the one in which advocators employ symbols embraced by the audience (policymakers and the public) in their actions and framings. While many studies have tried to explain the phenomena of successful policy advocacy in China through institutional or organizational factors, this book not only contains extensive empirical data based on field research, but takes a cultural sociological turn to identify the meaning-making process behind advocacy actions. Civil Society in China will appeal to students and scholars of sociology, political science, social work, and Chinese and Asian studies more broadly. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license
Studies done before tend to amplify the role of institutions in improving the welfare of individuals and families. Few studies interrogate the role of beneficiaries in micro-social work ...interventions. Using NGOs’ interventions as a case study, beneficiaries are going the extra mile to reap maximum benefits, and some of their actions are organic, spontaneous and context-specific and are not influenced by NGOs themselves. The findings deepen community practice by appreciating that NGOs’ beneficiaries can organise for social action in pursuit of household welfare. There are better outcomes when micro-social work builds on the potential of clients.
Urban forestry NGOs commenced gaining prominence in the socio-political landscape of the 20th century. Despite a dramatic increase in the number of urban forestry NGOs (50%) in recent decades, they ...are rarely described in the scientific literature, and they have not been investigated in any formal, systematic manner. Little is known about the origins of many of these organisations or how many formal urban forestry NGOs are presently active across the United States. Knowledge gaps persist pertaining to organisational structure, programming, and funding. To address these gaps in knowledge, this article presents findings from a survey of 81 urban forestry NGOs in the temperate forest region of the United States. We report on typical traits of urban forestry NGOs across five themes that include "origin", "organisational structure", "funding", "partnerships", and "programming". Nearly 80% of respondents indicated that their urban forestry NGO has helped develop, shape, or implement policy in their community (e.g. tree policies & ordinances, urban forest master plans). An overwhelming majority of NGOs (90% and 83%, respectively) indicated that both private citizens and local departments were important collaborators. A vast majority of respondents (86%) indicated that their NGO routinely engages in planting trees and over 70% of urban forestry NGOs routinely participate in public events including Arbor Day celebrations and local tree giveaways. There is widespread variation regarding the size, composition, and even function of urban forestry NGOs.
Contributions on localisation often focus on interactions between local organisations and the international community, with limited attention paid to dynamics within the locally‐led part of the ...response. The humanitarian operation in non‐government‐held areas of Syria is considered a key example of localisation, in which the health sector has assumed a leading role. Drawing on fieldwork among Syrian medical‐humanitarian organisations conducted in southern Turkey in 2017, this paper offers a view from below on the localisation debate. It provides a nuanced perspective on ‘the local’, showcasing how localisation is interpreted and expressed among Syrian non‐governmental organisations (NGOs) themselves, and in their interaction with each other. The paper shows how most organisations have moved to a hybrid model that emphasises their local and international character, resisting simplistic classifications. However, despite the sometimes strategic nature of its invocation, localisation does not lose its relevance as a lived experience, especially for local field staff.
نبذة مختصرة
غالبًا ما تركز المساهمات الخاصة بالتوطين على التفاعلات بين المنظمات المحلية والمجتمع الدولي. مع اهتمام محدود بالديناميكيات داخل الجزء الذي يتم قيادته محليًا للاستجابة نفسها. تعتبر الاستجابة الإنسانية في المناطق غير الخاضعة لسيطرة الحكومة في سوريا مثالًا رئيسيًا على التوطين، حيث لعب القطاع الصحي دورًا رائدًا. بالاعتماد على العمل الميداني بين المنظمات الطبية الإنسانية السورية الذي تم إجراؤه في جنوب تركيا, يقدم هذا المقال وجهة نظر محايدة حول الجدل المتعلق بالتوطين. ويوفر منظورًا دقيقًا حول "المحلي"، ويعرض كيفية تفسير التوطين والتعبير عنه بين المنظمات غير الحكومية السورية نفسها، وخلال تفاعلها مع بعضها البعض. ويوضح كيف انتقلت معظم المنظمات إلى نموذج هجين يؤكد على طابعها المحلي والدولي ويقاوم التصنيفات المبسطة. ومع ذلك، على الرغم من الطبيعة الاستراتيجية أحيانًا لاستحضارها، إلا أن ألأقلمه لا تفقد أهميتها كتجربة حياتية، خاصة للموظفين الميدانيين المحليين.
الكلمات المفتاحية : توطين، محلي، إنساني، سوريا، منظمات غير حكومية، صحة
摘要
关于本地化的贡献往往集中在当地组织与国际社会之间的互动，而对当地主导的响应部门内部的动态关注有限。在叙利亚非政府控制区的人道主义响应被认为是本地化的一个重要例子，其中卫生部门发挥了主导作用。本文借鉴在土耳其南部进行的叙利亚医疗人道主义组织的实地调查，在下文中对本地化争论提出了看法。本文提供了一个关于“本地”的细致入微的视角，展示了叙利亚非政府组织本身以及它们之间的互动是如何解释和表达本地化的。本文展示了大多数组织如何转向一种混合模式，强调它们的本地和国际特性，抵制简单化的分类。然而，尽管启用本地化有时具有战略性质，但它并没有失去其作为一种生活经验的意义，尤其是对当地现场工作人员而言。
关键词：本地化，当地，人道主义，叙利亚，非政府组织，健康
There has been growing awareness in recent years of the wide‐ranging negative impacts that counter‐terrorism measures and sanctions impose on humanitarian action. Drawing on semi‐structured ...interviews with the staff of international non‐governmental organisations (INGOs), this paper examines these impacts on INGOs based in the United Kingdom. This is a context where a particularly complex array of laws, policies, and regulatory regimes have emerged alongside an increasingly hostile political and media setting for INGOs, creating an environment characterised by uncertainty. The paper shows that counter‐terrorism measures and sanctions are leading INGOs to adopt more conservative approaches to partnership in areas controlled by proscribed groups, undermining broader commitments to the localisation agenda. The analysis reveals that perceptions of risk within INGOs vary considerably, but that despite this, INGOs have developed strategies to reduce the impacts of counter‐terrorism measures, which over time, have led to improved coordination, and in some instances, a willingness to push back against regulations.
نبذة مختصرة
كان هناك وعي متزايد بشأن الآثار السلبية الواسعة النطاق التي تفرضها تدابير وعقوبات مكافحة الإرهاب على العمل الإنساني. واستناداً إلى مقابلات شبه منظمة مع موظفي المنظمات غير الحكومية الدولية، تبحث هذه المقالة في تلك التأثيرات للمنظمات غير الحكومية الدولية الموجودة في المملكة المتحدة وهو سياق ظهرت فيه مجموعة من القوانين والسياسات والأنظمة التنظيمية المعقدة بشكل خاص جنباً إلى جنب مع بيئة سياسية وإعلامية معادية للمنظمات الدولية غير الحكومية بشكل متزايد، مما أدى إلى خلق بيئة تتصف بالشك. ونحن نبيّن أن تدابير وعقوبات مكافحة الإرهاب تدفع بالمنظمات الدولية غير الحكومية إلى اعتماد نهج أكثر تحفّظاً فيما يتعلق بالشراكة في المناطق التي تسيطر عليها الجماعات المحظورة، الأمر الذي يؤدي إلى خرق جدول أعمال عملية إعادة التوطين واسعة النطاق. يُظهر تحليلنا أن تصورات المخاطر داخل المنظمات الدولية غير الحكومية تختلف بشكل كبير ولكن على الرغم من ذلك، فقد قامت هذه المنظمات بوضع استراتيجيات تهدف إلى الحد من تأثر تدابير مكافحة الإرهاب، والتي أدت مع مرور الوقت إلى تحسين التنسيق، وفي بعض الحالات، إلى ظهور الاستعداد لمقاومة الإجراءات التنظيمية.
الكلمات المفتاحية: المنظمات غير الحكومية، الإنسانية، إدارة الخطر، عقوبات مكافحة الإرهاب.
摘要
人们开始越来越意识到以暴制暴反恐怖主义措施和制裁对人道主义行动有极大的负面影响。本文基于对国际非政府机构成员的半结构性采访，研究了上述行为对本部位于英国的非政府组织机构产生的负面影响。目前，英国制定了一系列复杂的法律、政策和规范性制度，而与此同时，英国的政治及媒体环境对非政府间国际组织的恶意也与日俱增，形成了一个充满不确定性的社会环境。文中表明了，以暴制暴反恐怖主义措施和制裁导致非政府间国际组织在受非法组织控制区域更多地采取保守的合作方式，从而阻碍各组织在当地议程中承担更多责任。我们的分析显示，各非政府间国际组织在风险认知方面差异巨大，但即便如此所有组织都已建立起了一套降低以暴制暴反恐怖主义措施带来的影响的策略，在这些策略的影响下，随着时间推移，组织间协调度能够有所提升，并且有些策略也体现出了对取消一些法规的愿望。
关键词： 非政府组织、人道主义、风险控制、以暴制暴反恐怖主义、制裁。
In 1992, one unambiguous result of the UNCED conference was the need for changing consumption and production patterns, with affluent countries taking the lead. 20 years later, at the 2012 UNCSD, ...little is left over and instead the “green economy” has been the theme pursued by the OECD, the EU and other countries. So the question needs to be answered if this is finally an attempt to put into practice what was promised 20 years ago, or another diversion from what needs to be accomplished.
Sustainable development is still a convincing concept, if the original definition is taken, avoiding the confusion caused by partisan interests reinterpreting the concept. Focussing on human needs fulfilment and respecting environmental limits, it can still guide strong sustainable consumption. Green economy/green growth, on the other hand, is a new terminology for what is known since 40 years as ecological modernisation. It is indeed overdue, but with its focus on efficiency and innovation it cannot guarantee to fulfil the Brundtland sustainability criteria. A factor analysis based on the I = P*A*T formula demonstrates how optimistic the assumptions regarding future technologies must be to support the green growth concept. Consequently, the authors pledge for a pragmatic, risk avoiding approach by slimming the physical size of the economy. This requires ‘strong sustainable consumption’ (including production as resource consumption), which in turn requires a change of the societies' institutional settings (formal and informal, mechanisms and orientations).
Finally some elements of a strategy towards this end are pointed out, with special emphasis on the role of non-governmental organisations NGOs. Through networking and advocacy they can both stimulate bottom-up action and mobilise the pressure necessary for the institutional changes which are needed to mainstream strong sustainable consumption.
Abstract The intensification of efforts by state and nonstate actors to address issues affecting global health has produced a patchwork of transnational regulatory governance. Within this field, ...nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are expected to perform authoritative roles in holding business actors to account and enhance the democratic legitimacy of institutions via their participation in governance processes. While there exists a large body of conceptual and empirical research on global business regulation and private authority, we surprisingly know little about the governance functions of NGOs engaged in influencing the practices of corporations that produce health-harming commodities. This knowledge gap is especially pronounced in the issue area of noncommunicable diseases. This article begins to address this gap by mapping the networks of NGOs that engage in regulatory activities (rule-setting, monitoring, and enforcement) related to the (ultra)processed food and alcohol industries. We identify the networks of NGOs involved in global policy making across health, regulatory standards, and multistakeholder initiatives using nonstate actor submissions to consultations held by World Health Organization, UN Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), and the UN Global Compact. This paper examines NGO governance functions and their patterns of engagement and participation across institutional spheres. Overall, the article makes a twofold contribution to existing debates. First, we identify the governance functions through which NGOs attempt to hold corporations to account, contrasting their “watchdog” function with other governance functions. Second, we examine the representation of NGOs, highlighting asymmetries in participation of NGOs in the Global North and South.
First Nations peoples occupy one‐quarter of the world's land area, safeguarding 80% of its biodiversity. Sustainable development frameworks acknowledge and include culture's role but fail to give it ...a special place, specifically First Nations peoples' (Indigenous) cultures. Hence, this study presents a sustainable development model that recognises their cultures—the underlying motivation is that adopting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) as the 2030 Sustainability Agenda for these peoples' cultural capital development has posed two challenges. First, the goal‐related targets and indicators are objectified, encouraging these to be attained as separate goals, but since First Nations cultures are based on relationships and interconnectedness, thinking linearly about these goals misaligns with these cultures. Second, these targets and indicators are not framed to provide special recognition and inclusion of these peoples' cultural knowledge as crucial for sustainable development. Therefore, this study uses the Gaia theory, the theory of distributive justice and the interaction theory of First Nations cultures to propose an empirically testable structural equation model for analysing empirical data using the UN SDGs as goal posts, towards advancing sustainable development. A model application is proposed for non‐governmental organisations serving First Nations peoples. The integrated model shows the interrelationships between various types of capital, including these peoples' cultural capital, required for sustainable development.
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