Governance and public policy

Within the context of acute public spending cuts and the increasing push towards localism, the UK government is increasingly looking outwards to community- and citizen-led action for solutions to long-term social problems and to take on public services. The extent to which these groups have the capacity and willingness to take on politicised roles beyond their purpose and function is, however, not well understood. By reflecting on findings primarily from a street-level mapping project, in this paper discussion focuses on the potential implications arising from grassroots' co-option.
 

The full article is available here:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09614524.2013.840267

International development agencies often promote approaches that link aid and peacebuilding. However, the gap between what agencies say and what they actually do is demonstrated by the mixed response to subnational conflict in Thailand's Far South between 2007 and 2012. Over this period, numerous agencies demonstrated little interest in addressing the conflict. Some agencies did over time try to support peacebuilding, although domestic government resistance and practical barriers generated obstacles. Conflict guidelines and toolkits were rarely used, while only a few agencies implemented the context-driven and knowledge-based approaches to local partnerships that peace promotion in a complex and politically sensitive environment demands.
 

The full article is available here:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09614524.2013.811221

After decades of civil war and internal conflicts, Cambodia is on the path of democracy. The country, despite steady economic growth in the last decades, is facing challenges around poverty, exclusion, and inequality. The contributions of civil society in the past two decades, in development and deepening democracy, were significant, but civil society is now facing new challenges in the face of pro-neoliberal policies of the State. The relationships within civil society are characterised by both cooperation and competition, but its relationships with political society, media, and academia are underdeveloped. Civil society's strategies and capacities require transformations to continue to be relevant in the future.

The full article is available here:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09614524.2013.800835

The papers in this Special Issue are drawn from a larger set of cases of citizen activism and civil society evolution developed by the “Civil Society at Crossroads?” initiative. What can be learnt from comparative analysis across these stories? In this concluding paper we seek to identify lessons that emerged from comparative analysis across cases and to explore their implications for civil society practitioners and policymakers.

The full article is available here:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09614524.2013.800843

The term “civil society” in Russia is often taken to refer to civic organisations and movements created during and after the break-up of the Soviet Union, and is sometimes equated narrowly with “NGOs” – registered non-government, non-commercial, or public organisations. This paper attempts to look at civil society more widely. It considers both registered organisations and more spontaneous/informal civic actions; and follows local experts in challenging the idea that Russian civil society began in 1989–91. The paper considers both recent developments on the ground, and analyses by historians, sociologists, and political scientists that go back to soviet and pre-soviet periods.

The full article is available here:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09614524.2013.800838

The Netherlands have a rather large civil society. Interestingly, Dutch politicians and civil society organisations do not recognise this themselves, voicing frequent appeals for more civil society. This can be explained by the typical development of Dutch civil society through a system of pillarisation, based upon concepts of subsidiarity and sovereignty in one's own constituency, leading to a civil society that at the end has outsourced to the government important functions like financing, governing, and legitimising. Two cases (traditional and contemporary) are presented to show the consequences. Finally, lessons for other countries at civil society crossroads are drawn.

The full article is available here:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09614524.2013.801398

This paper reflects on the Occupy London encampment as an example of pre-figurative political action. The paper articulates the major media-political criticism of Occupy as “unwieldy” and “in search of a narrative” (Anonymous 2012), before drawing on case studies of two of the Occupation's components – the Tent City University and the Welfare and Well-being Group – to suggest that this criticism fails to understand the intentional choice that “directionlessness” represented. Indeed, the refusal to adopt formal leadership or any pre-defined ideological goal was a conscious strategy which pointed towards the kinds of possible future(s) desired.

The full article is available here:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09614524.2013.801935

If there is one region whose political landscape has dramatically changed in the last 20 years, that region is Latin America. After several decades of dictatorships in many countries, the region is now engaged in strengthening the essential elements of representative democracy. Many events and developments affect civil societies in the region, and citizens and organisations are trying to respond to new or re-emerging challenges with varied forms. This article provides an overview of these events, and civil society responses.

The full article is available here:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09614524.2013.800836

The changing socio-economic and political tableau in India has affected civil society. This paper investigates how the roles, relationships, and strategies of civil society organisations (CSOs) are changing in response to these socio-political and economic changes. It also looks at what new capacities, opportunities, and challenges are emerging as important for CSOs in these changing contexts.

The full article is available here:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09614524.2013.800839

Over the past two decades the centre of gravity of the global economy and politics has shifted to Asia. The region, with its demographic, economic and political vibrancy, has changed the rules of the game globally. The region also represents extreme heterogeneity and perplexing paradoxes compared to other regions of the world; it is faced with multiple crossroads, including around poverty, illiteracy, access to water, and sanitation. It the midst of this, Asian civil society is on the rise. This viewpoint outlines its notable contributions, the multiple crossroads it faces, and future avenues.

The full article is available here:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09614524.2013.800841