Search results for "ECONOMICS"

Social capital of Ukrainian society after the Revolution of Dignity

2021

This article is devoted to the issue of the social capital of Ukrainian society a few years after the Revolution of Dignity. Its basic goal is to try to answer the question of whether the society, which at the turn of 2013 and 2014 coordinated its activities in order to achieve the common goal: the removal of the former government, set the pro-Western course. Indeed, a civil society was characterized by permanent resources of social capital. In order to get the answer to this question, the article analyses a number of indicators that are customarily related to social capital, such as: the level of trust in individual state and social institutions, the level of involvement in volunteering an…

The role of civil society organisations in European responsible research and innovation

2018

EC policy reveals a strong conviction that CSO’s main function in EU-funded research and innovation projects is to take care of the ‘societal perspective’, which would not be adequately represented otherwise. With this, CSOs are supposed to be the main advocates of RRI in project consortia and are supported by all kinds of EC policy measures to fulfil this role. This conviction is not only problematic due to definition problems concerning CSO as such. Empirical data about the role of CSOs in high-tech/high-innovation research projects and the distribution of RRI activities among consortia members reveal that the role of CSOs is much more multi-faceted (data providers, providers of access to…

State and Religion in Ethiopia

2016

In this chapter, Steen-Johnsen presents a study of religious peacebuilding in Ethiopia to depict how religious peacebuilders are affected by the political strategies of state authorities related to civil society. She outlines how Ethiopian politics have been historically dominated by an Amhara-Orthodox elite. This dominance persists in contemporary political life in Ethiopia. Steen-Johnsen also presents the current political strategies of the Ethiopian authoritarian regime aimed at controlling political mobilization in the civil and religious spheres. She outlines how religious and civil actors in the country have historically been submissive to state authorities and suggests that this form…

Changing Policy Environments in Europe and the Resilience of the Third Sector

2020

Contains fulltext : 202754.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) In the article, we analyse the impact of changing policy environments on the development of the third sector in Europe. Based on the results of systematic comparative research in eight European countries (Austria, Croatia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the UK), we identify commonalities and differences. In a three-step analysis, we examine policy changes, effects on the third sector and responses by third sector organizations (TSOs) in the social domain. Overall, the third sector in Europe has proven resilient. However, not only have public and private funding decreased, the process for acquiring suc…

Citizenship, Civil Society, and Development: Interconnections in a Global World

2012

1. Citizenship, Civil Society, and Development: Interconnections in a Global World 2. Citizenship Quality: A New Agenda for Development? 3. Water Privatization and Social Citizenship: The Case of Urban Water Sector in Ghana 4. CSO Law in Ethiopia: Considering its Constraints and Consequences 5. Cooperation for the Enhancement of Environmental Citizenship in the Context of Securitization: The Case of an OSCE Project in Serbia 6. The Arab Spring Meets the Occupy Wall Street Movement: Examples of Changing Definitions of Citizenship in a Global World

Justifying Civic Activism in Russia and Finland

2013

ABSTRACTIn this article, we present a novel way of researching civil society in a comparative perspective and illustrate it through a detailed analysis of public disputes concerning urban building construction projects in St. Petersburg and Helsinki in 2008–2009. In our illustration, we use justification theory, a line of thought developed by Luc Boltanski and Laurent Thevenot in the early 1990s, but until now little used in comparative civil society research. Moreover, we use a variant of Public Justification Analysis, a new method for analysing media data. Our focus is on moral justifications, that is, on arguments which are presented against or in favour of the proposed projects and whic…

Global trends in a fragile context : public–nonpublic collaboration, service delivery and social innovation

2020

PurposeThis study aims to enhance the understanding of the nature of collaboration between public and nonpublic actors in delivering social services and achieving social innovation in a fragile context, with an emphasis on the role of civil society organisations (CSOs). The paper focuses on Bosnia and Herzegovina, a Southeastern European country which has faced a turbulent post-conflict transition and experienced challenges in its social welfare policy and practice.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses institutional theory, particularly new institutionalism and institutional networking, as a lens through which to understand public and nonpublic collaboration and social innovation withi…

Organised Crime and the Economy: a Framework for Policy Prescriptions

2014

In this paper we discuss policies to combat organised crime from the perspective of economic analysis. We introduce concepts such as supply and demand for Mafia and the implied notion of equilibrium to build a framework to classify the contexts in which organised crime interferes with the economy. We then use this framework to discuss policy interventions, distinguishing between policies implemented by the State and mobilisation of civil society. We show that using the economic approach helps understand the aspect of persistence of criminal organisations and identify vicious circles of different nature. The broad spectrum of State policies identified includes norms on competition, on the ef…

2017

Centralization and decentralization are key concepts in debates that focus on the (anti)democratic character of digital societies. Centralization is understood as the control over communication and data flows, and decentralization as giving it (back) to users. Communication and media research focuses on centralization put forward by dominant digital media platforms, such as Facebook and Google, and governments. Decentralization is investigated regarding its potential in civil society, i.e., hacktivism, (encryption) technologies, and grass-root technology movements. As content-based media companies increasingly engage with technology, they move into the focus of critical media studies. Moreo…

Rational Foundations of Democratic Politics

2003

1. Introduction Albert Breton, Gianluigi Galeotti, Pierre Salmon and Ronald Wintrobe Part I. Some Problems with Democratic Institutions and Trends in Their Evolution: 2. Demobilization, demoralization and the loosening bonds of electoral politics Michael C. Munger 3. Turning 'citizens' into 'consumers': economic growth and the level of public discourse Stergios Skaperdas 4. Economic and cultural prerequisites for democracy Roger D. Congleton 5. Civil society and the contemporary social order Frederique Chaumont-Chancelier Part II. Morals in Politics: 6. When does altruism overcome the intransitivity of income redistribution? Donald Wittman 7. Democratic resilience and the necessity of virtu…