Search results for "Public Administration"
showing 10 items of 1623 documents
Spain: commercialization drives public debate and precaution
2000
Since the commercialization of genetically modified (GM) crops and foods in Spain in 1996, these products have become a topic of public concern and conflict. Several important social protagonists from science, industry and civil society have become involved in the public debate. The conflicts have influenced the regulation, improving its precautionary content, in response to social pressures in Spain and elsewhere in Europe. As Spain has become the primary cultivator of GM crops in the European Union, commercial cultivation there has been scientifically monitored for possible long-term environmental effects. Regulators have also asked industry to cease using antibiotic-resistant marker gene…
Civil Society in Making: <i>Challenges of the Somali Diaspora Organizations</i>
2013
This article contributes to the discussion on migrants and civil society by directing attention towards the importance of transnational processes. Somali organizations in Finland will be addressed against the state-failure and conflict in Somalia. Among the Somalis, an NGO largely remains an alien and donor-driven concept, whereas clan, religious affiliations and associational structures may be blurred in complex ways. There is a need to rethink the concept of ‘civil society’ and how it could be analytically used in understanding transnational civic participation. The data comprises interviews with INGOs as well as observations and discussions with Somali associations.
The Paradox of Effectiveness: Growth, Institutionalisation and Evaluation of Anti-Mafia Policies in Italy
2004
This contribution focuses on Italian policies that have been envisaged and implemented to combat, prevent or contain mafia-type organised crime.1 After having shown that a proper analysis of anti-mafia policies is strangely lacking (section 2), policies directly addressing the mafia are dealt with, hinting at the norms concerning specific criminal offences, vast investigatory powers and penetrating preventive measures, financial transactions and money laundering, collaborators of justice, the peculiarity of mafia trials, judicial attitudes and sanctions (section 3.1). Section 3.2 presents the wide variety of other policies addressing civil society and public administrations, and only indire…
Institutions, crises, and political confidence in seven contemporary democracies. An elite-mass analysis
2017
There is ample consensus in the literature that institutional confidence by the public is needed in democracies and at the same time elites, particularly political elites, need to share this confidence in their guidance of state institutions, if political stability in established democracies and the consolidation of new democracies are desired. The research takes the form of a quantitative analysis based on the World Values Surveys and the elite surveys (parliamentarians) conducted in 2006 (before the financial crisis) and in 2012–2013 (post the crisis when apparently, the worst of the economic crunch had lessened up) in the 7 countries selected. We explore what lies at the base of politica…
Local State-Society Relations in Romania
2020
The chapter on Romania illustrates the working of networks of local state-society relations in a top-down context where the central government mandates the creation of networks and local governments are supposed to initiate and operationalize them. The chapter discusses two collaborative networks—local action groups and community consultative structures for child protection—and two self-reflective networks—local working groups on Roma issues and consultative committees on youth issues. The networks analyzed vary in terms of policy field coverage (broader vs. narrower field of activity), territorial coverage (single vs. multiple municipalities), and perceived stability in time. The analysis …
New parties’ linkages with external groups and civil society in Spain: A preliminary assessment
2018
The aim of this article is to assess the linkages between the Spanish new parties with groups and civil society. After outlining a short framework on the new linkages between parties and external groups in times of social and political unrest and discussing the case selection, it brie y introduces the classic patterns of interaction between Spain's mainstream parties, the PP and the PSOE and the main interest groups since the late 1970s. Then, the paper analyses the emerging links of two new parties, Ciudadanos and Podemos, in order to provide a general assessment of the main di erences between their linkages and the ones of the traditional parties, and to discuss its possible implications …
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…
Refugee Social Work Positioned Between Transnationalization, State Services and Volunteering: A Review from the German Context
2018
Social work has always been basically organized at the local and national levels. Nevertheless, in the face of globalization, social work has to be reconsidered far beyond national boundaries, because its clients’ social life worlds extend beyond local and state borders. This chapter analyzes the state of the art in the field of volunteering, refuge and social work and argues that due to its double mandate, social work could act as a bridge between state services and initiatives of the civil society and offer an insight into the ambiguities of cooperation between volunteering activities and professional social work using selected examples.
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
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…