Le travail s'inscrit dans une perspective de sociologie politique et s'interesse a l'engagement politique des militants de la Decroissance. Il a permis de mettre a jour la construction d'une identite ideologique forte qui avait comme effet d'inciter a l'engagement. La suite du travail s'interessait au rapport qu'entretiennent les militants au politique. Il ne s'agit pas pour ces militants de subvertir les regles du jeu du champ politique (comme ont essaye de le faire les Poujadistes, Communistes ou plus pres de nous les Motives, en essayant d'integrer de nouvelles normes sociales ou de comportements a l'interieur de ce champ). Certes, les militants revendiquent la volonte de faire de la politique autrement mais ils envisagent neanmoins d'exister dans ce champ tel qu'il est afin de faire entendre leur - projet de societe -. En somme, les militants de la Decroissance, dans leur but d'arriver a une - majorite culturelle - n'envisagent la politique que comme une modalite supplementaire d'un repertoire d'actions large fait notamment d'actions concretes dont beaucoup les considerent deja comme actions - politiques - a part entiere"

The end of the Cold War created an opportunity for the United Nations to reconceptualize the rationale and extent of its peacebuilding efforts, and in the 1990s, democracy and good governance became legitimizing concepts for an expansion of UN activities. The United Nations sought not only to democratize disorderly states but also to take responsibility for protecting people around the world from a range of dangers, including poverty, disease, natural disasters, and gross violations of human rights. National sovereignty came to be considered less an entitlement enforced by international law than a privilege based on states' satisfactory performance of their perceived obligations. In Governing Disorder, Laura Zanotti combines her firsthand experience of UN peacebuilding operations with the insights of Michel Foucault to examine the genealogy of post-Cold War discourses promoting international security. Zanotti also maps the changes in legitimizing principles for intervention, explores the specific techniques of governance deployed in UN operations, and identifies the forms of resistance these operations encounter from local populations and the (often unintended) political consequences they produce. Case studies of UN interventions in Haiti and Croatia allow her to highlight the dynamics at play in the interactions between local societies and international peacekeepers.

Dans les dernieres decennies, les ONG ont pris une place centrale dans la gouvernance mondiale, notamment dans les projets de developpement. Elles sont en effet liees aux principaux centres de decision mondiale, soit en tant que consultantes, soit en tant qu'institutions executrices des projets sur le terrain. Conjointement a ce foisonnement associatif, se developpent de nombreuses theories contemporaines mettant l'accent sur les liens de confiance et sur l'engagement civique en tant que declencheurs du developpement economique, et sur les bienfaits des associations en tant qu'espaces createurs/reproducteurs de ces caracteristiques. Ce travail de recherche repose sur la conviction de que cette place centrale prise par les ONG dans le developpement est etroitement liee a l'evolution des propres theories sur le developpement. Nos annees de recherches montrent la predominance d'une vision culturaliste du developpement (associant plus ou moins directement les conditions de vie aux caracteristiques culturelles), les ambitions de developpement personnel, et le vide organisationnel existant dans les communautes concernees.

Cet ouvrage vise a reveler les difficultes des acteurs non etatiques a remplir les nouvelles exigences des financeurs, en envisageant les relations qui se nouent entre l'Etat, la societe civile et la communaute internationale. Il explore les effets du paradigme actuel des bailleurs de fonds, reposant sur la participation de la societe civile aux politiques publiques des etats recipiendaires de l'aide, sur le travail des organisations non gouvernementales au Honduras. Ce questionnement general est aborde sous l'angle specifique de la construction de la maternite precoce en probleme public au Honduras, tiree de l'experience directe de l'auteure dans le pays.

Humanitarianism and Modern Culture is a timely and fascinating book which cuts across reportage of pop literary references to illuminate our understanding of the role of popular culture in shaping humanitarian discourse. --Ruti Teitel, Ernst C. Stiefel Professor of Comparative Law, New York Law School. ""In all the frenzy of celebrity humanitarianism, where famous idols call attention to the world's suffering--and to themselves--Keith Tester's trenchant book provides the critical eye necessary to understand how Western culture exploits humanitarian crisis. In the field of human rights today, there is a disturbing trend toward making human rights another cause celebre, packaged for the consumption of the world's fortunate consumers. How has the commercialization and consumerization of human rights affected the course of global emancipation from suffering? Tester's book provides some unsettling but crucial answers."" --Thomas Cushman, Wellesley College. It seems paradoxical that in the West the predominant mode of expressing concern about suffering in the Third World comes through participation in various forms of popular culture--such as buying tickets to a rock concert like Live Aid in 1985--rather than through political action based on expert knowledge. Keith Tester's aim in this book is to explore the phenomenon of what he calls ""commonsense humanitarianism,"" the reasons for its hegemony as the principal way for people in the West to relate to distant suffering, and its ramifications for our moral and social lives. As a remnant of the West's past imperial legacy, this phenomenon is most clearly manifested in humanitarian activities directed at Africa, and that continent is the geographical focus of this critical sociology of humanitarianism, which places the role of media at the center of its analysis.

Das Parteienrecht der Bundesrepublik Deutschland ist eine eher unubersichtliche Materie. Es gibt sehr oberflachliche Vorschriften, die in erster Linie das Verhaltnis zwischen Partei und Staat betreffen, im Grundgesetz. Allgemein bestimmen sich organisatorische Regeln fur Parteien nach dem Vereinsrecht im BGB, da es sich bei ihnen ja auch um (eingetragene oder nicht eingetragene) Vereine handelt. Sehr detaillierte Spezialregelungen ausschliesslich fur politische Parteien kennt das Parteiengesetz. Und das Herzstuck der Tatigkeit einer Partei, der Antritt zu Wahlen, richtet sich wiederum nach eigenen Wahlgesetzen, deren Bestimmungen die Parteien stets im Auge haben mussen. Diese komplexe Materie verlangt ein hohes Wissen von parteipolitisch Tatigen, das man ihnen im Grunde kaum abverlangen kann. Vor allem den vielen tausend ehrenamtlich in den Parteien engagierten Personen in Deutschland kann es kaum zugemutet werden, dass sie jede Nuance des Parteienrechts kennen. Und doch konnen kleine Fehler hier fatale Folgen haben. Die schlimmste Vorstellung ist sicher, dass aufgrund eines organisatorischen Versehen die Wahlteilnahme versagt wird und damit die Arbeit vieler Jahre dahin ist. Im Gegensatz zu einem Kommentar, der von Juristen fur Juristen geschrieben wurde, sind unsere Zielgruppe die Aktiven in den Parteien. Sie sind es, die das Parteienrecht Tag fur Tag anwenden mussen. Wir wollen aber auch die unterstutzen, die eine eigene Partei grunden wollen, und stellen gerade hierfur zahlreiche Informationen bereit. Nicht zu vergessen sind schliesslich auch Gebietsverbande bereits bestehender Parteien: Auch ein Kreisvorsitzender hat fur seine Abteilung eine extreme Verantwortung und muss nicht selten grundlegende Entscheidungen treffen, so, als wurde er seine ganz eigene Partei fuhren. Es geht uns also nicht darum, wie in einem Kommentare alle bestehenden Meinung durchzudeklinieren, ihr Fur und Wider zu diskutieren und dann dem Leser die Wahl zu lassen, welcher Meinung er den Vorzug gibt. Wir schreiben fur den Anwender in der Praxis und geben ihm klare Auskunfte an die Hand. Naturlich kann es nicht immer und bei jeder Detailfrage diese klare Auskunft" geben. In dem Falle merken wir dies aber deutlich an und geben Ratschlage, um auf der sicheren Seite zu sein."

Conflicts in Africa, Asia and Latin America have become a common focus of advocacy by Western celebrities and NGOs. This provocative volume delves into the realities of these efforts, which have often involved compromising on integrity in pursuit of profile and influence. Examining the methods used by Western advocates, how they relate to campaigns in the countries concerned, and their impact, expert authors evaluate the successes and failures of past advocacy campaigns and offer constructive criticism of current efforts. Taking in a range of high-profile case studies, including campaigns for democracy in Burma and Latin America, for the rights of Palestinians in Gaza, and opposing the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, the authors challenge the assumptions set forth by advocacy organizations.

It seems paradoxical that in the West the predominant mode of expressing concern about suffering in the Third World comes through participation in various forms of popular culture--such as buying tickets to a rock concert like Live Aid in 1985--rather than through political action based on expert knowledge. Keith Tester's aim in this book is to explore the phenomenon of what he calls "commonsense humanitarianism," the reasons for its hegemony as the principal way for people in the West to relate to distant suffering, and its ramifications for our moral and social lives. As a remnant of the West's past imperial legacy, this phenomenon is most clearly manifested in humanitarian activities directed at Africa, and that continent is the geographical focus of this critical sociology of humanitarianism, which places the role of the media at the center of its analysis.

The end of the Cold War created an opportunity for the United Nations to reconceptualize the rationale and extent of its peacebuilding efforts, and in the 1990s, democracy and good governance became legitimizing concepts for an expansion of UN activities. The United Nations sought not only to democratize disorderly states but also to take responsibility for protecting people around the world from a range of dangers, including poverty, disease, natural disasters, and gross violations of human rights. National sovereignty came to be considered less an entitlement enforced by international law than a privilege based on states' satisfactory performance of their perceived obligations. In Governing Disorder, Laura Zanotti combines her firsthand experience of UN peacebuilding operations with the insights of Michel Foucault to examine the genealogy of post-Cold War discourses promoting international security. Zanotti also maps the changes in legitimizing principles for intervention, explores the specific techniques of governance deployed in UN operations, and identifies the forms of resistance these operations encounter from local populations and the (often unintended) political consequences they produce. Case studies of UN interventions in Haiti and Croatia allow her to highlight the dynamics at play in the interactions between local societies and international peacekeepers.

America's grantmaking foundations have grown rapidly over the course of recent decades, even in the face of financial and economic crises. Foundations have a great deal of freedom, enjoy widespread legitimacy, and wield considerable influence. In this book, David Hammack and Helmut Anheier follow up their edited volume, American Foundations, with a comprehensive historical account of what American foundations have done with that independence and power. While philanthropic foundations play important roles in other parts of the world, the U.S. sector stands out as exceptional. Nowhere else are they so numerous, prominent, or autonomous. What have been the main contributions of philanthropic foundations to American society? And what might the future hold for them? A Versatile American Institution considers foundations in a new way. Previous accounts typically focused narrowly on their organization, donors, and leaders, and their intentions - but not on the outcome of philanthropy. Rather than looking at foundations in a vacuum, Hammack and Anheier consider their roles and contributions in the context of their times and their economic and political circumstances.

Some may dispute the effectiveness of aid. But few would disagree that aid delivered to the right source and in the right way can help poor and fragile countries develop. It can be a catalyst, but not a driver of development. Aid now operates in an arena with new players, such as middle-income countries, private philanthropists, and the business community; new challenges presented by fragile states, capacity development, and climate change; and new approaches, including transparency, scaling up, and South-South cooperation. The next High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness must determine how to organize and deliver aid better in this environment.

"Catalyzing Development" proposes ten actionable game-changers to meet these challenges based on in-depth, scholarly research. It advocates for these to be included in a Busan Global Development Compact in order to guide the work of development partners in a flexible and differentiated manner in the years ahead.

Contributors: Kemal Dervis (Brookings Institution), Shunichiro Honda (JICA Research Institute), Akio Hosono (JICA Research Institute), Johannes F. Linn (Emerging Markets Forum and Brookings Institution), Ryutaro Murotani (JICA Research Institute), Jane Nelson (Harvard Kennedy School and Brookings Institution), Mai Ono (JICA Research Institute), Kang-ho Park (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Korea), Tony Pipa (U.S. Agency for International Development), Sarah Puritz Milsom (Brookings Institution), Hyunjoo Rhee (Korea International Cooperation Agency), Mine Sato (JICA Research Institute), Shinichi Takeuchi (JICA Research Institute), Keiichi Tsunekawa (JICA Research Institute), Ngaire Woods (University College, Oxford), Sam Worthington (InterAction)

Since the end of the Cold War, a virtual army of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) from the United States, Britain, Germany, and elsewhere in Europe have flocked to Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia. These NGOs are working on such diverse tasks as helping to establish competitive political parties, elections, and independent media, as well as trying to reduce ethnic conflict.

This important book is among the few efforts to assess the impact of these international efforts to build democratic institutions. The case studies presented here provide a portrait of the mechanisms by which ideas commonly associated with democratic states have evolved in formerly communist states, revealing conditions that help as well as hurt the process.

More fascinating and harrowing accounts of the volunteer professionals who risk their lives to help those in desperate need.

Praise for the second edition:

"Direct and evocative, this well-written book pushes readers to the edge of a world of grueling realities not known by most Americans."
-- Choice

Doctors Without Borders (aka Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) was founded in 1971 by rebellious French doctors. It is arguably the most respected humanitarian organization in the world, delivering emergency aid to victims of armed conflict, epidemics and natural disasters as well as to many others who lack reliable health care.

Dan Bortolotti follows the volunteers at the forefront of this organization and its work, who daily risk their lives to perform surgery, establish or rehabilitate hospitals and clinics, run nutrition and sanitation programs, and train local medical personnel. These volunteer professionals: Perform emergency surgery in war-torn regions of Africa, Asia and elsewhere
Treat the homeless in the streets of Europe
Honor cultural customs and understand societal differences that affect health care
Witness and report the genocidal atrocities so often missed by mainstream media

This new and revised third edition includes updates and new inside stories from recent relief operations, and it covers changes within the organization, such as its new emphasis on nutrition. There are also many new and revealing color photographs and insights gained from the author's 2009 trip to Haiti, where he found three different arms of MSF operating in dire conditions.

"Hope in Hell" is a widely acclaimed portrait of a renowned Nobel-winning humanitarian organization, revealing how Doctors Without Borders provides immediate and outstanding medical care.

"Taking Aim at the Arms Trade" takes a critical look at the ways in which NGOs portray the arms trade as a problem of international politics and the strategies they use to effect change. While NGOs have been pivotal in bringing the suffering caused by the arms trade to public attention and documenting its negative impacts on human rights, conflict, security and development around the world, their overall activity has the perverse effect of justifying the status quo in the arms trade. They unintentionally contribute to the generation of consent for a hierarchical and asymmetrical world military order, facilitating intervention in the global South based on liberal understandings of the arms trade and associated issues of conflict, development and human rights. As a consequence, their actions contribute to the construction of the South as a site of Northern benevolence and intervention, a stark contrast to NGOs' self-image and widespread reputation as progressive actors. In exposing the contradictions inherent in NGOs engagement with the arms trade, Stavrianakis argues forcefully for a change of approach that can avoid such damaging outcomes.

Can non-governmental organisations contribute to more socially just, alternative forms of development? Or are they destined to work at the margins of dominant development models determined by others? Addressing this question, this book brings together leading international voices from academia, NGOs and the social movements. It provides a comprehensive update to the NGO literature and a range of critical new directions to thinking and acting around the challenge of development alternatives. The book's originality comes from the wide-range of new case-study material it presents, the conceptual approaches it offers for thinking about development alternatives, and the practical suggestions for NGOs. At the heart of this book is the argument that NGOs can and must re-engage with the project of seeking alternative development futures for the world's poorest and more marginal. This will require clearer analysis of the contemporary problems of uneven development, and a clear understanding of the types of alliances NGOs need to construct with other actors in civil society if they are to mount a credible challenge to disempowering processes of economic, social and political development.

The growth of what some academics refer to as 'the policy analysis movement' represents an effort to reform certain aspects of government behaviour. The policy analysis movement is the result of efforts made by actors inside and outside formal political decision-making processes to improve policy outcomes by applying systematic evaluative rationality to the development and implementation of policy options. This volume offers a comprehensive overview of the many ways in which the policy analysis movement has been conducted, and to what effect, in Canadian governments and, for the first time, in business associations, labour unions, universities, and other non-governmental organizations.

Editors Laurent Dobuzinskis, Michael Howlett, and David Laycock have brought together a wide range of contributors to address questions such as: What do policy analysts do? What techniques and approaches do they use? What is their influence on policy-making in Canada? Is there a policy analysis deficit? What norms and values guide the work done by policy analysts working in different institutional settings? Contributors focus on the sociology of policy analysis, demonstrating how analysts working in different organizations tend to have different interests and to utilize different techniques. They compare and analyze the significance of these different styles and approaches, and speculate about their impact on the policy process.

It is widely recognised that non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have undertaken an increasingly important role in both human development and environmental conservation efforts in the less-developed nations during the past three decades. Much of the literature on NGOs focuses on, or is sponsored by, large Western-based international NGOs which themselves undertake or direct many of the development and conservation efforts. This book cuts through sensitive subjects including government corruption and manipulation, the misuse of NGOs and the limitations of small, under funded local development organisations to identify the crucial role of local NGOs in the challenging context of rural development in Sub-Saharan African. His observations and insights are highly useful and provide important contextual understanding for future human development and environment conservation projects in rural African settings.

Long before there was a welfare state, there were efforts by religious congregations to alleviate poverty. Those efforts have continued since the establishment of government programs to help the poor, and congregations have often worked with government agencies to provide food, clothing and care, to set up after-school activities, provide teen pregnancy counseling, and develop programs to prevent crime. Until now, much of this church-state cooperation has gone on with limited opposition or notice. But the Bush Administration's new proposal to broaden support for "faith-based" social programs has heated up an already simmering debate. What are congregations' proper roles in lifting up the poor? What should their relationship with government be? Sacred Places, Civic Purposes explores the question with a lively discussion that crisscrosses every line of partisanship and ideology. The result of a series of conferences funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts and sponsored by the Brookings Institution, this book focuses not simply on abstract questions of the promise and potential dangers of church-state cooperation, but also on concrete issues where religious organizations are leading problem solvers. The authors ? experts in their respective fields and from various walks of life - examine the promises and perils of faith-based organizations in preventing teen pregnancy, reducing crime and substance abuse, fostering community development, bolstering child care, and assisting parents and children on education issues. They offer conclusions about what congregations are currently doing, how government could help, and how government could usefully get out of the way. Contributors include William T. Dickens (National Community Development Policy Analysis Network and the Brookings Institution), John DiIulio (White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and University of Pennsylvania), Floyd Flake (Allen AME Church and Manhattan Institute), Bill Galston (Unversity of Maryland), David Hornbeck (former superintendent, Philadelphia Public Schools), George Kelling (Rutgers University), Joyce Ladner (Brookings Institution), Joan Lombardi (Children's Project), Pietro Nivola (Brookings Institution), Eugene Rivers (Azusa Christian Community Center), Isabel V. Sawhill (National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy and the Brookings Institution), Lisbeth Schorr (Harvard Project for Effective Interventions), Peter Steinfels (New York Times), Jim Wallis (Sojourners), and Christopher Winship (Harvard University).

This book focuses on the socio-political environment that allows for the impactful work of NGOs through their proximity to local communities. The book showcases how this space has helped South African women's rights NGOs to bring about crucial legal reforms, which are quite relevant to women's lived realities. Recognizing its limitations, the South African state encourages NGOs to work freely on the ground and with state institutions to ameliorate the conditions for women's rights. The outcome of this state-NGO dynamic can be seen in the numerous human rights gains achieved by NGOs in general, and by women's rights organizations specifically. In addition, vulnerable communities such as women living under customary law have a significantly better chance to access justice. The book then demonstrates the opposite scenario, using Egypt as a case study, where NGOs are viewed as a national threat, and consequently operate under restrictive rules.

What happens to people after an earthquake destroys their homes? What is daily life like under a humanitarian regime? Is aid a gift or is it a form of power? A House of One's Own explores these enduring questions as they unfold in a Salvadoran town in the aftermath of the 2001 earthquakes. In a lively, intimate account of the social complexities that arise in post-disaster settings, Alicia Sliwinski recounts the trajectories of fifty families who received different forms of humanitarian aid, from emergency assistance to housing reconstruction. Drawing on seminal anthropological theories about gift giving and moral economy, the author thoughtfully discusses the complications and challenges of humanitarian action that aims to rebuild communities through participation. At the crossroads of disaster studies and the anthropology of humanitarianism, the book's insights speak to timely and recurring issues that relocated populations face in regimented and morally charged resettlement initiatives. A richly textured, analytically nuanced ethnography, A House of One's Own is a perceptive firsthand account of what happens on the ground in a post-disaster setting.

A Samaritan State Revisited brings together a refreshing group of emerging and leading scholars to reflect on the history of Canada's overseas development aid. Addressing the broad ideological and institutional origins of Canada's official development assistance in the 1950s and specific themes in its evolution and professionalization after 1960, this collection is the first to explore Canada's history with foreign aid with this level of interrogative detail. Extending from the 1950s to the present and covering Canadian aid to all regions of the Global South, from South and Southeast Asia to Latin America and Africa, these essays embrace a variety of approaches and methodologies ranging from traditional, archival-based research to textual and image analysis, oral history, and administrative studies. A Samaritan State Revisited weaves together a unique synthesis of governmental and non-governmental perspectives, providing a clear and readily accessible explanation of the forces that have shaped Canadian foreign aid policy.

In her controversial, no-holds-barred expose Linda Polman shows how a vast industry has grown up around humanitarian aid. "The Crisis Caravan" takes us to war zones around the globe, showing how aid operations and the humanitarian world have become a feature of military strategy. Impassioned, gripping, and even darkly absurd, journalist Linda Polman "gives some powerful examples of unconscionable assistance...a world where aid workers have become enablers of the atrocities they seek to relieve" ("The Boston Globe").