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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political activism > Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
Sport has the incredible power to positively influence the world, and it is with this in mind that the field of Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) has seen tremendous growth over the years. Sport can strengthen social ties, advance human rights, aid economic development, promote inclusion, and more. In Sport for Development and Peace: Foundations and Applications, internationally-recognized SDP experts offer their insights, perspectives, and experiences on a range of topics within the field. The first part of the text focuses on the foundations of SDP, addressing its history, sociological aspects, specific goals-such as development, inclusion, sport participation, and conflict resolution-and political and economic implications. It closes with an evaluation and assessment of SDP programs. The second part examines the application of SDP by providing examples and insights into government involvement in SDP, not-for-profit organizations, and corporate and for-profit enterprises. Finally, the book concludes with a discussion of current trends and future implications of SDP. Written for current and future SDP managers, developers, and administrators, from the student to the professional, Sport for Development and Peace offers a comprehensive look at the many substantive and interconnected SDP topics in order to positively impact this fast-growing field.
Collective action by firms is a central phenomenon in society, seen for example in standards setting, multi-stakeholder initiatives, and in relation to climate change, environmental and human rights issues. This incisive book reveals how firms set up specific devices, referred to by the authors as FCADs (Firms' Collective Action Devices), of which trade associations and chambers of commerce are the traditional forms, and investigates how firms organize themselves collectively, and their impact on the economy and democracy. Delving deeply into previously under-explored aspects of collective actions by firms, using the concepts of meta-organization and heterarchy, the book combines and expands on insights from history, political science, economics, sociology, management and organization theory. It demonstrates empirically how FCADs function on the basis of compromise and consensus, and analyzes their forms of action, their organizational dynamics and their recent evolution. This rigorous and pluridisciplinary evaluation of how businesses organize collectively will appeal to researchers and PhD students in organization studies and business management, as well as those in other disciplines who are interested in firms' collective action. It will also be a useful resource for business practitioners, public servants and politicians in contact with firms' collective action, and NGO members.
It was hoped that by paying forest dependent peoples and countries for their 'service' of conserving their forests, REDD+ would lead to a reduction in deforestation greenhouse gases. The complexities have, however, left some ambiguities. It was never agreed who would pay for the programme, and it has been criticised as ignoring the root causes of forest loss. Considering the motivations of those who promoted REDD+ this book proposes remedies to its shortfalls and recommends more efficient, equitable and effective conservation policies. Describing REDD+ from an agency perspective, this book provides a first-hand account of how individuals and institutions influenced international negotiations. It offers a comparative analysis of REDD+ as a forest conservation regime and of the way it was incorporated into the 2015 Paris agreements. In doing so, this book shows how contextual inequalities and power imbalances can result in international regimes which favour the economically powerful, and proposes providing greater roles for the assumed beneficiaries of environmental agreements in negotiations. This is an excellent introduction to REDD+, its background and execution, and will be a vital resource for students of international environmental governance, as well as for academics and researchers working on REDD+, forest policy and international governance in general.
This book examines changing state-civil society relations in Japan with a focus on the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Tokyo's foreign policy. Globalization and industrial maturation have weakened state authority and sparked the growth of NGOs in Japan. NGOs are gaining influence in a number of areas, most prominently in aid and development. This influence is expressed both through grassroots pressure campaigns and by growing collaboration between NGOs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. By analyzing this important new phenomenon, the book sheds light on the changing nature of state-civil society relations and the role of NGOs in promoting democracy.
This volume provides a survey of current research problems and results in humanitarian operations research. Additionally, it discusses existing applications of humanitarian operations research, and considers new research efforts that clearly extend existing research and applications. The book is divided into three sections that provide an overview of the subject, a look at the theory, and an examination of applications. The overview section presents chapters on modeling approaches and metrics to evaluate nonprofit operations; chief findings of fieldwork research in disaster response logistics; the use of cash as a form of relief; and measuring markets that supply cash-based humanitarian interventions. The theory section includes chapters that examine the partner proliferation problem in disaster response networks; a case study of humanitarian logistics that examines how humanitarian culture informs change adoption; and a look at the current state of the art for information visibility in humanitarian operations. Finally, the application section focuses on blood products, vaccines, and food assistance, with individual chapters on efficient inventorying and distribution of blood products during disasters; a detailed look at modeling in the context of the vaccine supply chain; a framework for achieving equity, effectiveness, and efficiency in food bank operations; and a spatio-temporal vulnerabili ty assessment of the resilience of a population affected by sudden lack of food.
This book details the history of the alter-globalization protests over the last decade and the attempts by various groups on the global left to build alternatives to neoliberal development through the mechanism of the World Social Forum. Gautney analyzes ongoing contests over political organization and strategy among three of the most prominent groups on the contemporary left--social and liberal democratic NGOs, anti-authoritarian (anarchist) social movements, and political parties. Highlighted are the challenges these groups face in developing new, egalitarian social institutions and democratic political programs in the midst of turbulent times.
Collects new insights on current security problems, especially those related to arms control and disarmament. Contributors argue that the cooperative efforts of NGOs and middle powers have positively impacted the use of child soldiers, the employment of cluster bombs, landmines, nuclear weapons, and the proliferation of small arms and light weapons. In doing so, they conclusively show that global players other than superpowers can create alternative and effective solutions to enduring security problems.
The devastating effects of HIV/AIDS have propelled a multiplicity of activities at global, national and local level. This book is based on in-depth studies of the major global institutions in health (WHO, UNAIDS, World Bank, WTO, Global Fund); the role of pharmaceutical corporations; the functions of NGOs; and the national responses to HIV/AIDS in Brazil and South Africa. The authors offer a unique political science perspective on this important issue and bring to light the relevance of their conclusions for other areas of health and global governance.
This volume brings a fresh, original approach to understand social action in China and Vietnam through the conceptual lens of informal environmental and health networks. It shows how citizens in non-democratic states actively create informal pathways for advocacy and the development of functioning civil societies.
This book provides a systematic account of the changing priorities, procedures and practices of French NGOs active in overseas development work. It explores whether French NGOs are eschewing wider trends in the Northern NGO sector and uses Resource Dependence theory and a case study of NGO field-work in Cameroon to shed light on these actors.
How do NGOs overcome the suspicion of them as "Western" agents? How do they convince people that contrary to common perceptions, they do not "lead women astray from Islam"? And how, in the context of poverty, religious fundamentalism, and ethnic conflict, do NGOs convince people that women's issues merit any attention at all? This book uncovers the skillful maneuvering that women's NGOs have to perform in order to survive in a hostile environment. Drawing on interviews, participant observation, and published materials by and about NGOs, this book analyzes the strategies used by Pakistani women's NGOs to advance women's rights in a conservative--and often antagonistic--environment.
This book examines the leading role of the Quaker American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) in the United Nations relief program for Palestine Arab refugees in 1948-1950 in the Gaza Strip. It situates the operation within the context of the AFSC's attempts to exercise new influence on the separate issues of pacifism and disarmament at a time marked by US efforts to construct a Cold War security regime in the Middle East and British efforts to retain influence and bases in Arab countries. Using archival data, oral histories, diplomatic documents, and biographical and autobiographical accounts, the authors provide a detailed look at internal decision-making in an early non-governmental organization where beliefs regarding the requirement to provide refugees with skills for self-reliance clashed with intractable political and cultural realities and the realization that only full repatriation or resettlement elsewhere would solve the problem (a lesson that UNRWA and the international community learned only decades later). Faced with impossible solutions, the Quakers withdrew. The story of AFSC involvement in Gaza shows that refugee relief is always political and that humanitarianism can prolong the problems it seeks to solve.
This book argues that the weakness of civil society in the post-Soviet Caucasus is a result not only of post-communist political and economic problems, but also of the effects of historical legacies. These influence both formal and informal civil societies and weaken the countries' ability to facilitate democratisation.
Encarnación makes the controversial argument that a strong civil society and social capital are not necessary to enhance either democratization or the stability of a new democracy. Tracing the development of the concept "civil society," he argues that what matters are the political institutions existing in a state and the strategies and decisions of political leaders. The importance of these are examined through careful case studies of Brazil, where a strong civil society was not critical in the transition to democracy and has not led to a robust democracy, and Spain, where a weak civil society neither prevented the transition nor strong democratic institutions.
Offering insights from pioneering new perspectives in addition to well-established traditions of research, this Handbook considers the activities not only of advocacy groups in the environmental, feminist, human rights, humanitarian, and peace sectors, but also the array of religious, professional, and business associations that make up the wider non-governmental organization (NGO) community. Including perspectives from multiple world regions, the book takes account of institutions in the Global South, alongside better-known structures of the Global North. International contributors from a range of disciplines cover all the major aspects of research into NGOs in International Relations to present: a comprehensive overview of the historical evolution of NGOs, the range of structural forms and international networks coverage of major theoretical perspectives illustrations of how NGOs are influential in every prominent issue-area of contemporary International Relations evaluation of the significant regional variations among NGOs and how regional contexts influence the nature and impact of NGOs analysis of the ways NGOs address authoritarianism, terrorism, and challenges to democracy, and how NGOs handle concerns surrounding their own legitimacy and accountability. Exploring contrasting theories, regional dimensions, and a wide range of contemporary challenges facing NGOs, this Handbook will be essential reading for students, scholars, and practitioners alike.
Many countries now use agencies rather than ministries to deliver central government services. There have been many claims about the benefits of organizing and delivering government in this way, but there has been little research into how they work in practice. Agencies both reviews existing theories and models of 'agentification' and adds detailed analysis of major new empirical evidence. Based partly on a major international research project and partly on a reinterpretation of the existing literature, this book gets inside the world of agencies and ministries. An in-depth analysis of agencies in four EU countries serves as a basis for testing alternative theoretical models and developing a new approach to the complexities of contemporary government.
This book deals with the dynamics of local-level politics in China and India. China introduced new policies to restructure local politics in 1978. In place of communes, civil society organizations and cooperatives were introduced in villages. More changes came about with the introduction of the Organic Law of the Villagers' Committees of the People's Republic of China in 1998. The new local power structure includes state-sponsored institutions like Villagers Committees and the traditional civil society organizations (CSOs) and non-government organizations (NGOs). As in China, local politics in India undergoes considerable changes during the last few decades. Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) were reformed in 1992 with a constitutional amendment act. CSOs and NGOs were allowed to function. Against this background, the present book is undertaken with the objectives first, to present two different models of local politics and second, to compare the two, finally to focus on the two different models of development. This book will interest scholars of rural governance, rural transformation, and the role of the grassroots CSOs and NGOs in shaping development program and growth in the two large countries in Asia.
Drawing upon ethnographic descriptions of three grassroots ethnic organizations, which work for indigenous peoples in promoting economic livelihood, education and strive for social justice, this book investigates the possibilities and challenges of alternative development.
The Philippines makes an interesting case for examining direct and collective acts of contention against the neoliberal project of economic globalization. Crippled by foreign debt, indiscriminate liberalization of trade, falling stock markets, and perpetual corruption, the Philippines is also a democratic polity and one of the few countries in Asia with a vibrant and dynamic civil society sector. This collection has chapters on the Freedom from Debt Coalition's campaign on debt relief, the Stop-the-New-Round Coalition's advocacy to change international trade rules and barriers, the global taxation initiative as embodied in Tobin tax advocacy in the country, the Transparency and Accountability Network's anti-corruption effort, and the Philippine Fair Trade Forum's enterprise on fair trade. Localizing and Transnationalizing Contentious Politics is the first work of its kind to focus on five global civil society movements in the Philippines and their responses to the inequities of neoliberal globalization. Northern scholars have acknowledged the persistent absence of the South in research on activism around global issues, and this book can help fill this gap. Using political process theory as a framework, the book traces the emergence, development and diffusion of these social movements in the Philippines. Globalization is taken as the environment in which they operate to highlight the role of increased interdependence and internationalization, and the predominance of a particular ideology in the dynamics of contention.
This volume provides a critical and stimulating overview of research on Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs). While it notes that the definition of NGOs is contested, and can include both business and national groups, it focuses primarily on international NGOs engaged with human rights, social and environmental concerns, and aid and development issues. The Handbook of Research on NGOs features contributions from Peter Willetts, Tom Davies, Bob Reinalda, Jutta Joachim and other key international authors. It provides readers with a series of thought provoking essays on both the general aspects of NGOs and significant issues of particular concern. This Handbook places NGOs in both historical and contemporary contexts, making it a valuable read for academics and research students seeking a detailed survey of the field. NGO practitioners looking to understand their operating environment in greater depth would also benefit from reading this important book. Contributors include: E. Bloodgood, T. Davies, T. Doyle, A. Elbra, H. Elsenhans, P. Fountain, F. Gale, J. Greenwood, C. Hsu, J. Joachim, M. Juul Petersen, A. Kellow, K. Martens, A. Mihr, H. Murphy-Gregory, D. Redeker, B. Reinalda, K. Ronit, J. Simeant-Germanos, A.C. Vakil, H. Warnecke, P. Willetts
A study of the international NGO advocacy for social and environmental justice, this book looks at the fundamental issues of legitimacy, accountability and democracy that such activities involve and how they are manifested. It presents case studies on trade issues, labour rights, extractive industries and indigenous people in Asia and South America.
Using Sherry Ortner's analogy of Female/Nature, Male/Culture, this volume interrogates the gendered aspects of governance by exploring the NGO/State relationship. By examining how NGOs/States perform gendered roles and actions and the gendered divisions of labor involved in different types of institutional engagement, this volume attends to the ways in which gender and governance constitute flexible, relational, and contingent systems of power. The chapters in this volume present diverse analyses of the ways in which projects of governance both reproduce and challenge binaries.
In this book, Julia Berger examines internal meaning-making structures and processes driving NGO behavior, identifying constructs from within a religious tradition that forge new ways of pursuing social change. She evaluates the operation of a distinct rationality, arguing that action is guided not simply by beliefs and values, but also by a combination of elements so intrinsic as to constitute an “organizational DNA.” These hidden structures and rationalities manifest themselves in new modes of engagement and agency; they help us to see the pivotal role of religion in shaping notions of peace, progress, and modernity. To demonstrate the operation and salience of such a rationality, Berger draws on the example of the worldwide Baha’i community. Emerging in 19th century Iran, the community’s theological engagement with questions of justice, the unity of humankind, and the emerging global order, constitute one of the most distinct and compelling, yet least-researched examples of religious engagement with the pressing questions of our time. Analyzing events spanning a 75-year period from 1945-2020, this book provides a unique historical and contemporary perspective on the evolving role of religion and civil society in the modern world.
Notwithstanding its many successes since 1945, the project of European integration currently faces major difficulties, from financial crises and mass immigration to the impending departure of the UK from the European Union. At the same time, these challenges have spurred civil society organizations within and across Europe, revealing a shared public sphere in which citizens can mobilize around refugee rights, opposition to austerity policies, and other issues. Europeanization in Sweden assembles new empirical research on how these processes have played out in one of the continent's wealthiest nations, providing insights into whether, and how, the "Swedish model" can guide European integration. |
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