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This article analyses the evolution of the European Union’s development policy in relation to civil society. Based on a review of overall policy trends, strategies and practices in Central Asia, it demonstrates how the EU’s development policy has gradually moved from a focus on European NGOs towards civil society organisations, broadly defined and increasingly associated with the private sector and local authorities. While the EU’s policy recognises the intrinsic value of civil society in all its diversity and promotes partnership, its operational practices show a pragmatic preference for working with professionalised organisations in service delivery roles.

Neither has any other human-rights treaty received as much vitriolic bashing as the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Charter), 1981, nor has there been a dearth of negativity about the treaty as a human-rights instrument. Such is the spate of pessimism about the African Charter and its system that it has repeatedly been referred to as “a paper tiger”, among other undignified labels. Beyond the endless lampooning of the treaty and its system as mere platitudes, have there been no opportunities for the civil society to strengthen the promise of this treaty and its system. To what extent has the civil society exploited such opportunities? Can there be a reconceptualization of the roles and attitudes of civil society that will galvanize the African regional human-rights system towards a veritable mechanism for more effective human rights protection? This article examines the contributions of civil society to the evolutionary processes, successes, and perceived weaknesses of the African regional human-rights system since 1981. Extrapolating from some landmark institutional, normative and jurisprudential developments within the African regional arrangement, this article identifies civil society as an inevitable, integral bearer of credit for the successes, and blame for the shortcomings of the aforementioned system. The overarching objective here is to canvass for a repositioning of civil society towards more effective praxis, and, to identify the trajectories for such engagement.

This position paper recommends the stand that representatives from civil society from Africa should take on the fight against Illicit Financial Flows (IFF). It is envisaged that tackling IFF from Africa requires reform of international corporate taxation. This tax system has many loopholes, and Transnational Corporations (TNCs) have exploited them. Profit shifting, and transfer pricing remain the primary drivers of corporate tax practices that facilitate IFF. Yet, these practices have not been adequately dealt with at both the international and regional fora. Estimates from the African Development Bank reveal that IFF have resulted in corporate tax losses in excess of a trillion dollars from Africa since 1980. The Tax Justice Network (TJN) and the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department estimate these losses at $500bn and $200bn respectively per annum. In 2015, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) published its High Level Panel Report on Illicit Financial Flows (HLP Report) in which it reported that Africa is losing more than $50 billion annually in IFFs. The Report asserted that this estimate may well fall short of reality because accurate data does not exist for all African countries, and these estimates often exclude some forms of IFFs that by nature are secret and cannot be properly estimated, such as proceeds of bribery and trafficking of drugs, people and firearms as well as corruption. In July 2018, at the High Level Policy Dialogue on Development Planning in Africa the Head of Development Planning and Statistics at the Economic Commission for Africa reported that $100 billion a year is illegally earned, transferred, or used due to mis-invoicing. These Tax losses resulting from IFF have become too serious to neglect anymore.

Communication of public authorities and society, in particular, public authorities and separate social groups, is an important component of the political and managerial practice of modern society. The world practice shows that effective communication between these actors provides citizens with free access to information, improves the efficiency of government and local self-government bodies, and creates a favourable environment for business development, which in turn serves as the basis for economic stability and the engine of the country’s social and economic development. In the conditions of the development of the information society, new models, mechanisms, platforms of relations and communication between the authorities and the public are emerging. The constructive interaction between power structures and civil society organizations, with a «feedback» component, will contribute to meeting the needs and interests of citizens and strengthening the credibility of both power structures and civil society institutions. Moreover, it will improve the status of Ukraine at the international level by ensuring compliance with the Association Agreement and creating the preconditions for Ukraine to achieve the 20 key priorities of the Eastern Partnership 2020. In the future, consideration should be given to this issue in order to deepen, broaden and improve the effectiveness of the communication component of the government bodies and civil society organizations in Ukraine. In the implementation of communication interaction, special attention should be paid to providing a feedback between communicators. After all, it is this component of the communications process that provides interaction and information about the society’s reaction to the results of the implemented decisions. Purpose of the research: to conduct a scientific, theoretical and practical analysis of functioning of the existing in Ukraine communication platforms of civil society organizations and authorities in the framework of the Association Agreement and the Eastern Partnership policy papers.

Dissertation Abstract Paper Agora: The Samizdat Periodical Vokno and the Provincial Czech Underground in Historical and Social Perspective Martin Tharp, Department of Historical Sociology. The present work takes as its central subject a Czech samizdat publication, the magazine Vokno, primarily during its years of illegal operation, i.e. from 1979 until 1990, considered within the wider context of civil and cultural resistance to the oppressive social order of European state socialism. It treats Vokno as an instance of social action amid state forces inimical towards it, discussing the interplay and interaction of oppositional practice and the forces it opposes, both of state authority and more subtle ones of state cultural hegemony. It is argued that Vokno formed an attempt at a "counterculture" in the late 20th-century sense of an impulsive critique of a regimented modernity, yet within its immediate conditions was necessitated to assume three specific forms: as an aesthetic sub/counterculture, as a social network with differing levels of involvement and connections (whether to established intellectual dissent or to other social strata), and finally as a conscious oppositional social movement.

This editorial addresses the following documents published in this and a previous edition of the SAMJ:The Central Drug Authority (CDA)'s position paper on cannabisThe CDA's position paper on harm reductionThe CDA's response to the editorial 'Comment on the CDA's position statement on cannabis'. As there is considerable overlap between the contents of the above documents, this editorial tries to avoid covering all the arguments put forward both in these documents and in the author's 'Comment on the CDA's position statement on cannabis'. Instead, it sets out to inform medical professionals and civil society why the incorporation of illicit drugs into the existing regulatory framework of drug control is the only holistic way to implement comprehensive harm reduction measures and bring an end to the 'war on drugs'.Instead it sets out to inform medical professionals and civil society as to why the incorporation of illicit drugs into the existing regulatory framework of drug control is the only holistic way to both implement comprehensive harm reduction measures and bring an end to the 'war on drugs'.

Problem: Visions of technology, future scenarios, guiding visions (Leitbilder) represent imaginations of future states of affairs that play a functional role in processes of technological research, development and innovation—e.g. as a means to create attention, communication, coordination, or for the strategic exertion of influence. Since a couple of years there is a growing attention for such imaginations of futures in politics, the economy, research and the civil society. This trend concerns technology assessment (TA) as an observer of these processes and a consultant on the implications of technology and innovation. TA faces increasing demands to assess imaginations of futures that circulate in the present and to participate in shaping these through scenarios or foresights. More than ever, this raises the question, which propositions can be made based on these imaginations by TA and how this can be used in advisory practices. Imaginations of futures are relevant for TA not as predictions but in their significance and effectiveness in the present, which need to be understood and assessed.

The publication was issued within the project ‘Transfer of Know-How for Small and Mid-size Businesses in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine’ which aims to assist SMEs in those countries by providing support to stakeholders in their efforts to develop analytical and policy advocacy capabilities and by opening new channels of communication between SMEs and NGOs in the Visegrad Four countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) and the rest of the European Union.The objective of the study is to deliver the complete findings and outcomes of the project aimed at Ukraine. This White Paper serves as an authoritative document with action plans, budgets, and a tangible way for the beneficiary country stakeholders to move forward with the agenda of small and medium-sized business development.It presents an overview of the collected background information and contains basic data on the countries, including some key macroeconomic comparisons as well as rankings in major competitiveness reports (e.g. Doing Business report by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development), identifies the project stakeholders and provides an overview of the situation of small and medium-sized enterprises in Ukraine. It also includes the findings of two surveys implemented by the Slovak-Ukrainian team.Based on the findings, the “Discussion and Recommendations” section presents various perspectives on the problems of SMEs in Ukraine using the experience of the accession process of Slovakia, specific examples of key initiatives that led to the resolution of the problems, as well as case studies from various industries. It stresses the involvement of all parties including the EU, local governments, civil society, business associations, and the SMEs themselves.The key outcome of the paper is a road map – a very specific plan of actions including schedules, budgets, and other details within the scope of this project that will help the beneficiary country to cope with problems regarding the agenda of small and middle business development using the expertise and experience of institutions and stakeholders accumulated throughout the Slovak EU accession process. It includes a wide range of activities including a discussion of the project results with various Ukrainian stakeholders, workshops aimed at increasing knowledge about EU markets, legislation and standards, as well as strategic and institutional moves.

The Lifelong Learning Platform (LLLP) is a European umbrella organisation with special status, gathering 40 associations with European outreach and membership, active in the field of education, training and youth. LLLP is covering all sectors of formal, non-formal and informal learning. The Platform aims to voice citizen’s concerns about lifelong learning, promoting its holistic vision “from cradle to grave” and helping people in their life transitions.This vision is meant to ensure equity and social cohesion as well as active citizenship,advocating that education and training should be described beyond terms of employability and economic growth also as a framework for personal development and proposing solutions to make lifelong learning a reality for all.The Platform promotes a dialogue between civil society organisations and public authorities in order to modernise our educational systems and to support public sector innovation.

The Allens Hub for Technology, Law and Innovation is a community of scholars at UNSW Sydney aiming to add breadth and depth to research on the interactions among law, legal practice and technological change in order to enrich scholarly and policy debates and enhance understanding and engagement among the legal profession, the judiciary, industry, government, civil society and the broader community. The views of those participating in this submission are our own, based on our research, and do not represent the official views of UNSW Sydney or Allens. We were grateful for the opportunity to present our views at a consultation on 30 July 2018; this document attempts to summarise these in writing, taking account of the subsequent discussion at that event and conferral with colleagues after the event.

The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) Occasional Papers is a series of ad hoc publications presenting, in edited form, papers or statements made at meetings, symposiums, seminars, workshops or lectures that deal with topical issues in the field of arms limitation, disarmament and international security. They are intended primarily for those concerned with these matters in Government, civil society and in the academic community. This paper provides historical background on the special sessions of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament (1978, 1982 and 1988) and discusses efforts to convene a fourth special session. The Assembly has used these sessions to enable Member States to participate in the process of developing or strengthening global norms in disarmament. Complementing work done elsewhere in the multilateral disarmament machinery, the sessions enable consideration of how the various parts of the disarmament puzzle fit together in a coherent whole.

ISTR Voluntas Best Paper Awards for 2012 and 2013 were awarded at the ISTR Conference in Munster, 23rd July 2014. The Best Paper Award Committee’s rationale and citation of the two prize winning articles are presented here. ISTR’s journal Voluntas is a highly productive journal, which has published an increasing number of articles in recent years, and which has also become indexed in the ISI Social Citation Index. Voluntas published 49 papers in 2012 and 53 in 2013. This included one special issue on civil society in Africa, and several thematic

Civil Rights and the Making of the Modern American State. By Megan Ming Francis. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014. 197 pp., $27.99 paper.Megan Ming Francis' new book, Civil Rights and the Making of the Modern American State, tells the story of how the early anti-lynching crusade of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) shaped the modern civil rights movement. The book is crisply written, well-documented, and powerfully argued. It should be read by anyone interested in the history of civil rights in the United States as well as American Political Development (APD), institutional choice, and social movements. The book represents a key contribution to a growing trend that seeks to understand the micro-foundations of the evolution of the American state and federal policy, which offers a decentered account of institutional development in American politics and underscores the role of groups in creating opportunities for change from the bottom-up.At its core, Francis' book is a fascinating political history that seeks to fill a gap in our understanding of the civil rights movement in the United States. Whereas most accounts begin with the story of school desegregation, Francis starts with the founding of the NAACP and its fight against lynching. By pushing the time-line back, Francis brings to light the importance of the NAACP's victory in Moore v. Dempsey (1923), the historic Supreme Court decision that marked the first federal intervention into state crim-inal court proceedings. Francis shows how this initial victory influenced subsequent NAACP campaigns, including its securing of funding that led to the establishment of the Legal Defense Fund, which fueled the fight to desegregate schools. In the process, Francis ties the struggle over civil rights to campaigns against political violence and a profoundly unjust criminal justice system-issues that are still at the core of the ongoing fight for racial equality.It would be a mistake, however, to think of Francis' book as a gap-filling exercise. The heart of the analysis grapples with longstanding debates over the role of structure and agency in politics and social change. Francis argues that the existing literature tends to focus narrowly on the structural aspects of the story, describing the shifting opportunity structure of American politics in the shadow of Cold War imperatives. Francis directly challenges this view, arguing that "[t]he problem with these top-down accounts of political change is that they privilege institutions over citizen agency and thus understate the role of civil society and different forms of civic activity" (p. 15). The critical point is that, even if we accept the importance of institutions and the ever-shifting opportunity structure in American politics-and Francis is careful to acknowledge these factors-these opportunities are not self-executing, actors must seize these opportunities and decide how to exploit them. Francis takes us into that process, revealing its contingency and historical context. What emerges is a reclaiming of agency in the process of change, even in a case where the institutional opportunities for change were highly constrained.Stepping further back, Francis' work is part of a broader movement in APD literature that seeks to explore the grassroots foundations of the development of the state and federal policy. Other works along these lines include Charles Epp's Making Rights Real (2009), which details the creation of coalitions between activists and professionals that gave rise to new modes of governance at the local level, and Douglas Reed's The Building of the Federal Schoolhouse (2014), which identifies the ways in which local groups and urban politics has shaped (and been shaped by) decades of federal school policy. Anyone interested in APD must heed the call of these works to explore how group and individual level activity and local politics influence the state and federal policy development. …

It is not enough to have knowledge, one must also apply it. It is not enough to have wishes, one must also act.Johann Wolfgang von GoetheIntroductionGender mainstreaming* 1 of the security sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) twenty years ago was perceived as a "foreign" syntagma and proved very difficult to translate into the three official languages (Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian). The challenge was not only translation but also the transposition of that concept into reality. The link between the concept of gender mainstreaming and security sector tasks and responsibilities was a new topic for BiH society as well as globally. As a post-conflict country, in the last twenty years Bosnia and Herzegovina has gone through reforms in different areas such as police, intelligence, justice, etc. Those reforms were intensified in the period from 2003 until 2008 in the framework of the BiH integration process into the European Union and NATO. At that time, neither the BiH political elite nor representatives of the international community were aware of the benefits of the integration of the gender con- cept in those nor in other reforms in the country. It was women's organizations that started familiarizing the BiH public with the importance of including and applying the concept of gender in security sector reforms, namely to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (UNSCR 1325).2 They first gained financial support from the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and other UN organizations in order to implement different programs and projects. Those efforts, commitments, and the influence of these women's organizations led to the government at all levels in Bosnia and Herzegovina establishing in 2003 official gender mechanisms such as the Gender Center of Government of Federation, the Gender Center of Government of Republic Srpska and, in 2004, the Gender Equality Agency at the national level. Their establishment came at a crucial moment for the institutionalization of gender mainstreaming in all areas of public and private life in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Only a few years after those gender mechanisms were established they were applied in the drafting of two strategic documents, the Gender Action Plan (GAP)3 for the period 2006-2013 and an Action Plan for the implementation of UNSCR 1325 in Bosnia and Herzegovina (AP 1325)4 for a period of three years (20102013). Those two documents were not imposed or drafted externally, which was the case with many other documents in Bosnia and Herzegovina from that period. They were produced by the representatives of BiH institutions together with the representatives of NGOs according to local priorities and needs, an important precondition for local ownership and sustainability of the whole process. Because of this, many were hopeful that enacting these documents would have a real and positive effect on the lives of men, women, and children throughout the country.In this article I first give a brief overview of the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina before those national policy documents were adopted and of the post-adoption period. Second, my intention is to analyze the reasons why the adoption of AP 1325 was perceived as a big success in the country as well as the region and at a global level. Third, because I was personally involved in the implementation of the first AP 1325 on behalf of the Ministry of Security and in the drafting of the second AP 1325, my focus will be on the achievements of the Ministry of Security in the implementation process of AP 1325 as well as my personal experience with gender mainstreaming of the security sector in BiH. Finally, in my conclusion I examine the main lessons learned, current challenges, and present my personal view of how the envisaged goals from the documents can bring meaningful and real change to the daily lives of all people in Bosnia and Herzegovina.The Period Before AP 1325: The Role of Civil Society and International Community in Bosnia and HerzegovinaBetween 2005 and 2007, or almost five years before the implementation of UNSCR 1325, women's advocacy groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina relied on raising awareness through public and media presentations to demonstrate the importance of their implementation in the country. …