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It is widely claimed that civil society associations such as NGOs enable the disadvantaged to address issues of weak governance. Yet, existing research suggests that NGOs have a problematic relationship with the poor and, in turn, have a limited impact on the political participation of marginalized groups. This paper will examine the question how NGOs relate to their clients by analyzing Indian NGOs' decision to pursue legal activism in the form of public interest litigation (PIL). The nature of PIL allows an entire population group to seek redress, and hence, presents an effective venue for accessing the state. In India, PIL has developed into a useful tool to enhance marginalized groups' political participation and to promote the legal activism of NGOs. This paper will provide insight into why and when NGOs use PIL to pursue basic human rights on behalf of the poor and disadvantaged, and whether these marginalized groups are the intended beneficiaries of NGOs' legal activism in the first place. Instead of identifying NGOs merely in terms of civil society agents who thicken political development, this paper will analyze NGOs as self-interested actors with specific political motives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To what extent non-state or non-governmental actors (NGOs) can lay legitimate claim to represent and articulate interests within domestic civil society is a widely discussed theoretical and empirical question in political science. Similar questions have started to be raised within International Relations, in particular with respect to international advocacy by transnational NGOs and issue-networks, often driven by the same imperatives of funding and recognition as their domestic counterparts. The literature on global governance does not, however, yet have a well-developed body of empirical research on which to base any judgements, and the research agenda is in its infancy. This paper will contribute to this debate through a focused examination of one set of non-governmental actors, those associated with the nascent International Action Network on Small Arms. After first developing a robust social map of the network’s participants, the paper will examine how the activities of network members can be understood against the broader backdrop of activities by states and international organizations in this issue area. Ultimately, the goal will be to analyze how transnational NGO activities shape and frame, or are shaped and framed by, the distribution of political and economic power in world politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

My paper discusses the international efforts to restore order to Somalia in 1992. It examines how intra-state conflict and state collapse complicate international conflict resolution and peacebuilding strategies. In Somalia, peacekeeping peacemaking was followed by peace enforcement. The paper’s key arguement is that this assertiveness undermined the slow progress being made in diplomatic peacemaking.The nature of hegemony is also important to this inquiry. My paper examines the way the international community, led by the west, sought to establish order in Somalia, and the local responses to these efforts. Related issues include the effectiveness and relevance in so-called failed states of UN and non-UN peace operations. In Somalia, civil society had disintegrated, and I will discuss how this slowed the process of ending the still-simmering conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the relationship between local practices of dissent and the globally emerging ?civil society?. Scholarship exploring this question tends to be polarized: on the one extreme, it is suggested that local activism emerges organically out of local issues and concerns, and then attempts to fashion alliances with globally active movements and organisations which cohere with its sentiment and understandings of politics. On the other extreme, some scholars suggest that ?global civil society? colonizes local activism by imposing its own, Western concepts and political worldviews onto their local concerns and self?understandings. This polarisation is immediately apparent in perceptions of the relationship between international NGOS and the Bushmen in Botswana and their attempts to prevent their eviction by the state from their diamond-rich lands. The paper utilises Martin Heidegger?s notion of the ?world as a referential totality? in order to theorise the relationship between the local and the global. Re-inscribing the liberal term ?global civil society? as a complex and ever-evolving web of background meaning, as a referential totality against which we orient our existence, it recasts the question of the relationship between the local and the global away from such polarisations. The paper examines the case of the Bushmen?s activism to consider some of these questions: how do activists or dissenters located within postcolonial, indigenous, and local contexts uniquely appropriate norms and references available to them within the web of meaning? How does the appropriation of meaning by local contexts and the ?repetition? of certain types of practices, themselves affect the web? And, finally, what kinds of subjectivities are produced within it? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last ten years or so, ‘global governance’ has emerged as a (neo-)liberal research agenda in international relations theory. This theorizing is closely related to emerging neo-liberal practices, where market mechanisms and civil society have assumed an important role in the governance of society. Following the lead of James Rosenau and others, this literature seeks to theorize about the content and dynamics of governance without government . Or, in the words of Ernst-Otto Czempiel, governance is defined as the capacity to get things done without the legal competence to command that they be done (1992: 250). It is precisely in its lack of a formal-juridical backing that governance is rendered a useful analytical intake, it is argued, to the study of international politics. There is also a dialogue between theory and practice: International commissions and inter-governmental processes have identified both global governance and good governance as central themes and objectives, while journals such as Global Governance have served as sites for the conceptual clarification and empirical substantiation of what governance is. Concurrently, the more theoretically oriented literature in IR theory has done much to identify how governance operates through a host of formal and informal, state and non-state, national and transnational practices. A central theme has been the role of so-called civil society organizations, particularly through the norms-based advocacy that these perform and thus influence state behavior (see Risse, Ropp and Sikking (1999), FInnemore and SIkkink (1998). The first part of the paper presents this literature and deducts from it certain hypotheses about state-society relations and the functioning of power that is embedded in this literature. The second part proceeds to introduce a different theoretical reading of these same practices with inspiration from the literature on governmentality that was first introduced by Michel Foucault, and has later been developed by Nikolas Rose, Peter Miller and Barry Hindess. Within this theoretical framework, various (neo-)liberal practices of rule are conceptualized in a different way with respect, first, to state-society relations, and, second, to the functioning of power. The third part of the paper proceeds to test two sets of hypotheses derived from this theoretical perspective about state-society relations and about the functioning of power against two case studies that goes to the heart of what global governance is said to be, namely international conferences resulting in plans for action and legislation adopted by states. One case study concerns the role of civil society organizations in the formulation of international population policy (1984-1994), and the other the role of civil society organizations in the campaign to ban landmines (1989-1999). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will examine the influence of liberal hegemony on the contemporary theorizing and development of civil society in post-communist Eastern Europe. The paper will attempt to argue that liberal hegemony has misguided attempts to understand and solve disenchantment in Eastern Europe through civil society. The paper will suggest that the Eastern European vision of civil society - as imagined by Havel and Konrad - is more appropriate for understanding the connection between civil society and disenchantment in Eastern Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While political life in Africa remains volatile and complex, the end of the Cold War ushered in the collapse of authoritarian regimes and liberalization of governments. There was a hope that the new political systems would provide legal and political accountability. Western governments shared this hope, in light of their belief in democracy as a panacea for Africa’s political and economic woes. However, early euphoria gave way to disappointment because some incumbent regimes continue to show their reluctance to relinquish power. Although there is room for cautious optimism, the realities of Africa’s political and economic plight and foreign powers’ interests on the continent might undermine democratic efforts on the continent. If Africa’s past is any guide, the road to democracy will be long and painful. After several decades of mismanagement, corruption, and a lack of effective leadership, Africa finally embarked on a democratic path in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Thanks to civil society’s resilience but, more importantly, to the military’s cooperation, one-party regimes relaxed their grip on political and economic power. While they relaxed their grip, they have not relinquished it, and their tenacity has diminished early hopes in such countries as Togo, Guinea Republic, the Congo, and Mauritania. The thrust of the paper is that Africans took to the street to demand a peaceful and more accountable political setting that can trigger a fundamental change in their living conditions. But they are learning that unless persistent autocratic rule and declining social conditions are seriously dealt with, the ongoing democratization process on the continent will once again fail Africans. In probing democracy’s journey in Africa, the paper will mainly relate Demos’s painful pilgrimage to Kratia, by uncovering respective roles played by both civil society and the military and by exposing the Achilles’ heel of the democratization process in Africa: stable civil-military relations and widespread economic hardship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although recent decades have witnessed a worldwide explosion in the number of democracies, the growth and consolidation of democracy are by no means a stable phenomenon, let alone a universal trend. The aim of this paper is to examine democratization in the post-communist block, and to compare this process to the Western European experience. This paper argues that the most important and necessary factor for consolidation of democracy is the adoption of democratic institutions in the polity and the establishment of liberal market institutions in the economy. However, this institutional factor alone is not sufficient. Successful consolidation of liberal democracy requires presence of macro-structural conditions facilitating democratization and support of civil society. By examining the dynamics of transitions to democracy and comparing it to the model countries in Western Europe this paper discloses persistent problems of institutional design, regime legitimacy, and political participation, compounded by economic difficulties, producing an uncertain future in the countries of post-soviet block. Notwithstanding the long and varied history of democratization in Western Europe, its experience is still comparable by showing what can and cannot be achieved through borrowing institutional designs. The results of this study show the need to reach an agreement on the specific institutional arrangement, where agreement on rules means agreement on procedures and not on outcomes. In the polity, it is the design or re-establishment of governmental institutions and electoral systems conducive to the legitimation of the new and fragile democracies. In the economy, it is the establishment or expansion of the institutional infrastructure of the market economy, including privatization, deregulation, and the opening up of the economy. In the society, it is respect to the rule of law, active participation, and development of culture of tolerance and negotiating. The overriding imperative for democratizing countries is to develop both the structure and culture of democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ?legalization of world politics? has a variety of faces: It is inherent in the pro-liferation of international hard law as well as soft law, and it is generated through inter-governmental negotiations (e.g. the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change), through public-private policy networks (e.g. the World Commission on Dams) or through more or less formalised coalitions between civil society organizations and business corporations (e.g. the Forest Stewardship Council). The resulting complexity poses a challenge to the study and practice of international relations. While the effec-tiveness of different governance mechanisms has been the focus of much literature, the legitimacy of different forms of transnational rule-making have been given far less at-tention over the last few years. In this context, this paper asks under what conditions transnational rule-making can be legitimate. The aim of the paper is to provide a theoretically coherent and empirically use-ful concept of democratic legitimacy which can be used to evaluate actual processes of transnational rule-making. The argument is mostly theoretical and unfolds in three steps: First, I introduce and discuss constitutionalist, pluralist, and deliberative models of democratic governance beyond the state. Building on the discussion of these models, I then distinguish between four basic dimensions of legitimate rule-making, namely legitimacy through participation, legitimacy through democratic control, legitimacy through discursive practice, and legitimacy through good results. The discussion of these four dimensions of democratic legitimacy serves to establish a set of more specific criteria for the evaluation of decision-making processes beyond the state. Third, I dis-cuss to what extent different social contexts may justify variation in the degree of inclu-siveness, control, and deliberativeness of decision-making processes. I conclude my paper with a set of criteria and questions which may serve as a basis for evaluating ac-tual decision-making processes beyond the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the concept of the self underpinning the global civil society literature and policies. The paper argues that global civil society projects a demoralised subject as victim/abuser whose emotions and desires are to be authenticated by professional enablers. The authentication of the self involves the disciplining of desires and emotions. However, the disciplining of desires and emotions is mystified under the contemporary therapeutic mechanisms of self-articulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes a critical look at traditional approaches analyzing conflict dynamics, arguing that neither ‘high politics’ nor what is usually considered ‘track two diplomacy’ sufficiently incorporates issues related to relationships, discourses, and power. Although I briefly review approaches to citizen diplomacy, problem-solving workshops, and track two dialogue, the bulk of the paper focuses on peace-building efforts in Israel/Palestine. This case study, grounded in interviews and field experience, focuses on opinions, attitudes, and interactions within civil society. I suggest an alternative method for analyzing the impact of peace-building and conflict-resolution activities. As a result, this paper investigates the manner in which relationships (between Israelis and Palestinians) are constructed, examines the type of resource flows between nodes in social networks, and studies the ways in which national identities emerge through the deployment of ‘rhetorical commonplaces.’ [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to capture the dynamics of contesting security in Southeast Asia and examines how state and non-state actors have responded to the changing nature of its security environment. The paper argues that in spite of structural constraints and problems with conceptual clarity, human security is finding a place in the regional security discourses. Albeit found along the margins of subaltern security discourses, human security is the concept that embodies the security concerns of societies and where the most vulnerable can rearticulate their security in their own terms, without being excluded and alienated. Civil society organizations have been pivotal in framing human security through their transnational linkages and work in human rights and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Questions relating to the legitimacy of NGOs as actors in global governance have been widely debated in recent years. In this paper, I propose and apply an approach to the question of NGO legitimacy which, rather than seeking to gauge the extent to which NGOs' involvement in global governance conforms to democratic principles or moral criteria, looks at how certain forms of subjectivity are elicited and treated as legitimate in the spaces of interaction through which NGOs participate in global governance. I focus on the case of the World Trade Organisation, and the processes of subjectification and forms of subjectivity that are promoted in the formal and informal spaces in which interaction takes place between representatives of the WTO and of civil society. I argue that only individuals who successfully perform one of a number of legitimate subject positions are accepted as legitimate representatives of (global) civil society by Secretariat officials and national delegates to the WTO, and other NGOs. The paper thus draws attention to the ways in which legitimacy is situational, i.e. it is constructed, interpreted and enacted differently in different social contexts and different fields of activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on private authority (Cutler, Haufler et al. 1999; Hall and Biersteker 2002) has contributed to our understanding of the emergence of novel forms of global governance involving not only nation-states, but also industry, civil society groups and technical associations. Still we know relatively little about the concrete ways in which different groups of actors are constructed as stakeholders, how multi-stakeholder processes are handled, and how such governance arrangements emerge as authoritative. Conceptually, the private authority literature revolves around dichotomies such as the public/private and ideal types of authority, such as public, private, moral, scientific and so on. The paper questions these vocabularies by pointing to the value of insights from Science and Technology Studies and Actor-Network Theory (Hackett et al, 2008, Callon, Lascoumes et al, 2009), a research tradition that does not yet figure prominently in IR theorizing on private authority. The paper sets out to help fill this gap and to show how we may engage such insights in studies of the making of fragile and mixed forms of authority in global politics. Building on the results of a longitudinal, ethnographic study of the organization of the global politics of the Internet in and around the United Nations (Flyverbom, forthcoming), the paper advances the concept of entangled authority as a way to capture the making and shape of authority in this issue area. The paper shows how entangled authority comes about in processes where dispersed social worlds are positioned as stakeholders and collaborate in stabilized multi-stakeholder arrangements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper acknowledges that civil society can play a positive role in anti-corruption activities, in particular by monitoring the behaviour of public authorities in the unstable and corruption-ridden transition from war towards peace and democracy, and also in providing a 'voice' to citizens' demands for accountability and change. However, the relationship between civil society and corruption is not limited to the former fighting the latter. Civil society organizations in postconflict states commonly incorporate and reflect the broader political and institutional context in which they operate. Where such a context is dominated by patronage, clientelism and corruption, as is regularly the case in post-conflict settings, civic associations also tend to replicate those vertical bonds. Thus, as this paper will argue, civil society plays a dual role. At its best, civil society organizations are at the forefront of anti-corruption activities. Media reports of both civil society work and intimidation against whistleblowers confirm how the determination of individuals and groups is essential to exposing corrupt activities. At the same time, many civil society organizations are part of a broader network of patron-client relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polices and discourse on global development in recent years have increasingly centered on the instrumental role of information and communications technologies (ICTs) in political development and change. The recent (2011) events in North Africa ensure that these inquiries will continue. At the same time, many initiatives and programs have emerged in developing regions featuring the implementation and use of ICTs for development. In the Andean region of South America, some of these are designed and promoted by national governments, some by the regional organization, the Andean Community, and others by external organizations such as the Canadian IDRC. This paper evaluates the outcomes of these initiatives, specifically focused on Internet use, in one Andean country, Ecuador, with an emphasis on the responses of civil society organizations. The research is based on the premise that the engagement of the civil society is a likely measurement of the outcomes of various initiatives to integrate ICTs into the development process, and address empowerment of marginalized groups and regions. The paper addresses a fundamental question: How do the activities of civil society organizations connect ICT policies to practice in ways that address political marginalization? We highlight the intersection of ICT for development policies and societal activities in a region that exhibits one of the highest levels of socioeconomic and political cleavages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ousting of Kyrgyz President Bakiyev and his southern leadership team on 6-7 April 2010, only five years after the "Tulip Revolution" which ousted President Akaev in 2005, presents an interesting case for an evaluation of the role of civil society in Central Asian countries during episodes of contentious politics/collective action, such as political transitions. Under former President Akaev, the civil society sector, including business organizations, political parties and civil society organizations had a significant amount of autonomy and development, yet recognizing that this (relative to other Central Asian Republics). Interestingly, the episode of contentious politics in 2005 was an example of 'strong' collective action with low levels of violence in a competitive authoritarian regime while the most recent episode of contentious politics in 2010 in the same country resulting in the ousting of Bakiyev can be categorized as 'weak' collective action with moderate levels of violence. The differentiation in levels of violence has not be theorized or examined in depth; therefore this paper seeks to probe this case and the role of civil society in moderating/brokering peaceful political transitions in competitive authoritarian regimes during times of contentious politics/collective action. It is posited that the weakening of civil society functionality that occurred under Bakiyev's reign had a correlation to the spiked rates in violence during the processes of political transition to the current Otunbaeva regime. The intention is to measure the threshold of weakness in Kyrgyz civil society, and compare it to that of semi-authoritarian Tajikistan, in an effort to predict the potential for either a non-violent or violent political transition in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a tendency adopted by scholars and international actors today that sovereignty must be put apart in cases of human security, therefore international intervention can be justified as a solution to re-establish domestic order. This paper aims to discuss two dimensions of the United Nations state-building processes in post conflict societies. Firstly, is to explore when international intervention should stop intervening and let the local society(ies) deal with their own problems of representation. Secondly, to verify in which ways this shift should take place in order to provide a peaceful transition from international to local power. Concerning this former point, and aware of the complexity of societal structuration process within each country, the goal here is to understand the variables that can change or influence the process of hegemonic groups to achieve the state's power (and control) for the next years. The argument here, following some trends of the actual literature, is that the process of state-building should evaluate the internal configuration and strengthen institutions of each countries in order to bring social representants together to dialogue, in which should result in a less turbulent transition from the international to national power-sharing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religious actors are important players in international development. As part of global civil society, they influence political decision-making in both national and supranational arenas. This paper makes a case for exploring the discursive power of religious actors in global governance and specifically the conditions for a successful exercise of this power. In a first step, the paper delineates the relevance of an inquiry into the discursive power of religious actors in global governance and defines the necessary concepts for such an inquiry. In a second step, the paper presents two cases plausibilizing the importance of religious actors' discursive power in development governance and allowing us to formulate preliminary insights on the conditions of a successful exercise of this power: the Jubilee 2000 campaign for debt relief and the role of Buddhist NGOs as actors in development governance in postconflict Cambodia. Most interestingly, our cases reveal that the discursive conversion of economic exchange systems into moral ones is a crucial part of the success story. With such a conversion, development is incorporated into a larger totality of transactions, i.e. becomes part of the reproduction of social and ideological systems concerned with a time-scale far longer than the individual human life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is part of an on-going research study on Security Sector Reform (SSR) and Gender in Africa, and is intended to examine current approaches to implementing gender initiatives within security reform programmes. The objective of the study is to ascertain the adequacy of the implementation of these initiatives for achieving gender equality within the security sector. It uses case studies from Sierra Leone and Liberia to illustrate the current trends in respect of gender in SSR and draws largely from the experiences of both the authors and civil society organisations working in this area. While the paper contributes to documenting these initiatives, it argues that actions aimed at achieving gender equality within the security sector must of essence transcend mere gender mainstreaming which is the acclaimed strategy for achieving gender equality. In addition such actions must acknowledge and address socio-cultural issues in relation to gender inequality in ways that result in a fundamental shift in prevailing systems. The paper, however, recognises that SSR is not necessarily designed to respond to such sociocultural practices to which gender relations is central and thus concludes by questioning the efficacy of SSR in achieving genuine equality between men and women, especially in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The WTO has, since it was established in 1995, been pursuing an ever closer relationship with NGOs and other types of civil society organisation. The Agreement establishing the WTO established a basis for 'consultation and cooperation' with NGOs; since then the WTO Secretariat has implemented a number of programmes designed to encourage 'dialogue' amongst WTO officials, national trade delegates and NGOs, and an array of informal practices and procedures that also govern WTO-NGO relations has emerged. This paper draws on concepts developed in the governmentality literature to identify and analyse one dimension of the 'regime of practices' (Dean 1999) that governs the ways in which members of so-called civil society can meaningfully interact with national delegates and Secretariat staff in the WTO - the techniques and technologies of government that structure the possibilities of action of individuals who seek to participate in this dialogue. The paper then examines some of the implications of these techniques and technologies of government, arguing that the regime of practices governing WTO-NGO relations effectively disciplines those organisations that are based in Geneva, while punishing those without a permanent base in the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to present some aspects of the theoretical debate about the political action of social movements beyond the national borders in order to demonstrate that they reflect a challenge to some assumptions of the IR discipline. To what extent transnational articulations of social movements impose questions on the modern international system based on the sovereign nation-state? On one hand, some actions beyond borders remains based on the national bond, and this movement beyond borders is related to the mobilization of international structures of political opportunity that have emerged within international organizations, conferences and summits in recent decades. On the other hand, another kind of articulations may occur based on identity bonds other than the nation, challenging the established (spatial, political, epistemological) borders. This paper intends to bring a brief review of the literature about the transnational dimension of social movements' action, as part of an ongoing research about the participation of civil society actors in mechanism of regional integration processes in South America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The choice of a governance regime has ceased being an exclusively domestic process. Though debates continue about its effectiveness and morality, democracy promotion has become a channel of virtual global governance, shifting and modifying the domestic authority of the democratizing country. However, the conditions and the extent of similar shifts are yet to be understood. This paper analyzes the conditions and the potential impact of the policies of the main democracy promoters, the EU and the USA, on the democratization processes of Armenia and Georgia. Special attention is paid to elections and civil society building projects as a way of influencing the choice of the authority and the choosers. This paper adapts the international socialization framework by introducing new variable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) have created a European field of security and defence where various actors are regularly in touch and even if the relevant competencies in security do remain ultimately at the disposal of the EU Member States, the formulation and implementation are made increasingly in Brussels by National and European civil servants and services housed permanently there. Partly due to the indirect role of the European Commission in the CSDP, there is only little analysis on the role of the European Commission in the EU security governance. This approach is somewhat misleading because policy-making in the field of security process is more complex that it seems. To clarify it, this paper highlights the role of the Commission in crisis responses and conflict prevention with the Instrument for Stability (IfS). From a sociological perspective, this paper first clarifies how the Commission became part of the EU security governance. Then, it analyses how the IfS works, underlying the close coordination with a series of actors, within the EU, international community and civil society. Finally, it underlines the consequences of the increasing role of the Commission inside the EU security governance. The paper aim is not only to shed light on the role of the Commission in the security field, but also on the dynamic of interaction with state and non-state actors in this sensitive matters towards a trans-governmental supranationalism system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proposed paper studies the internal structures of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the EU's external relations and assesses the extent to which they contribute to the input and output legitimacy of external policy-making. CSOs have gained importance in recent years and have been praised for various democratizing functions. In the EU institutional demands for civil society participation differ depending on the policy field. The European Commission has expressed its preference for consulting with organizations representative of large constituencies in the Member States. As opposed to that, the Council is interested in CSOs' expertise for better policy-making. The paper examines to what extent the different institutional demands in the intergovernmental European Foreign and Security Policy (ESDP) and the supranational External Trade Policy (ETP) are reflected in the types and internal structures of CSOs active in these policy fields. The paper presents evidence for 16 CSOs in ESDP and ETP. The results confirm the assumption that very different types of CSOs are active in ESDP and ETP, with organizations in ETP featuring a more representative structure. However, CSOs in ESDP draw on other legitimizing sources, such as expertise and beneficiary consultations, thereby not contributing to the input but the output legitimacy of external policy-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is to take up where we left with the "environmental security" debate in the 1980s: environmental security was seen as a good thing because considering environmental degradation a security threat meant giving more importance and attention to the environment thus ultimately leading to environmental protection. The military was thus an ally in the fight against environmental destruction. On the other hand, environmental security also means that the environment now becomes a focus of security that is subordinated to security interests and thus exempt from the democratic process and civil society more generally. In the name of security, anything can now be done to the environment, including environmental modifications, called geo-engineering. Twenty years - a significant increase about the dangers of climate change - later, we want to explore whether this contradiction still holds. More precisely, the paper wants to explore the possibility of using environmental modification (EnMod) technologies, also called geo-engineering, for stemming climate change both in technical and argumentative terms (acceptability). More precisely, it will argue that, against the background of threatening climate change, environmental security thanks to geo-engineering no longer will be perceived as a contradiction but as a welcome contribution of military technologies to save humanity from itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the application of democratic principles to the decision-making rules in Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs). It focuses on three such basic principles a) participation of all member-states in decision-making; b) involvement of transnational civil society groups in the deliberative processes within IGOs; c) public access to information regarding IGO deliberations. The paper makes two basic arguments that have either run counter to traditional views of IGOs or, at least, have been downplayed by most of the literature: 1) democratic principles have always been applied, at least to some extent, to the functioning of IGOs; 2) the degree to which the principles were applied did not vary in a linear fashion over the past century. I first develop several measures of the application of democratic principles in order to illustrate these arguments. I then offer a series of hypotheses to explain the variation in the application of democratic principles. I test them across developments in the League of Nations, International Labour Organization and United Nations over approximately ninety years. I find that the power of domestic democratic norms can account, at least in part, for such variation. Moreover, I find that the three democratic principles have not been applied simultaneously across IGOs. I suggest that one reason why these three norms have not gone hand is hand is that member-states have used norms instrumentally, promoting those that support their specific interests and downplaying the ones that run counter to such interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Who gets a seat at the table, and who does not, matters for successful peacemaking. However, current research does not provide sufficient guidance for understanding the politics of participation in peace negotiations. The present paper therefore develops a preliminary framework for understanding these dynamics. Its central theme is that the inclusion or exclusion of a given actor in peace negotiations is affected by two independent factors. One factor pertains to the practical requirements of the peace process and addresses the following question: does the participation of a given actor augment the chance of reaching a sustainable peace settlement? The other factor relates to the normative dimension peace talks: is the participation of a given actor consistent with the values of international mediators and sponsors of peace negotiations? The paper argues that the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion result from the interplay of these two factors. The most comfortable situation for mediators is when practical requirements and international norms are mutually reinforcing. Difficulties arise from scenarios where practical effectiveness and norms contradict each other. This is the case when the involvement of a given person (or group) is imperative in terms of the peace process, but difficult to justify politically because this person has committed terrorist acts or is indicted by an international court. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a critical evaluation of what is often portrayed as a noble moment in Australia's history of overseas interventions. Looking beyond the state-centric lenses of conventional analysis, it argues that Australian policymakers were forced to send in a peacekeeping force under the pressure of a tidal wave of public outrage. The outrage did not arise spontaneously; rather, it was the result of a conscious process of grassroots activism by an international coalition of activists who were committed to an independent East Timor. Since mainstream scholarship has very little to say about this activism, this paper will outline the crucial role played by activists in forcing the international community to respond to the crisis in East Timor. Accordingly, this paper will show that the case of East Timor cannot be used to invoke R2P except by ignoring the historical record. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores factors that have initiated a 'Fall of Adam' perception amongst religious groups which has led to them pursuing a 'Conversion of Paul' paradigm when assessing US hegemony in the international system. The misconception of what the post-American world means has led some Christian groups to aggressively initiate innovative missions projects which exploit perception in order to integrate Neo-Liberal economic and political paradigms. Christian groups, such as the Southern Baptist Convention, Rick Warren Ministries, and the Christian Broadcasting Network are promoting charitable economic funding for international missions' projects that establish vast political and economic networks in Asia, Africa, and South America in order to influence social, economic, and political structures. This paper explores difficulties encountered when attempting to reconcile Neo-Liberal international agendas with theological narratives and opens the door to understanding what's at stake for Christians who fear the 'fall' and pursue 'conversion' as well as what's at stake for the systems/communities being targeted. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conflict management and conflict resolution have become priorities for the European Union in its relations with the neighbourhood. The outbreak of armed conflict in Georgia, in August 2008, underlined the urgency to address the protracted conflicts in the South Caucasus, in order to safeguard achievements in the political and economic spheres. This paper proposal looks at EU engagement with civil society organisations (CSOs) in peacebuilding and conflict transformation, in the conflict over Nagorno Karabakh. Building on extensive field research conducted in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh and Brussels in March and April 2009, the paper looks into the EU's main instruments and policy priorities for dealing with this conflict, with a focus on civil society as interlocutors and agents on the ground. It then assesses the types of CSOs being privileged, the effectiveness of their activities in impacting the conflict dynamics and the overall approach of the EU in engaging CSOs as conflict transformation agents, in the context of the European Neighbourhood Policy. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I examine the impact of global civil society in world politics through investigating its effect on Intergovernmental Organization (IGO) democracy. In so doing I first clarify the conceptual framework of the democratic deficit in IGOs given that there is no academic consensus in defining the concept. Based on a minimalist definition, I employ the outside-in model and the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) to explore the influence of global civil society over improving the democratic deficit in IGOs. I argue that weaknesses of global civil society decrease its role in improving IGO democracy, though it does have a positive impact in the process. In particular, three important factors in global civil society contribute to the lagging democratic development in IGOs: different levels of knowledge and expertise in NGOs; the marginalization of women, southern, and rural NGOs; the accountability problem of NGOs themselves. The paper highlights the strengths and weaknesses of global civil society in changing the landscape of world politics. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty tree years of war has deeply affected Afghan civil society. Just as the conflict lines in the war followed ethnic, religions, and regional divides, Afghan civil society is currently marked by fragmentation; particularly between the traditionalist and the modernizers. Post 2001 support to Afghan civil society has been defined by the broader liberal peace agenda; with focus on the formal, modern civil society organisations and their role in aid delivery. While the government and international development agents recognize the importance of traditional civil society, these institutions have been largely neglected in the peace process. The paper will analyse the roles and functions of Afghan civil society - in its various modern and traditional forms - post 2001, and the potential these have to contribute to the peace process. The paper argues that current civil society efforts are overshadowed by the conflictual peace agenda; the war being waged against terror and tensions between the traditionalists and the modernists voices in the peace process. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will look at the mixed responses in global civil society to the activities of the International Criminal Court, focusing on the ongoing investigations in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic. Some groups, local and international, enthusiastically embrace the language of international criminal justice and cooperate with the Court, while others are suspicious for a variety of reasons ranging from fear of retribution against victims and witnesses to charges of neo-imperialism. All claim to speak on behalf of the victims. The paper will examine these claims and argue to what extent civil society groups act as a conduit between the Court and the victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to shed new light on the old question of whether the Islamic culture is compatible with neoliberal capitalism. The research focuses on how AKP, with the decline of the welfare state in Europe in the 1990s, and in Turkey's attempts to be a competitive player in world economy (and of course to join the EU), has successfully used its Islamic links to help disseminate in the society the neoliberal view of the state. Especially in the area of poverty alleviation, the AKP has been successful in deferring part of its role (as the majority government) in welfare functions to Islamic charity organizations, and at the same time, benefit from these organizations' activities via the linkages between those organizations and local governments. An important question here is how these organizations see themselves. Do they ascribe to such a position- as additions to the State's welfare system? What do they think about their role as actors in civil society? What type of a relation do they want to have with the state? Answers to these questions can improve our understanding of three issues. First, when the AKP is channeling the resources of small charity organizations to local municipalities, how does the common Islamic ideological orientation affect the polity? Second, how do Islamic NGOs see the civil society's role? Can they be actors in a democratic system, as some liberals presume? Lastly, what type of a future do they want for themselves? Do they envision a State where Islamic rules prevail, are the secularists' suspicions justified? The paper does not claim to find all the answers to these questions; rather it attempts to reveal the mechanisms and the thought process behind the Islamic NGOs, through a structured- focused comparative case study. The paper opens with a brief explanation of the relationship between globalization and neoliberal economic policies, and its affect on Turkish economy. Then it discusses how the role of civil society is deduced to an agent that serves the state. Taking a look at the civil society organizations in Turkey working in the area of development and poverty alleviation, the paper goes on to investigate two Islamic civil society organizations working to help the poor and needy. Both are small charity organizations, mainly focusing on poor widowed women and their children. Both of them are mostly active in their neighborhoods, in the district that their organization is founded. Through a structured focused comparative case study, the research reveals how the charity organizations as members of civil society contribute to poverty reducing strategies and help the government infuse in the society the view of the new neoliberal state. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to probe the extent to which regional civil society mobilisation has been recognised and given space in Caribbean policy circles by focussing on the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and international trade negotiations. Although state sponsored regional integration initiatives have been in process in the Anglophone Caribbean from the 1950s, little emphasis has been placed on non-state activities that promote regional integration. Indeed, civil society networking in the Caribbean can be traced at least to the early 20th century and should be viewed as feeding into and enhancing state-sponsored efforts at deepening regional integration. In the current day, Caribbean civil society networking has come, quite often, to address and provide policy alternatives to regional and global initiatives. Yet, one is left unclear as to whether Caribbean civil society and civil society organisations have been able to find space to contribute to integration through being included in formal policy spheres. This paper attempts to find answers to this question in the CARICOM context. This paper focuses on civil society organisations' inclusion in trade liberalising initiatives affecting the region since trade liberalising negotiations are some of the more contentious policy issues affecting the region. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the impact of local civil society organizations on the features and trajectories of social conflicts in Peru. The current Peruvian environment is characterized by weak rule of law and a consequent unreliability of formal mechanisms through which citizens’ grievances can be expressed and addressed. In this context, small, local civil society organizations have emerged at the community level as a means to enhance the effectiveness with which popular concerns are voiced. While both civil society and rule of law have been presented in the literature as potentially key elements for improving governance and reducing violence, there is insufficient empirical research on how the two interact when they are weakly institutionalized. The case of Peru offers a valuable opportunity for evaluating this relationship, as accounts of social conflicts collected by the Peruvian Ombudsman over the last three years shed light on the particular shortcomings of the rule of law, the type of actors involved in articulating popular discontent, and the strategies they select in order to do so. The paper finds that the presence of civil society organizations increases the likelihood that complainants will attempt to use legal mechanisms and peaceful demonstrations to resolve disputes. However, it also finds that due to the weakness of the rule of law, these usually prove ineffective and the presence of civil society organizations is therefore insufficient to curb the recurrent use of violence as a means to express grievances. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the rise of networks of transnational non-governmental organisations (NGOs) within Asia and by Asia-based NGOs and counterparts in the West. The very terms ‘civil society’ and ‘NGO’ have different connotations within various Asian countries, which provide very different legal and political environments for non-state actors. Despite these barriers, some transnational cooperation has developed in response to specific issues and in response to an international growth of social movements. Four main types of cooperation can be identified: cooperation of individual local NGOs with international organisations; bilateral or multilateral cooperation between specific NGOs within a sub-region of Asia; region-wide organisations to address particular issues; and advocacy within the framework of broader civil society groupings. This paper maps these emerging forms of transnational NGO cooperation; examines the impact which such cooperation has had in strengthening the capacity of NGOs; considers the prospects for the further development of NGO cooperation; and assess the implications of these developments for debates about the potential of transnational civil society as a vehicle for social change and the idea of civil society in Asia. It examines two case studies. The first case involves the Asia-Europe People’s Forum, a parallel summit which has been created on the margins of the Asia-Europe Meeting, and which brings together disparate non-state groups to address collectively a wide range of state-sponsored agenda. The second case examines the development of inter-NGO networks around mine action in Southeast Asia, focusing in particular on the impact of external actors on local NGO activities. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the role of civil society activities in making the International Monetary Fund answerable to those whom it affects. The argument put forward is that various types of civil society associations have used multiple kinds of tactics to advance IMF accountability on a number of occasions, particularly in relation to certain policy areas. However, the overall scale of these contributions has remained modest, so that citizen action groups have only partly closed accountability gaps. Moreover, the IMF-civil society relationship has often been rather hegemonic, in the sense that the accountability secured through these channels has flowed disproportionately to dominant countries and social circles, rather than to subordinate countries and social strata who generally experience the greatest accountability deficits vis-vis the Fund. The paper first explores the character of IMF accountability (for what? to whom? by what means?). It then describes the 'civil society' that engages the IMF, both directly and indirectly. The third part of the paper elaborates the accountabilities that this civil society does and does not achieve vis-a-vis the IMF. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to answer the basic question of whether or not a civil society has ever come into existence in Macau with a time focus on the 1990s and after. The question is a justified one if the idea of civil society is taken seriously. Civil society is commonly defined as the arena outside of the family, the government and the market where people associate to advance common interests. In terms of composition, it comprises a network of voluntary associations, and informal groups and activities. Recent literature has further distinguished between civil society and political society (where political society is organized to gain political power), and investigated the importance of discursive activities and the internet to the strengthening of civil society. In terms of functions and potentials, civil society represents an autonomous realm, independent of state control, and provides the basis for social movements and political opposition. Macau, although not deprived of associational life, is famous for its patron-client politics and consensual politics until very recently. So, if there is a civil society in Macau, then in what forms has it been articulated? How vibrant and powerful is it? What importance has it had to the democratization in Macau? What dominant political values have been upheld by it, and in what ways are these values conducive to democratization? Overall, the paper sheds light on the developments, potentials and constraints of Macau’s civil society in relation to democratization. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing sense that economic globalization advances while other dimensions of an increasingly integrated world are lagging behind. Perhaps one on the best example of this “unequal” globalization process is illustrated by the wide gap between the advances in the negotiation of trade issues and the very slow process of internationalizing - or globalizing - employment and labor issues. But if there is no grand social project or global labour code matching the global economy, this does not mean that there is no labour governance system being developed. Since the 1990s, in the context of globalization and economic liberalization, regulatory initiatives of labour issues have multiplied.As the core subject of this paper, a mapping of labour governance mechanisms will allow to draw we call «global labour governance constellations». What is the nature of the Global Labour Governance (GLG)? Does it reach beyond rhetoric? What are its potential benefits and shortcomings? Does it favour private and soft regulation as opposed to public and legally binding governance mechanisms? Should more legally formalized dimensions of the GLG be strengthened, and if so, how can this be achieved? Can the different initiatives and strategies reinforce each other? Those are only few of the questions arising recently in a vast literature on labour governance initiatives.In mapping GLG constellations, the paper will discuss three types of initiatives: (1) trade-labour initiatives; (2) international initiatives; and (3) transnational initiatives from the private sector and civil society. Understanding specific types of initiatives is expected to facilitate the understanding of the ways in which they interact with one another, thereby forming a “global labour governance system”. The idea is the map the GLG but also to discuss new and future trajectories. Ultimately, the paper will discuss the issue of coherence of the ad hoc institutional construction. Special attention will be given to the interaction between the fragmented parts of the GLG architecture.As a starting point for discussion, we oppose two scenarios:- One - Constellation: The GLG is a mere constellation of forms of labour regulation that exacerbates a race to the bottom and a privatization on social systems. Initiatives do little else than make globalization more acceptable, while conflicting with one another.- Two - Networking : The GLG constellations is evolving towards a networking of initiatives involving new compromises and new responses which could potentially lead to a new social compact.One of the core idea of this paper is that a labour global governance system must be more than a constellation of independent â€" an often conflicting â€" governance mechanisms. If labour governance initiatives are numerous and varied, the challenge resides in analyzing and understanding how they, or how they could, form a coherent and effective GLG. Ultimately, the various forms of labour governance should be integrated into a network of rules and standards that ensures coherence, cross-fertilization and the levelling up of labour standards having effective impacts on working conditions and labour rights in an increasingly integrated world economy. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rule of law is essential for maintaining a stable, democratic state. But how does a complex, multiethnic and failed state institutionalize it, and what role do non-governmental organizations play â€" that is, under what circumstances does their work to build law through activism succeed in creating legal and social change, toward human rights, in a failed state? This paper builds on a year of ethnographic and legal research in Sudan. It compares the circumstances under which legal development in a failed state occurs and does not occur, and also when and how it contributes to broader economic and social development. Primary data analyzes legal groups’ strategies to institutionalize the rule of law and human rights, using interviews in Sudan with lawyers, judges, human rights activists, and legal aid groups. The paper uses Sudan as a primary source and existing scholarship on the rule of law in emerging and established democracies as secondary sources. It bridges scholarly divides by employing an interdisciplinary approach that links comparative politics with law and society and social movements scholarship.The author has been a Fulbright-Hays Dissertation Research Fellow in Sudan and also holds a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley (Boalt Hall School of Law). ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of transnational advocacy networks and coalitions has been widely discussed with regard to the rise of global civil society. However, little is known about transnational coalition formation among multinational firms in processes of market creation. This paper focuses on the transnational mobilisation of firms in promoting a global market for carbon emission credits in the context of climate politics.Since the inception of climate politics, firms have played a vital political role, initially opposing any form of regulation. However, in the late 90s, firms in Europe and subsequently in the United States began to endorse emissions trading as a form of market-based climate policy. At the core of this shift is the creation and promotion of various initiatives including advocacy networks, market-facilitating mechanisms, and private carbon trading schemes. This raises the question what drives the emergence of a transnational pro-trading coalition among multinationals in the transatlantic marketplace.Drawing from studies on policy diffusion and private governance, it is argued that coalition formation is best understood as a form of diffusion within and across industries. Here, diffusion is qualified as a distinct causal mechanism that builds on the interdependence of firm behaviour. Two main forms of diffusion are at work in coalition formation: diffusion through adaptation to global norms or competitive pressures, and diffusion through learning in transnational networks or through observation of industry peers. With this focus, the paper contributes to the understanding of the transnational mobilisation of multinationals in the creation of environmental markets. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of the mass media in support of peacebuilding has been discussed intensively among peacebuilding practitioners, however, rarely among academic scholars. From both discourses a range of different approaches for media’s role in peacebuilding can be distilled. Many of these approaches claim that media is an integral component of civil society. However, other research states that media has an independent role from civil society. The paper aims to clarify media’s role in support of peacebuilding by first analysing the different approaches on the role of the media in peacebuilding in the research and practitioner literature (‘peace journalism’, ‘conflict sensitive journalism’) and elaborating a sound typology of these differences. Based on existing knowledge of the roles of media and civil society for democratization (see paper of the author at ISA Chicago 2007) the paper will secondly discuss the roles of the different approaches for mass media within civil society working for peacebuilding, using also insights from the different case studies as presented in the three panels on ‘Civil Society and Peacebuilding’. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper will trace two periods of Palestinian Civil Scoeity before and after Oslo Interim Agreements in 1993. Paletinain Civil Society palyed a major role before Oslo in the absence of the state. The phenomenal wide-spread of civil scoiety in the Occupied Palestinian Territory was able to organize the society, activate them and get them involved in the peaceful popular resistance known as the first intifada. Things had changed after Oslo and the introdcution of the Palestinain Authority into the Territory. The paper will trace the major changes that engulfud most if not all Paletinain civil society and left it in a state of disarray. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Nigerian state in the 1990s appeared to be heading on the road to failure: A predatory authoritarian government had turned the state into a Mafioso-style operation characterized by increasingly neopatrimonial rule. Democratization in 1999 reversed this decline somewhat, but significant portions of Nigeria remain in deep conflict, particularly the oil-rich Niger Delta.Civil society groups have played important roles in keeping Nigeria from collapsing over the past 15 years. This paper will review this contribution of civil society through the lens of both conflict resolution and democratic theories, examining how civil society groups impact the political structural development of states through these groups’ collective impact on political cultures. A central contention of the paper will be that certain approaches to conflicts taken by civil society groups build democratic political culture. We also examine the impact of civil society efforts to build peace amid insurgency and transitional democracy in Nigeria’s war-torn Niger Delta. What role can civil society play in building peace in the Niger Delta between heavily armed militias on one hand and predatory political elites and multinational oil companies on the other? ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been credited for developing a diplomatic code of conduct that has helped sustain relative stability since the 1960s. This code of conduct has eventually become one of the foundations for regional order and institution-building in the wider Asia-Pacific. But these norms or the ASEAN Way have also allowed the subregion’s post-colonial states to engage in “state-building” projects focusing on internal security and economic development which have sometimes been at the expense of basic human rights.But much has changed over forty years. There is a small, yet growing transnational civil society network in the area and some Southeast Asian states are making the (painful) transition to democracy. Moreover, ASEAN’s current rhetoric emphasizes the hope of creating a “caring” and “people-centered” organization. The words democracy and rule of law have likewise found their way in various recommendations and in some official declarations. Yet the prospect of ASEAN’s democratization and the creation of an effective regional human rights mechanism remain unclear if not bleak. Through an approach that brings together insights from political science, sociology, history and area studies, the paper examines the processes and mechanisms of institutional change at the national and regional levels in Southeast Asia. It also scrutinizes the growing tensions between the changing state in Southeast Asia and ASEAN. ASEAN had, for the longest time, been an elite-driven organization. Its norms and principles have allowed its members to proceed along different state-building trajectories relatively unencumbered by demands from its neighbors. Yet by allowing its member countries to “diverge”, ASEAN and its members are faced with the growing challenge of coordination, cooperation and harmonization of policies and values in the midst of growing extra-regional and domestic demands. The paper traces the institutional foundations for denying human rights in selected Southeast Asian states and looks at their effects on a proposed regional mechanism for human rights in the subregion. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the late 1990s, transnational advocacy networks have shaped global HIV/AIDS policies. Composed of scientists, AIDS activists, and human rights organizations, these networks have shaped discourse about AIDS and successfully advocated for increased AIDS funding. While scholars have studied these efforts, they have paid little attention to the role of non-US religious associations in advocating for AIDS policies. This paper investigates the role of such organizations in shaping policies to fight HIV/AIDS in Zambia. The research focuses on the political activities of church organizations in the country's development of AIDS responses. These activities include published statements on AIDS policies and lobbying efforts by religious leaders and group members. Based on interviews with church leaders, donors, and AIDS organizations in Lusaka and examination of primary and secondary sources, the paper addresses five questions: (1) Have churches in these two countries pushed national policies to fight HIV/AIDS? (2) What types of policies have they supported? (3) To what extent have they been successful in getting these policies implemented? (4) What factors have contributed to their success? (5) What factors have hampered their efforts? The paper moves beyond an examination of religious groups as service providers to an analysis of their role in political advocacy. It questions if churches have unique qualities that shape their mobilization in AIDS advocacy. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research in different stages of conflict suggests that civil society plays a wide range of peacebuilding roles. It also suggests that the failure of certain functions at these stages prevents conflict resolution and transformation. These studies also point out for the increasing role played by different actors as well as the need for coordination among them. This paper aims to study the issues that come into play in every stage of the Kurdish conflict and analyzes the changing role of civil society in the peacebuilding processes on the basis of a joint analytical framework and a number of research hypotheses developed by Paffenholz and Spurk. The paper will first identify the country and conflict context, discuss the status of civil society actors working on the issue, and lastly analyze the role of the civil society actors in the peace processes. The data for the paper are drawn from the author’s fieldwork in the southeastern Anatolia where the armed conflict take place as well as in Istanbul and Ankara where most civil society actors function. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past forty years, “progressive” transnational social movements have emerged around such issues as human rights, the environment, and global justice. Simultaneously, there has been a huge increase in the number of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) active on these issues. In response, social scientists have begun theorizing about transnational mobilization and the growth of a “global civil society,” with research revealing the dynamics of activism and its impacts in various policy arenas. Few scholars, however, have studied an equally important trend, the development of powerful transnational countermobilizations rooted in various “conservative” ideologies and institutions. These countermobilizations have for example opposed the Kyoto Treaty, the Landmines Treaty, and the International Criminal Court--with considerable success on many issues. More fundamentally, in recent years conservative NGOs have challenged the legitimacy of civil society participation in international politics--even while actively participating themselves.My paper helps fill the empirical and theoretical gaps about transnational countermobilization by focusing on transnational activism concerning the control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW). Used in conflicts and violence worldwide, such weapons are responsible for over 500,000 deaths per year, according to United Nations estimates. For over a decade, hundreds of NGOs organized in a loose transnational network known as the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) have promoted an international treaty controlling SALW trade at the UN. Opposing these efforts is a transnational network of gun-rights NGOs, the World Forum on the Future of Sport Shooting Activities (WFSA), led by America’s National Rifle Association (NRA). The network has also been active in such countries as Brazil, Japan, South Africa, and Switzerland, where it works with local gun organizations to shape domestic firearms policyâ€"even as IANSA has worked with local anti-gun groups. Finally, the NRA and other domestic interest groups regularly lobby their home states on national policies concerning overseas arms policy. My paper analyzes the strategies of these contending networks in interlocking global arenas. In particular, the paper focuses on the ways in which the NRA and its global network have sought to influence states, delegitimate the United Nations process, and attack IANSA--all with the aim of stalling or defusing efforts to control small arms. More generally, the paper examines how the two networks clash with one another as they seek to influence international policymaking. To accomplish these tasks, the paper blends interest group theory in American politics with countermovement theory in sociology. These well-developed literatures have been little used in studies of “global civil society.” Using this theoretical framework, I analyze dozens of personal interviews and numerous primary documents collected from the contending networks. As such, the paper moves well beyond existing political science approaches to transnational politics. Empirically, the paper opens a window onto extremely powerful but little-examined “conservative” activism on the world stage. Theoretically, it develops a new, multidisciplinary approach to the analysis of global interest group activism. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]