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"CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS"
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The state and civil society : regulating interest groups, parties, and public benefit organizations in contemporary democracies
\"State regulation of civil society is expanding yet widely contested, often portrayed as illegitimate intrusion. Despite ongoing debates about the nature of state-voluntary relations in various disciplines, we know surprisingly little about why long-lived democracies adopt more or less constraining legal approaches in this sphere, in which state intervention is generally considered contentious. Drawing on insights from political science, sociology, comparative law as well as public administration research, this book addresses this important question, conceptually, theoretically, and empirically. It addresses the conceptual and methodological challenges related to developing systematic, comparative insights into the nature of complex legal environments affecting voluntary membership organizations, when simultaneously covering a wide range of democracies and the regulation applicable to different types of voluntary organizations. Proposing the analytical tools to tackle those challenges, it studies in-depth the intertwining and overlapping legal environments of political parties, interest groups, and public benefit organizations across 19 long-lived democracies. After presenting an innovative interdisciplinary theoretical framework theorizing democratic states' legal disposition towards, or their disinclination against, regulating voluntary membership organizations in a constraining or permissive fashion, this framework is empirically tested. Applying Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), the comparative analysis identifies three main 'paths' accounting for the relative constraints in the legal environments democracies have created for organized civil society, defined by different configurations of political systems' democratic history, their legal family, and voluntary sector traditions\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Involvement in civil society groups: Is it good for your health?
Study objective: To determine the involvement in civil society groups (CSGs) and the impact of this on health. Design: Case study, cross sectional, self completion questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews. Setting: Residents in two suburbs in Adelaide, South Australia. Participants: Every household (1038) received a questionnaire asking the adult with the next birthday to complete it. A total of 530 questionnaires were returned. Sixteen questionnaire respondents were also interviewed. Main results: 279 (53%) questionnaire respondents had been involved in a CSG in the past 12 months, 190 (36%) in locally based CSGs, and 188 (35%) in CSGs outside the area. Eleven of the 16 interviewees had been involved in a CSG. A path analysis examined the relation between demographic variables, CSG involvement, and mental and physical health, as measured by the SF-12. Physical health was negatively associated with CSG involvement and older age, and positively associated with working full time or part time and higher education level. Mental health was positively associated with older age, working full time or part time, and higher income but negatively associated with having a child under 18, speaking a language other than English and higher education level. Very few interviewees made a direct link between CSGs and positive individual health outcomes, though some positive community level outcomes were noted. More consistent were reports of the detrimental effects of CSG involvement on mental and physical health. Conclusions: Involvement in CSGs was significant but not always positive for health. It is possible that CSG involvement is good for a community but not necessarily for the individual.
Journal Article
The Resurgence of Coups d’états in Africa and the Role of the African Union and Civil Society Organisations
Unlike the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the formation of the African Union (AU) came with great expectations and a more proactive stance on addressing humanitarian crises, war crimes, and human rights violations across the continent. Despite notable progress in its two-decade existence, persistent governance and security challenges, particularly the resurgence of coups d’état, raise concerns about the AU’s effectiveness in achieving lasting peace and security. Since 2010, there have been over 40 attempted coups and 12 successful ones, replacing elected governments with military rule. This trend highlights the urgent need for the AU to re-assess its approach to Unconstitutional Changes of Government (UCG). Scholarly discourse on this topic predominantly focuses on member states’ non-compliance with AU regulations against UCG, the organisation’s efforts to promote democracy, and its inconsistent responses to non-compliant states. However, scant attention is paid to the role of civil society groups, which serve as watchdogs organizations that play a crucial role in ensuring member states adhere to their continental obligations. Drawing on an Afrocentric theoretical framework, this paper argues that the AU should collaborate more with civil society organizations and other non-state actors to address the scourge of coups across Africa. Employing a qualitative desktop research approach, the paper utilizes secondary and open-access primary sources to analyse publicly available data on this issue. The paper concludes that the AU should adopt a more inclusive approach that actively involves Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), which have proven effective in countering military coups in various parts of the continent.
Journal Article
Standing in a Crowded Room: Exploring the Relation between Interest Group System Density and Access to Policymakers
The numerous presence of interest groups may be a recipe for policy deadlock or, more optimistically, indicate the vibrancy of a political community. Population-ecology theory suggests that the number of interest groups active in a policy domain is relevant for strategies and political outcomes, such as policy access, and interest group density is expected to reduce access for individual organizations. Competitive pressures in dense domains necessitate groups to specialize to gain access to the policy access. We empirically assess this argument and indeed find lower levels of access in denser policy fields, moderated by specialization of organizations in lobbying. Furthermore, we identify important differences between mature (the Netherlands and Belgium) and young (Slovenia and Lithuania) interest group systems. These findings address theoretical concerns about the lack of linkages between micro- and macro-studies on interest representation.
Journal Article
Dissecting shelter for the displaced immigrants' operations and challenges in the 2015 xenophobic violence in Durban
The 2015 xenophobic attacks in Durban left thousands of the victims mostly displaced foreign nationals in the shelters arranged by the South African government in accordance with the regulations of the United Nations. Millions were spent by the government in ensuring and providing basic services and necessities and professional assistance by a number of government departments, civil society groups and universities. Despite these concerted coordinated efforts by government, criticisms have been levelled against them on shelter management, operations, living conditions and lack of the inter and intra-stakeholder coordination by the media, scholars and anti-state civil society groups. Meanwhile, an empirical study dissecting the displaced shelters' operations, stakeholders' activities, reintegration and repatriation challenges as well as the living conditions in the establishments has not been published. This study intends to interrogate the displaced shelters for the immigrants' government agencies and civil society operations, success and failure stories as well as the reintegration and repatriation challenges faced by the government officials. This angle has not been researched and unearthed by researchers. This study contributes to the scholarly literature by espousing dimensions of the shelters and dissecting the actions and behaviour of the displaced immigrants who have been considered by a host of stakeholders as the victims in the shelters. Their attitudes and activities are analysed.
Journal Article
The effects of COVID-19 on vulnerable groups: A reflection on South African informal urban settlements
BackgroundThe economically vulnerable population, mostly black, especially those who are residing in precarious informal settlements are most susceptible to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.AimTo determine the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the socio-economic condition of the vulnerable groups in South Africa. It also attempts to reflect the government’s response strategies to provide help and services for the vulnerable communities who are considered to be most susceptible to the existing pandemic. Lastly, the response strategies of civil society groups and the challenges they are encountering in providing humanitarian assistance to indigent communities are explored.SettingThis is a reflective study where secondary data has been analysed and intertwined with the researchers’ experiences and insights of the South African informal settlements’ welfare.MethodsThis article followed a reflective approach where the experiences of the vulnerable communities are strategically reflected upon.ResultsThis fascinating study unearthed the effects of the coronavirus disease on the socio-economic conditions of vulnerable communities, the economy of the informal sector, the brutal enforcement agencies during the lockdown period, criminality, the fragmented government response and the marginalisation and frustration of civil society groups in providing humanitarian assistance to those in need.ConclusionThe South African government’s fragmentations, bureaucratic, maladministration and corruption in public departments have adversely impacted the welfare of the vulnerable groups who are living in the informal settlements. The human rights violations by the security agencies which are directed to the indigent people, and the centralisation of the humanitarian efforts by government had a negative effect on their wellbeing.
Journal Article
Accelerating health reforms through collective action
The roots signify the origins and initial steps taken to build a coalition and the associated teething problems; the trunk represents efforts toward sustaining the organization s existence and growth; and the branches highlight the collective actions undertaken by the coalition in fulfillment of its aims and objectives. In preparing this book, and based on their unique experiences, Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda respectively focus their chapters on the roots, trunk, and branches. To further the tree analogy, each country s chapter draws parallels or makes comparisons with what pertains in the other two countries, to show how they benefit from each other in an ongoing knowledge exchange. Chapter two (Putting Down Roots, Tanzania) has three main sections: an overview of the country context and health reform agenda; a discussion of the experiences of MSG-Pharma, Tanzania s multi-stakeholder body, in setting up a coalition, and lessons learned. These outline the reasons leading to the establishment of the multi-stakeholder group and describe how challenges met during its formation stages were overcome. Chapter three (growing a strong trunk, Kenya) provides insights into the approaches employed by Kenya s multi-stakeholder coalition, the Forum for Transparency and Accountability in Pharmaceutical Procurement (FoTAPP), in order to sustain the interest and commitment of key stakeholders. It presents a brief description of the Kenyan context in relation to the pharmaceutical sector, highlighting challenges in the sector, and the importance of a multi-stakeholder coalition amid other reform platforms. Chapter four (branching out and bearing fruits, Uganda) describes the opportunities, challenges, and rewards associated with designing and implementing a joint intervention in furtherance of the goals of the Medicines Transparency Alliance (MeTA), the coalition in Uganda. It also illustrates how the coalition has been Able to inform policy dialogue and reform efforts in the health sector.
eBook
Nigerian Civil Society, The Media and Silence that Emanated from Late President Yar’adua’s Medical Trip to Saudi Arabia
The dynamics of leadership is fundamental for the progress or regression of any given state. Nigeria like many other African countries has been struggling with the challenge of good governance due to leadership problems. This work is centred on Nigerian civil society, leadership regression and silence that emanated from Late President Yar’Adua’s medical trip to Saudi Arabia. It found out that the Save Nigerian Group (SNG), Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) as well as Nigeria Liberty Forum based in London demonstrated and demanded for the empowerment of the then Vice President. On the other hand, the Independent Campaign for Peace, Democracy and Good Governance (ICPDGG) supported the President’s silence. The work recommends the promotion of electoral reforms, constitutional amendment and attitudinal change in the political behaviour by African elected leaders in order to prevent the re-occurrence of the heated-up scenario in Nigerian body polity.
Journal Article