This thesis examines the Fair Trade movement as an international response of civil society to improve basic labor rights for producers. It explains the development of the Fair Trade movement and gives an overview of the organizations that currently comprise the movement. It also highlights some of the contemporary challenges the movement faces. The paper then provides a review of the literature written on global civil society insomuch as it is relevant to the Fair Trade movement. From this information, the paper draws conclusions about the success of the movement achieving its goals in light of its challenges. The paper concludes that the movement has admirable goals, but lacks good implementations and suffers from both undemocratic practice and inadequate representation. Lastly, it suggests policy changes to improve the effectiveness of the movement.

Things will change from time to time, but human being is the main constituent forever. The principal of existence and development of any social community will be carried out with the awareness of individual ideology and the fulfillment of the community determination, especially depend on the adaptability and transformation that step forward with the elapse of time. Bad adaptability or improper transformation will be difficult to transfer the traditions into modernization, the result will be either underdevelopment or dead with deformity, both of which can hardly have a satisfaction accomplishment. The purpose of this article is to explore how Taiwan adapt to the trend of modernization as a typical Confucian community, and how the members of the community form the consensuses to fully grasp the opportunity of adaptation and transformation to set up a brand new ¡§Confucianism Civil Society¡¨. The dissertation construct with five chapters as follows: Chapter I is introduction for the main concerns of the research, the extent of the research, writing structure, and a thorough analysis of the core ideal of philosophy of Confucian community. Chapter II describes the figure of Confucian traditional community to investigate into its merits and demerits according to the writing structure of the Chapter Da Tong in the Book of Rites. Chapter III examines the real conditions in Taiwan during the powerful governmental era under Martial Law by means of three mainstream ideologies from the western liberalism. Chapter IV observes that disorders are increasing in Taiwan area due to the conflict between Eastern and Western ideology after the removal of Martial Law in Taiwan from a view of communitarianism. Reflection upon the above-mentioned, the author looks forward to rebuild a main stream culture and value ideology which integrate Eastern and Western, penetrate traditional and modern, and connect modern and post-modern. In conclusion with the statements of the Eastern and Western sages, Chapter V outlines the mechanism of ¡§Confucianism Civil Society¡¨ out of the expectation of the author.

Thesis (Ph.D.)-Radboud University, Nijmegen, 2008. / With title page and summary in Dutch. Includes bibliographical references and index.

Diss. Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv., 2003.

Thesis (M.A. in National Security Affairs)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2002. / Thesis advisor(s): Thomas Bruneau, Jeffrey W. Knopf. Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-71). Also available online.

No description available.

<p>This study attempted to examine the role that selected civil society groups played to promote citizen participation in governance processes.</p>

South Africa's negotiated settlement and its transition to a democratically elected government has often been referred to as a small miracle. Despite that, the country faces major governance challenges, ie. it has to embark on a comprehensive governance programme. The main aim of this study is to discuss and review the state of governance in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. The concept of governance has a broader relevance than the narrow and traditional term of government. The latter refers conventionally to the actions of a narrow set of government institutions. On the other hand, however, governance encompasses a wider range of issues and actors and the interactions among them. The interest in and importance of governance has followed a longer interest in the concept of civil society. With the advent of democracy, the South African government, together with its nine provincial administrations, has committed itself to maintaining and working with civil society structures. The design and implementation of public sector projects increasingly reflect : a partnership approach between government at all levels, the private sector and civil society. One aspect of governance in South Africa, which this study has also paid some attention to, is what is called good governance. One hallmark of the new Constitution is that a decentralised political system has been created which allows opportunities for wider consultation and participation by civil society, public sector, and the private sector in promoting good governance. This research is motivated by theoretical and practical concerns. It has attempted to cast light on governance issues of KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Authority by identifying some important and common dynamics of governance processes within this province. Further it has attempted to show how general principles of good governance can guide legislators, public officials, the private sector and civil society as they continue to grapple with governance challenges. The study has revealed that essentially there are four suggested properties of governance: Firstly, it is the degree of trust that exists between classes, clans and political elites about the nature, purpose and the rules of sociopolitical interactions and practices. Without trust, individuals and organised interest groups will see no reason to actively engage in public life. The second element is the extent to which there are effective relations of reciprocity in the public realm. Reciprocity exists if associations and parties are allowed to form, to defend and promote stakeholder interests within the public realm via political competition, pressure, negotiations and conflict resolution. The third element is the degree of accountability, i.e. whether the governors can be held accountable by the governed via institutionalised procedures and processes. This cannot be sustained over time without the eventual implementation of structures of accountability and trust across society. Fourthly, the nature of authority, i.e. how political leaders make policies and implement them in a way that resolves the problems of ordinary citizens and promotes the legitimacy of the public realm - what many in South Africa refer to as the capacity to govern. The conclusion drawn from this study is that if a government wants to promote and practise good governance, it must try to involve all stakeholders, namely civil society, public officials and the business sector, when making decisions concerning the delivery of services. This requires consultation with these stakeholders or their representatives. Leaders in politics, government institutions, private sector and civil society should announce good governance as the only option. Given that governance involves a number of new challenges for everyone, the researcher examined how each segment can contribute to the practice of good governance in the province. The study has identified the quest for good governance as the most formidable challenge, not only facing the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Authority, but also the country as a whole. All concerned are urged to find ways and means of reversing the trend towards declining governability and institutional decay. In the final analysis the following recommendations were made: • Good governance must result in better delivery of services; • Good governance programmes must change society for the better; • To promote good governance, the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Authority must consistently implement growth-oriented and market-friendly economic policies; • Legislators must ensure that there are mechanisms for enforcing accountability and transparency; and • Government must encourage citizen participation, and governance must be undertaken to improve the general welfare of a society. / Thesis (DPA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2005.

World Social Forum annual events attract hundreds of thousands of global activists and members of Global Civil Society. WSF events coalesce a diverse group of social movements, NGOs, and global activists. Its open space politics is an inclusionary force that is outlined by the principles of the WSF charter. Each event occurs in a location whose contextual and environmental conditions greatly impact the outcomes of the events. Assessing the success of these individual events is multidimensional and is largely determined by their adherence to WSF charter principles. Under investigation are three case studies of events that are held in Porto Alegre, Mumbai, and Nairobi. Success for each event is largely dependent on local factors. The local variables of the state, funding, trade unions, and local civil society all impact outcomes in myriad ways. Porto Alegre is an ideal setting for WSF events but is not the only attractive venue. / Graduate

<p>Empowerment is a catchword that has recently entered current development debate. Development is largely perceived as a process of building capacities hence empowering people to be able to handle their affairs. As such it is a concept highly espoused by prominent development actors and mainly Non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The study attempted to examine the theoretical and empirical aspects of community empowerment from a critical perspective by surveying activities of three NGOs in Ethiopia. A recent framework developed by a working group of the World Bank for measuring and structuring analysis was used for analyzing findings. Conceptualization and practices of empowerment seem to be at a nascent stage and tools for measuring it as well / that is what the findings of the study indicate. Despite the rhetoric surrounding the concept, the experience of surveyed NGOs also shows disparities between theory and practice.</p>