This degree project examines the question of how Colombian NGOs communicate sexual and reproductive rights issues to the public opinion, and how this has changed over time. The research is carried out through a case study of two Colombian organizations that work with sexual and reproductive rights, particularly the implementation of legal abortion.The analysis parts from a gender perspective, understanding gender as a constitutive element of social relationships as well as a primary way of signifying relationships of power.One of the main findings in the study is that the historical point of departure for this research, the LAICIA campaign that accompanied the strategic litigation that led to the partial legalization of abortion in Colombia in 2006, represents a paradigm shift in how communications were managed by civil society organizations in Colombia. Today, communications is seen as a strategic tool to help obtain a certain objective, and mobilize public opinion support, rather than as a way of convincing opponents to change their positions. LAICIA also changed the terms of the debate, introducing new parameters lifting out the issue from the traditional private sphere – delimited to a moral and religious issue, and into the public sphere, as an issue of general concern for society – not just for individual women.Today, however, much of the communication efforts are directed at impeding backlashes rather than advancing positions, and communicating reactively rather than proactively. The two organizations studied have some convergences in their work with communications, in spite of certain ideological differences, and the impact of their communication efforts could be reinforced if these were coordinated to a greater extent between organizations.

The aim of this study is to deepen the understanding of how a grass root initiative evolves to become a Non-Governmental Organization based on the example of Refugees Welcome to Malmö and to explore how and why people become volunteers, how the volunteers describe their motivation and experiences of becoming and to be a volunteer in this context, and finally how they think and reflect upon their engagement four months later. Based on semi-structured interviews with ten volunteers who helped asylum seeking refugees in the fall of 2015 in Malmö, this study shows that the main reason for how and why they became volunteers was a combination of an inner motivation and will to help and the possibility to easily get engaged in voluntary action with others. The theoretical framework in the study is Christoph Spurk’s identification and characterization of the seven functions of civil society, and the analysis of the empirical material includes a dialog with relevant findings in previous research. By using a narrative design and a thematic analysis the empirical material has been analyzed, organized and presented. The results speak of a perceived humanitarian purpose even though the volunteers’ engagement could be interpreted as political, in the context of a polarized political climate with racism and political violence against refugees. Refugees Welcome to Malmö fulfilled civil society functions such as service delivery, building community, socialization and intermediation and facilitation between citizens and state. The study shows that volunteering and aiding asylum seeking refugees have been a positive personal and emotional experience, and that the civil society action resulted in new social networks between individuals, organizations and official actors. However, alongside cooperation over religious and political boundaries social processes of conflict and prestige existed in the background.

In Georgia the non-governmental organisations are active and manifold despite the Sovietheritage of a trampled civil society and lengthy violent conflicts, frozen yet not forgotten.NGOs seek to deal with the problematic issues through information, strengthening civilsociety and building bridges between antagonists. An organisation consists of individuals andthe work is done through “their” individuals towards other individuals. Martha Nussbaum'sapproach on human well-being, which does not count income or ask for a minimum set ofutensils for a universal basic standard, is being offered as a more just way of judging nationalgrowth than the GDP. Nussbaum's approach of basic human capability cherishes individualityand different cultures, recognising that not every one wishes the same things in order to feelfulfilled. The capability approach allows persons to choose a preferred way of life, yet listsdemands of equal opportunities to all for reaching personal development and accessingpossibilities. By analysing the narrations of NGO-staff members thematically according to thecapability to affiliate, a relevant feel for the possibilities of successful and satisfyinginteraction in the NGO-sector emerges and some contemporary issues in the local contexts arepresented. The interviews were conducted in Georgia during two months in 2010, and thefocus was on relationships and experiences connected to work. Exercising the capability ingood measure is presented in the narratives as gaining the individual increased emotion andfurthering personal development. Areas where living up to the capability is hampered becomealso visible: affiliating may brush against existing stereotypical norms in the society. Yet theindividuals challenge the restrictions and in doing so develop their civil society andthemselves.

This paper uses peace and conflict theory to analyse the migrant worker issue in the Gulf States, focusing on Indian construction workers in the emirate of Dubai. Peace and conflict theory is found to provide a missing perspective on the question, which is best understood in an interdisciplinary frame-work combined with for example migration and development theory. Migrant workers’ vulnerability in the global free market is described and the modern economic history of the Gulf region is discussed to explain today’s unique labour situation. Different regional and local parties to the conflict are identified to distinguish guiding interests and their impact on the conflict. Put in an international perspective, the same conflict mechanisms found in the Gulf are detected globally. They reveal widespread practises of structural and cultural violence that can only be contested by a vibrant global civil society guided by truly cosmopolitan values.

<p>In Senegal, local communities have faced a wide range of economic and political challenges. In their attempt to address these issues, local and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have engaged in a wide variety of improvement projects, and have often partnered together in these efforts. This dissertation examines the linkages formed between Senegalese and international NGOs in their efforts to achieve their aspirations of improvement for the country in a context of global interconnection. By engaging with relevant literature and ethnographic data collected through anthropological research efforts, I seek to provide a more in-depth understanding of the perspectives and experiences of NGO practitioners in Senegal while considering the interrelated issues of global connection, civil society and social hope. My research aims to contribute to the anthropological discourse on NGOs by examining how practitioners engaged in a variety of NGOs in Senegal understand and approach their work and how they engage in the complex power relationships entailed by these international NGO partnerships. In addition, this study explores the issue of social hope among NGO practitioners, examining how they approach and experience the concept of hope through their NGO efforts at improvement. With a focus on implementing programs targeted at certain groups over a short period of time, the hope of NGO staff involves a desire for long-term change despite the challenges faced. This study also considers the aspirations of NGO staff with respect to their political engagement with the state and their perception of Senegal’s place in the world. This involves exploring their belief that civil society and NGOs are the basis for hope in Senegal rather than the state. In this context, NGOs seek improvement by working within the political and economic system, constrained and limited by the dictates of their external donors and their approach to social change.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This dissertation examines the process of transition to democratic governance in developing nations. In particular, it explores the role of civil society and of the progressive Catholic Church as a significant part of it in the democratization process at a sub-national level. The regional-temporal focus of this study is southern Mexico from the 1970s to the present, more specifically the predominantly indigenous state of Oaxaca. This dissertation fills a gap in the literature on the application of a concept, that of civil society, that arose in the context of the modernizing West to the democratization process of a Latin American and largely indigenous society. The choice of Oaxaca as an area for study allows for two main perspectives of analysis: first, it highlights the differences in state-society relationships that take place at a sub-national as compared to a national level, and the types of regimes resulting from these differences. Second, it emphasizes the way in which the highly indigenous character of Oaxaca's population shapes the nature and goals of this state's civil society. The central point of this dissertation is that civil society has been a significant factor in inducing democratization in Oaxaca by transforming the state-society relationship from co-optation to contestation, as well as in conveying the culturally determined political demands of the indigenous peoples to liberal political institutions. The success of civil society on this endeavor, however, depends not only on the composition of civil society itself but also on the complex array of rights, leaders, political opportunity for reform, and cultural environment in which civil society develops. More specifically, the processes of democratization and de-democratization in Oaxaca depend in large measure on the ways in which national and sub-national actors shape the balance between cooperative, confrontational, and radical forms of civil society. Where political opportunities for reform allow confrontational forces to gain great capacity to challenge categorical inequalities, the processes of democratization have greater chances of succeeding. Where national and sub-national elites are able to use cooperative and radical spaces in civil society to restrict contestation, de-democratization should be expected. / Political Science

In this thesis, I explore the topic of migration and specifically the case of Calais. Approaching it from a non-state perspective, I focus on the practices of civil society organizations that support people on the move and ask if and how these practices challenge state policies and practices. With the conscious decision to focus on this type of actor, coupled with a reflexivist methodology, I seek to disrupt the dominant narrative constructed by France, the United Kingdom and European Union, and avoid reproducing state- and Eurocentric knowledge in academia. In order to gain an in-depth understanding, I conducted ethnographic fieldwork in form of participant observation and semi-structured interviews in Calais between the beginning of April and May 2022. Drawing on additional textual data and engaging with scholarly debates on the concept of solidarity, I adapt the concept of “de-bordering solidarity” to analyse the practices of CSOs embedded within the border zone's local and regional context. I conclude by arguing that they do challenge the state while also highlighting the nuances and contradictions of solidarity practices.

Throughout her writing career, the Taiwan intellectual Lung Ying-tai (1952– ) has elaborated a distinct vision of how her country could realize the civic foundations of a democratic society. This ambition began with “Wild Fire,” an editorial column that ran in the Taiwan newspaper The China Times from 1984 to 1986, which was later compiled into a 1986 book, Wild Fire Collection. At this time, Taiwan’s political structure had just begun a process of liberalization. Under increasing international and domestic pressure, the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party eased its authoritarian control over the island. Lung took advantage of this unique moment, and, during Taiwan’s radical political reorganization, helped lay the foundations for a civil society based on democratic values. Lung’s vision of Taiwan’s burgeoning civil society centered on a strong democracy rooted in individual empowerment; an educated citizenry; and a native identity tied to the island. As Taiwan has continued its process of liberalization through the 1990s and into the 21st century, Lung has remained an outspoken voice in Taiwan’s political and cultural development. This thesis traces the themes that Lung first introduced in Wild Fire Collection through two later essay collections, Thinking Back on the Last Hundred Years (1999) and When Facing the Sea (2003). The issues that Lung discussed in “Wild Fire” have only become more relevant as Taiwan’s society puts into practice the democratic values that Lung called for in the mid-1980s. Meanwhile, globalization and China’s rise have brought the debate over Taiwan’s cultural identity to the fore.

Yes

Yes / Acceleration of the applications of cutting edge science is often most likely in situations involving conflict and warfare between different groups. That is the focus of this paper. It asks what we know of the past, present and possible future applications of advances in our understanding of the brain in the development of chemical weapons, and what might best be done to moderate the most dangerous aspects of that process at the present time, particularly by members of civil society. The paper therefore begins by examining this possibility of hostile manipulation of the brain in some detail. It then briefly reviews the current state of the chemical and biological arms control and disarmament regime as embodied in the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) and the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) following the 2016 8th Five Year Review Conference of the BTWC and in the lead up to the 2018 4th Five Year Review Conference of the CWC. Finally, our civil society initiative to assist in achieving a successful outcome of the 2018 CWC Review Conference is described. This initiative involves the production of a multi-authored edited book, to be published in advance of the Review Conference by the UK Royal Society of Chemistry that explores many of the critical issues facing the CWC States Parties as they seek to agree effective measures to prevent the development and use of chemical weapons, as the life and chemical sciences advance.