This thesis explores the relationship between state and civil-society in Lebanon. Earlier research show that there has been a presence of capable local NGOs in Lebanon for many years and that this has shaped the society. There is a gap in the research on the role of local NGOs after the Beirut harbour explosion on the 4th of August 2020. The aim of this research is to shed light on the contribution of local NGOs in Lebanon by exploring the contribution of local NGO Offre Joie and what difficulties they found when taking on some of the emergency response and rebuilding work after the explosion at Beirut Harbour. My theoretical approach states that a state owes a duty to care and protect its citizen and that in this case some of this responsibility was absent and instead taken on by the civil society and NGOs. Qualitative case study on Offre Joie, methods for collecting data include a semi-structured, in-depth interview with one Offre Joie board member, content analysis on a panel discussion that Offre Joies president was a part of and an impact report realised by Offre Joie. I found that they did encounter challenges but that these were not major enough to stop them in their efforts to rebuild and assist the community. They contributed by rebuilding the most affected areas and by utilising volunteers they brought a human side to the crisis. This human relationship and the solidarity between the people affected and the volunteers has been one of the biggest contributions. The role that Offre Joie took on after the explosion points to the reality of mismanaged governmental institutions, and that the role of local NGOs is extremely important at this current time to protect and safeguard the people within Lebanon’s civil society.

The aim of my thesis is to create possible business plan for setting up a non-governmental organization Brnopolis. The thesis contains design for NGO foundation based on deep analysis and experiences with the non-governmental sector. The thesis should help with founding the NGO in really life.

This study was conducted by using a qualitative textual analysis on UNICEF Sweden’s website with the purpose of problematizing the role of UNICEF Sweden in today’s globalised society. This was done in the context of how organisations of civil society have gained influence. Following questions were answered: How does UNICEF Sweden legitimise its operation? Which strategies does UNICEF Sweden use to encourage involvement and donations? The study shows how UNICEF Sweden legitimises its work by promoting a unique influence, their unique methods of work and by showing how the organisation helps the most disadvantaged children. This is interpreted as strategies to establish donor trust. UNICEF Sweden encourages involvement and donations by packaging relief efforts into products that conveys a sensation of helping others, which can be understood in relation to the consumer society. UNICEF Sweden’s role in society appears to be significant. It is problematic though that the donor phenomenon tends to simplify the social problems and reduces aid efforts into commercialised products. / Denna studie genomfördes med kvalitativ textanalys av UNICEF Sveriges hemsida i syfte att problematisera den roll som UNICEF Sverige spelar i dagens globaliserade samhälle. Detta inom kontexten av att civilsamhällets organisationers inflytande har ökat. Följande frågeställningar besvarades: Hur legitimerar UNICEF Sverige sin verksamhet? Vilka strategier använder sig UNICEF Sverige av för att uppmana till engagemang och stöd? Studien visar att UNICEF Sverige legitimerar sin verksamhet genom att hävda sitt unika inflytandet, sin unika arbetsmetod samt genom att påvisa att organisationen hjälper de barn som är mest utsatta. Detta tolkas som strategier för att etablera givartillit. UNICEF Sverige uppmanar till engagemang och stöd genom att förpacka hjälpinsatser till produkter som förmedlar en upplevelse av att hjälpa, vilket kan förstås i relation till konsumtionssamhället. UNICEF Sveriges roll i samhället framstår som mycket betydelsefull. Emellertid är det problematiskt att givandefenomenet tenderar att förenkla sociala problem samt reducerar hjälpinsatserna till kommersialiserade produkter.

In a world where authoritarian states are taking a bigger place in the global arena, it’s important to learn from democracies and how a strong democracy can be upheld. The objective of this essay is to explain how Mongolia, a country with two giant authoritarian geographical neighbors in China and Russia still upholds a strong consolidated democracy. How did Mongolia develop from a history of communism to a free open country? This essay aims to explain Mongolia’s democratization after the collapse of the USSR in 1990 through the national internal factors of Larry Diamonds democratization theory; the development of authoritarian fragmentation and the development of civil society. The result illustrates that the development of authoritarian fragmentation led to competition between the elites, hard-liners vs soft-liners which in turn turned out in liberalization improvements. While the outcome of the development of civil society led to mobilization, protests and manifestations towards change and NGO’s got established which in turn lead to liberal reforms and economic improvement. The conclusion of the essay argues that the development of authoritarian fragmentation and civil society played a big role in Mongolia’s democratization in the 1990s.

The diploma thesis deals with the concept of community gardens, where the common activity of people, mutual help and pursuit of a common goal creates a certain community model. In this thesis we want to clarify the functioning of the relationships on which the community is based, how members perceive it and describe its character. The aim is to show how civil society organizations that set up community gardens can create an environment for meeting and associating people in communities and enabling them to meet the needs they lack in their location. Key words community, community garden, non-profit organizations, civil society organizations, association

Anti-hegemonic social movements have historically had a complicated and conflicting relationship with mainstream media, as it consistently undermines the emancipatory potential of these grassroots revolutionary movements, hence serving the interests of the dominant social forces of the hegemonic order. This work develops a comprehensive and critical analysis of the agency of mainstream media throughout the coverage of Occupy Wall Street (OWS) to understand how and why it consciously and relentlessly worked to neutralize the true dimension of the movement and its occupations, and thus to preserve the neoliberal capitalist world order from the ideological threat and the revolutionary challenge that OWS posed to it. Employing a historical materialist approach based on Gramsci's theory of hegemony - and the emphasis in the consensual aspect of power in the production of the hegemony that it entails - and its use in the study of world orders grounded in social relations, this work aims to investigate the mainstream media's active role in the building of the current neoliberal capitalist historic bloc, and its subservience to the hegemonic social forces throughout every stage of the coverage of OWS and its occupations: from the deliberate lack of interest and the total indifference in the movement to the...

The diploma thesis deals with the issue of motivation to volunteer in developing countries. The aim of the diploma thesis was to analyze the concept of volunteering in developing countries, with regard to the motivation of people who choose to volunteer in a developing country. The theoretical part characterizes the main concepts and topics such as volunteering, including its legislative definition, developing countries, motivation to volunteer. The practical part describes the research, which aimed to analyze the motivation of volunteers working in developing countries. The research sample consisted of 75 volunteers who were given a questionnaire of Author's own design. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with two other volunteers. Volunteers were found to be motivated to help, as well as motivation associated with personal gain. The motivation of volunteers was formed due to the experience with the effectiveness of aid in volunteering. Weaknesses were identified, in particular regarding the preparation of volunteers before leaving for a developing country. Part of the work is a recommendation for sending organizations, as well as for the volunteers themselves. Key words: Civil society, developing country, education, motivation, sending organization, voluntarism, volunteering.

The diploma thesis is focused on Visegrad Group citizens' trust in nonprofit organizations. Public trust in nonprofit organization is crucial for functioning of nonprofit organizations in society and for their societal status. The diploma thesis discusses trust in postcommunist countries which is generally considered weak due to their past. The purpose of the diploma thesis is to find out if diffences in trust in nonprofit organization of V4 countries citizens exist with regard to educatiion and age of citizens. The first and also thereotical part of the thesis consists of theoretical concepts of civil society, nonprofit organization and relevant types of trust. Empirical part of the thesis consists of methodology, analytical steps, intepretation, results and conclusion. In order to test the two hypotheses based on expected relation between trust in nonprofit organization, age and education the ordinal regression was used as a research method which led to a discovery of statistically significant relation between variables. Key words: civil society, nonprofit organization, trust in nonprofit organization, Visegrad Group

This thesis addresses the level of democratic consolidation in South Africa. The study aimed to provide a deeper understanding of the current political situation and the general state of democracy. As a method, a single case study was used where the political situation in post-apartheid South Africa was applied upon the concept of democratic consolidation by using five distinctive consolidation arenas: civil society, political society, judiciary, bureaucratic society and economic society. The results of the analysis show a variance in the degree of democratic consolidation in the country. The judiciary is very much well-functioning and independent and can therefore be classified as consolidated. The civil society and some elements of the political society are mostly functioning and can be classified as mostly consolidated with some reservations, while the bureaucratic and economic societies are deemed to be not consolidated. However, South Africa also possesses several obstacles for genuine consolidation that applies to all arenas, namely high degrees of violence, low social trust, and institutional weakness. The democratic system in South Africa is not currently considered to be under serious existential threat and has proven itself capable of withstanding high degrees of pressure. Nevertheless, it is found to be suffering from a type of democratic fatigue and transformation stagnation, which could have the potential to result in more serious implications in the future. South Africa can therefore be classified as a partly consolidated democracy.

Syftet med föreliggande studie är att jämföra två nattvandrarföreningar i två diametralt motsatta områden i Stockholm, en i ett välbärgat område och en i ett socialt och ekonomiskt utsatt område. De bostadsområdena som har valts är Lidingö och Hallunda-Norsborg. Metoden utgår från en kvalitativ metod där det genom intervjuer undersöks hur segregation och demokrati i ett socialt och ekonomiskt utsatt område respektive välbärgat område påverkar dess civilsamhällesorganisering. Resultatet visade att föreningen i Hallunda-Norsborg var mer demokratiskt då de bland annat har en ledare som gemensamt röstats fram av medlemmarna. Föreningen har även goda relationer och samarbetar med kommun, polis och sjukvård. Hur väl ställt ett område är spelar med andra ord inte någon roll för varken det civila engagemanget eller demokratin inom nattvandrargrupperna. Det handlar mer om vad som pågår inom ett område. I det socialt och ekonomiskt utsatta området krävdes mer resurser och en strukturerad förening på grund av oroligheterna i området. Detta gjorde att de fick en förening som var uppbyggd på demokrati och jämlikhet. / The purpose of the present study is to compare two night-hiking associations in two diametrically opposite areas in Stockholm, one in a prosperous area and one in a socially and economically vulnerable area. The residential areas that have been selected are Lidingö and Hallunda-Norsborg. The method is based on a qualitative method where through interviews it is examined how segregation and democracy in a socially and economically vulnerable area and well-off area, respectively, affect its civil society organization. The result showed that in Hallunda-Norsborg it is more democratic as they have a leader who is voted by the members. The association also has good relations and cooperates with the municipality, police and medical services. In other words, how well-positioned an area is does not matter for either the civil commitment or democracy within the night-hiker groups. It's more about what's going on in an area. In the socially and economically vulnerable area, more resources and a structured association were required due to the disturbance in the area. This meant that they got an association built on democracy and equality.