Thesis (M.A.)--University of Toronto (Canada), 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

鄧正健. / "2010年9月". / "2010 nian 9 yue". / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 92-101). / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Deng Zhengjian. / 緒論 公民社會:一種解殖話語? --- p.1 / Chapter 第一章 --- 後殖民語境下的「公民社會」 --- p.12 / Chapter 第二章 --- 香港「公民社會」概念史:一種描述性話語 --- p.27 / Chapter 第三章 --- 「真正博拉」的政治:七一時期的「公民抗命」論述 --- p.48 / Chapter 第四章 --- 個人理性的選擇:七一時期的「理性公民」論述 --- p.68 / 結論 解殖:一個正待繼續進行的計劃? --- p.82 / 後記 --- p.91 / 參考資料 --- p.92

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 229-243).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--George Washington University, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 235-251).

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This thesis looks at defiance in civil society and aims to contribute towards a deeper understanding of contestation against regimes that restrict the expansion of the political playing field in sub-Saharan Africa. It also analyses the role of contemporary African activists in these contestations, and examines why some social contestation process are successful and others not. The role of Mozambican activists from aid-supported NGOs in relevant political movements between 2010 and 2015 is a key issue. The first part of the thesis offers a theoretical overview of civil society as contesting actor in Africa and Mozambique, and outlines the construction of concepts of civil society latency, defiance and co-construction through a theoretical framework that draws on the literature on moral economy, social movements, contentious politics, the public sphere, power and competitive authoritarianism. Analysis of two contrasting civil society organisations, the LDH (the League for Human Rights) and UNAC (the Mozambican Peasants' Union), aims to give a better understanding of public spaces for participation and defiance, and to follow the movement of activists from urban areas towards traditional indigenous sectors so as to ensure that vital issues for communities are brought into the public sphere. It also looks at the neutralisation processes suffered by organisations that offer support and/or directly organise contestation of government initiatives and policies that have a negative impact on the population. The case studies draw on research over a period of three years in the city of Maputo and the provinces of Nampula, Cabo Delgado, Tete, Zambezia and Manica. They examine the reasons for contestations around land issues between 2010-2015, focusing on peasants' and NGOs' resistance to the ProSAVANA agrarian development project, and on urban protests against abductions and against the 2012-2015 return to civil war, investigating the role of European donors and government in the near destruction of one of the most well-known NGOs in Africa.

This thesis examines the role of civil society in addressing human security in the Indian state of Meghalaya. Civil society has been revived over the last two decades and is now one of the key concepts in the study of politics. Yet there are few detailed empirical studies of civil society at a local level examining the constraints on participation and the ways this affects what is contested. Human security has also gained prominence in the past decade as both a challenge to state-centric conceptions of security and as an alternative approach to development by focussing on the security and insecurity of groups and individuals. In order for those experiencing insecurity to identify and contest the causes of insecurity, participation in civil society is necessary. Yet there is very limited analysis on the ability of civil society actors to contest the causes of insecurity in particular local contexts. Meghalaya is part of the region know as Northeast India, one of the least researched regions in South Asia. Identity politics dominate civil society in Meghalaya, empowering particular actors and particular causes of insecurity and marginalising others. Furthermore the construction of Meghalaya in the Indian national context leaves it isolated from civil society actors in other parts of India, intensifying the impact of local circumstances. This thesis examines the responses of civil society actors to environmental insecurity and gender-based insecurity in Meghalaya and finds that participation is constrained by the dominance of identity politics, the power differentials between civil society actors, and existing inequalities within the local context. This thesis reaches three conclusions. First, civil society is constrained by both the state and the power of particular actors and ideas in civil society itself. Secondly, the relationship between civil society and human security is constitutive. Constraints on civil society affect which insecurities can be contested and the prevalence of particular forms of insecurity, especially identity insecurity, empower particular civil society actors and marginalise others. Thirdly, context is vital for understanding the constraints on civil society and the conditions under which these constraints may be transcended. This requires a deeper understanding of Meghalaya that goes beyond the reproduction of homogenous and unchanging ethnic categories.

This thesis is an investigation into the Ethiopian Civil Society, with a focus on Muslims’participation and activities. This research is the result of a series of interviews carried on in AddisAbaba during my staying there thank to a scholarship from Pavia University.Chapter One is a general introduction of the study, presenting the object, the methodology anduse of sources as well as the state of the current research of the topics covered by this research.Chapter Two is a framework chapter about Islām in Ethiopia offering an historical perspective aswell as focusing on its characteristics and current developments. Chapter Three deals withEthiopian Civil Society characteristics and with its legal framework. Chapter Four constitutes thecore of this research: in it, I collected the findings of my research describing the presence ofMuslims into Ethiopian Civil Society. I analyzed the activities and characteristics of the differentorganizations and associations that I met in Addis Ababa, their self-representation concerningtheir being related with Islām and their opinions on Muslims’ marginalization and lack of nonpoliticizationin Ethiopia. A set of conclusions constitutes the last section of the thesis.

It is believed that the civil society leads to the prosperity of western countries. However, it¡¦s worth being noticed that the essential factor should be the Christian faith. Several studies have concluded that there is a significant correlation between Christian faith and civil culture in western countries. That is why countries featured as the post-modern civil society are embedded in the culture circle of Christian faith and why modern Christian countries can set an example for post-modern civil society. In order to investigate the origin of post-modern society, the present study begins with religion which is featured as relatively unconscious. Qualitatively analysis and inference are adopted to infer the spirit of Christian and investigate how Christian life in church develops post-modern society culture. Moreover, comparative method is adopted to compare the differences between Catholic and Christian faith and to investigate the direct impact of Christianity on the transformation from traditional society to post-modern civil society of western countries at the turning point of Protestant Reformation. Additionally, the differences between materialism as well as utilitarianism and traditional ethic belief as well as Christian faith are also compared in order to point out the importance of Christian faith, which is more influential on the transformation of social value qualitatively and quantitatively than materialism and utilitarianism. On the other hand, analysis method is used to analyze the resource of Christian faith, the New Testament, and find out that it has much to do with the characteristics of post-modern society and the origin of social value. Due to the deep analysis and extensive inference, the present study discovers that the elements of Christian faith hidden in post-modern society. Thus, it has been concluded that Christian faith has an impact on traditional value and it also has lots to do with the formation of post-modern society. In addition, Christian faith has developed three major characteristics of post-modern society and it has formed the central belief of post-modern society. Finally, with the analysis of latest news, the proposed statements in the present study have been confirmed.