Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

<p>When Vladimir Putin in the year 2000 came to power in Russia many believed that the Russian civil society were weak and had very little influence and with Putin people say that the situation have deteriorated. The purpose of this paper is to establish what kind of relationship exists between the Russian state and the civil society and to analyze this from a top-down perspective. We are looking at Russia during Putins first term in office from the year 2000 until 2004. In order to establish the relationship we have used John S. Dryzeks theory of inclusive and exclusive state and whether it’s active or passive in this process. The method used in this paper is a qualitative case study design. We concluded that the Russian state is an exclusive state rather then an inclusive one. When it comes to establish if the state is active or passive is more difficult but we feel that it’s more of a passive state then active.</p>

Social movements in various parts of the world have been attempting to challenge the forces of neoliberal globalization and the social problems caused by this economic trend. Many such movements have been advancing the idea of global civil society in order to counter 'globalization from above'. Despite the efforts of these movements to democratize social relations, the domination of these powerful forces persist and result in further oppression of marginalized people. This study attempts to discover the reasons why these social movements and civil society, despite popular support, fail to challenge effectively the power of such social forces. In particular, this study analyzes, through in-depth interviews with activists, and archival and observational data, the world-view of civil society activists in a movement against Coca-Cola initiated by the marginalized people in Kerala, India. While this struggle, popularly called the 'Plachimada movement', managed to effect the temporary closure of a Coca-Cola plant, whose operation reportedly affected the ground water in the region, the local people felt that it failed to address their conditions of marginality. The analysis of the movement's processes finds that hegemony, or indirect forms of domination, often stands in the way of such efforts at democratic social change. The study concludes with suggestions for rethinking civil society as an arena of reflexive collective action that is counter-hegemonic.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 363-395) Also available in print.

Thesis (M. P. A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

The field of international development has always been intertwined with the economic thought dominant in the West. Even before its conception with the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe, it carried a strong Keynesian preference for the state. The neoliberal assault on the welfare state in the 80s, followed by the partnership era that brought both the public and the private sector together to work for a common cause have been the focus of attention by development scholars and others alike. The present study focuses on a multilateral development aid agency, the Global Fund, which funds public-private partnerships in the field of health care in developing countries. Drawing on the debates surrounding the welfare state and the civil society, as well as the debates surrounding the public-privates partnerships, the present study poses three questions in relation to the Global Fund: (1) how are the diseases framed in the partnership framework, (2) what are the roles of the private sector in partnership, and (3) what are the roles of the public sector in partnerships. Based on the textual analysis of fifteen proposals approved by the Global Fund in the sixth round of funding, this dissertation tries to situate the working of the Global Fund, and the proposals it funds, within the larger debates surrounding development and partnerships. The findings of the present study are: (1) the diseases are framed largely in socio-economic terms, (2) the private (for-profit) sector is marginalized in the discussion and implementation of proposals, (3) the civil society participation is seen as essential to the success of the proposals, and (3) the state is seen as important in the discussion of the diseases, although there is a great deal of ambiguity surrounding the roles of the public sector in partnerships. It is hypothesized in the concluding chapter that the reason Global Fund is able to attract a great deal of funds and support from actors across the political spectrum could be because the organization funds programs that foreground civil society, liked by people of different political inclinations, and backgrounds the discussion of the state, the epicenter of controversies surrounding development. By being “strategically ambiguous” about the role of the state in the development of the people, the proposals are made apolitical and appealing to people both on the left and the right.

Hegel is the first one who makes the word ¡§state¡¨ be the specific concept and theory. The study will discuss the basic concepts, essences, and functions in the state theory by Hegel¡¦s important writing ¡§The Philosophy of Right¡¨ based on his key point ¡§spirit. Meanwhile, the study will compare the different thoughts in ¡§state¡¨ and ¡§civil society¡¨ between Hegel and Karl Max. Furthermore, the study will take Taiwan as the example with the concept of the state theory of Hegel to figure out whether or not Taiwan has become a ¡§state¡¨ with processing the constitutional reform for many years, and how will Taiwan as a ¡§civil society¡¨keep going for a ¡§normalized state¡¨ in the future.

This thesis employs Karl Polanyi’s concept of the double-movement of capitalism to trace the trajectory of a social movement that arose in response to capitalist transformation in the fishery of Kanyakumari district, south India. Beginning in the 1980s, this counter-movement militantly asserted community control over marine resources, arguing that intensified production for new markets should be subordinated to the social imperatives of subsistence and equity. Two decades later, the ambition of “embedding” the market within the community had yielded instead to an adaptation to the market in the language of “professionalization,” self-help, and caste uplift. Polanyi is useful for identifying the constituency for a counter-movement against the market, but tells us little about the social or political complexities of constructing such a movement. To locate the reasons for the decline of the counter-movement in Kanyakumari, I turn therefore to an empirical observation of the civil society within which the counter-movement arose. In doing this, I argue against Partha Chatterjee’s influential view that civil society as a conceptual category does not apply to “popular politics in most of the world,” and is not useful for tracing non-European, post-colonial, and subaltern modernities. By contrast, my case shows the presence of civil society – as a sphere of autonomous and routinized association and publicity – among subaltern groups in rural India. I argue that it is precisely by locating the counter-movement of fishworkers within civil society that one can map the multiple negotiations that take place as subaltern classes are integrated into the market, and into liberal democracy, and explain the difficulties of extending and sustaining the counter-movement itself.

This thesis employs Karl Polanyi’s concept of the double-movement of capitalism to trace the trajectory of a social movement that arose in response to capitalist transformation in the fishery of Kanyakumari district, south India. Beginning in the 1980s, this counter-movement militantly asserted community control over marine resources, arguing that intensified production for new markets should be subordinated to the social imperatives of subsistence and equity. Two decades later, the ambition of “embedding” the market within the community had yielded instead to an adaptation to the market in the language of “professionalization,” self-help, and caste uplift. Polanyi is useful for identifying the constituency for a counter-movement against the market, but tells us little about the social or political complexities of constructing such a movement. To locate the reasons for the decline of the counter-movement in Kanyakumari, I turn therefore to an empirical observation of the civil society within which the counter-movement arose. In doing this, I argue against Partha Chatterjee’s influential view that civil society as a conceptual category does not apply to “popular politics in most of the world,” and is not useful for tracing non-European, post-colonial, and subaltern modernities. By contrast, my case shows the presence of civil society – as a sphere of autonomous and routinized association and publicity – among subaltern groups in rural India. I argue that it is precisely by locating the counter-movement of fishworkers within civil society that one can map the multiple negotiations that take place as subaltern classes are integrated into the market, and into liberal democracy, and explain the difficulties of extending and sustaining the counter-movement itself.

After transformed, most scholars in Germany emphasized on Chinese political and economic issues, but they were deficient in Chinese minority ethnic issues. Professor Thomas Heberer works hard in the researches of Chinese politics and economics and he also focuses on the research of minority. In addition, he went to the area of Chinese minority earlier than other West Germany scholars. However, his research is not only witnessing the transformation of Chinese study of Germany but also creating another Chinese image. In the article, I will introduce the history of the development of Sinology in Germany firstly, and then discuss the development of Chinese study transformed. I will take Thomas Heberer as a case in this part, and then analyze his cultivation of Chinese study and how he created his agenda in the transition of environment. Third, I will figure out how he constructed his Chinese image and discuss his influence in Chinese research of Germany by analyze his publications. Finally, I will reconsider the role and evaluation of Thomas Heberer in the transition of Chinese research in Germany, and unfolded the meaning of Chinese research of minority ethnic study by his publications.