The American Experiment and the Crisis of Community

2001 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-30
Author(s):  
Michael M. Meagher ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Alexis De Tocqueville ◽  
Historical Interpretation ◽  
Revolutionary Era ◽  
Private Realm ◽  
American Tradition ◽  
American Experiment ◽  
American Civil Society

The American experiment with democracy faces challenges due to the waning of the moral and religious underpinnings of the original social contract. Religion has played a key role in the development of an American civil society from the pre-revolutionary era to the present. The lessons of historical interpretation have much to offer in illuminating the nation's civil society. This essay evaluates Gordon S. Wood's thought, contrasting it with Alexis de Tocqueville and others, in light of the American tradition of political thought. Wood is a proponent of the civic republican approach to history, which advocates an expanded public sphere and is sceptical of the private realm of civil society. This approach, however, is outside the mainstream of American thought, for civil society has formed an essential component of American life from the earliest days of the colonial and national periods. A promising way to repair the breach in the American social contract is through a renewed awareness of the role of Christianity in the nation's genesis.

scholarly journals Accountability and the Juxtaposition of Civil Society and Policing in a Period of Changing Norms

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Candyce Kelshall
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Community Engagement ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
The Social ◽  
Police Accountability ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the existing approaches to police accountability and how they may or may not address changing norms and expectations of civil society. It examines the role of independent police advisors and how they may contribute to bridging this divide. Design/Methodology/Approach The paper is a constructivist reflexive critique of the shortcomings of the mechanisms for policing accountability. It addresses human security considerations and the social contract in the existing populist charged social context and addresses other ways by which accountability may be achieved by challenging ideas and facilitating reconceptualization of accountability. Findings The advent of the independent advisor as employed by British Police forces is reviewed as a viable means of engaging communities to enable a constructive relationship built on accountability in advance of action rather than punitive recourse post crisis via complaint. Originality/Value An exploration of the relationship between the ‘critical friend’ Community engagement model of the UK independent police advisor and the role played by this approach in reconceptualizing police accountability. The author spent 10 years as an advisor.

‘It is time to reterritorialise utopian thinking’: community, the commons and the funding of autonomous movements in Latin America – an interview with Marcelo Lopes de Souza

2019 ◽  
pp. 119-134
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Community Development ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Community Empowerment ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Utopian Thinking ◽  
The Commons ◽  
American Civil Society

This chapter presents an interview with Marcelo Lopes de Souza, a scholar who cooperates with social movements, and professor in the Department of Geography at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Drawing on the experiences of Latin American social movements, Marcelo discusses the implications of a commitment to radical autonomy for the funding of community-based movements and for emancipatory community development more broadly. Among the topics covered are the importance of ‘the commons’ in the life of communities; the role of ‘autonomous’ movements in community empowerment; the so-called ‘NGOisation’ of Latin American civil society and the extent to which this phenomenon has been a feature of the movements that Marcelo is familiar as well as its effects.

Musical Organizations and the Politics of American Civil Society

2020 ◽  
pp. 48-83
Author(s):  
Billy Coleman
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
The State ◽  
Civic Society ◽  
Early American ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
American Civil Society

This chapter follows the influence of elite ideas about the role of music into the realm of early musical organizations and societies. Through a focus on the founding of two of the most influential early American musical organizations–the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia and the Boston Academy of Music–the chapter, more than simply highlighting the scale and variety of early American civic society, argues that these organizations consciously sought to influence the relationship between civil society and the state by promoting a highly hierarchical vision of society–one in which the nation’s success depended on respect for authority, subordination to an educated elite, and a willingness of the majority to accept their place in the greater chorus of the nation.

The Role of Muslim Women in Civil Society In Promoting Values and Principles for Building Peace: Action Guide from The Qur’ān

Sains Insani ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-36
Author(s):  
Che Amnah Bahari ◽  
Fatimah Abdullah
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Lifelong Learning ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Muslim Women ◽  
Peace Building ◽  
Analysis Method ◽  
Pluralistic Society ◽  
Women And Children

The whole world, the Muslim in particular has witnessed conflicts in different areas, which have hindered the developmental efforts of the nations concerned. It should be learned that most victims of these conflicts are women and children. This article attempts to elaborate the role of Muslims Women as a crucial segment in civil society in initiating peace building through nurturing process. It maintains that the adoption of the principles and values derived from the Qur’ān and Sunnah of the Prophet is necessary as a process of lifelong learning.  Those identified values constituted the framework of this article and it adopts the textual analysis method.   This article concludes that through the implementation of those values and frameworks for peace building, women as one of the important segments of civil society are able to play significant role towards initiating peace building and promoting peaceful co-existence in pluralistic society. Abstrak: Dunia Islam khususnya telah menyaksikan konflik di pelbagai daerah yang berbeza. Konflik ini telah menghalang usaha kearah pembangunan Kawasan yang berkenaan. Kebanyakan mangsa konflik ini adalah wanita dan kanak-kanak. Artikel ini cuba untuk menghuraikan peranan wanita Islam sebagai segmen penting dalam masyarakat madani dalam membangun proses kedamaian dengan mendidik dan memupuk prinsip dan nilai murni janaan al-Qur’an. Penggunaan prinsip dan nilai yang dikutip dari ayat-ayat Qur'an dan hadis Rasulullah adalah keperluan yang mendesak sebagai wadah bagi proses pembelajaran sepanjang hayat. Nilai-nilai yang dikenal pasti merupakan rangka kerja artikel ini, dan metod yang dirujuk adalah analisis teks. Artikel ini menyimpulkan bahawa melalui pelaksanaan nilai-nilai dan kerangka kerja Islam bagi proses kedamaian, wanita Islam dalam masyarakat madani mampu memainkan peranan penting dalam memulakan pembinaan keamanan dan menggalakkan kehidupan yang harmonis, sejahtera dan saling bantu membantu dalam masyarakat majmuk.

Europejski Komitet Ekonomiczno-Społeczny Unii Europejskiej – organ reprezentacji funkcjonalnej czy instytucja fasadowa?

2016 ◽  
pp. 66-81
Author(s):  
Leszek Graniszewski
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Conscience ◽  
The Eu

In the article the author draws his attention to the differences between the position of the Committee as a social conscience of the EU (that has been declared in the treaties and declarations) and the practical possibilities to fulfil this role and its results. The analysis featured covers the structure and the manner of operation of the Committee, and, in particular, the functions actually fulfilled by the Committee in its role of the bridge between the EU and the organised civil society.

OBJECTIVES AND FUNCTIONS OF LOBISTRY ACTIVITY IN UKRAINE: REALITIES TODAY AND EVOLUTIONARY FORECAST

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (12) ◽  
pp. 329-339
Author(s):  
Tikhon Sergeyevich Yarovoy
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political System ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Public Interests ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Events ◽  
The Developed Countries ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Industrial Groups

The article is devoted to the research of goals and functions of lobbying activity. The author has processed the ideas of domestic and foreign scientists, proposed his own approaches to the definition of goals and functions of lobbying activities through the prism of public administration. As a result, a generalized vision of the goals and functions of lobbying activities as interrelated elements of the lobbying system was proposed, and a forecast for further evolution of the goals and functions of domestic lobbying was provided. The analysis of lobbying functions allowed us to notice the tendencies in shifting the goals of this activity. If the objectives were fully covered by functions such as mediation between citizens and the state, the information function and the function of organizing plurality of public interests, then the role of strengthening the self-organization of civil society and the function of compromise become increasingly important in the process of formation in the developed countries of civil society and the development of telecommunication technologies. Ukrainian lobbyism will not be left to the side of this process. Already, politicians of the highest level, leaders of financial and industrial groups have to act, adjust their goals (even if they are — declared), taking into account the reaction of the public. In the future, this trend will only increase. The analysis of current research and political events provides all grounds for believing that, while proper regulatory legislation is being formed in Ukraine, the goals and functions of domestic lobbying will essentially shift towards a compromise with the public. It is noted that in spite of the existence of a basic direction of action, lobbying may have several ramified goals. Guided by the goals set, lobbyism can manifest itself in various spheres of the political system of society, combining the closely intertwined interests of various actors in the lobbying process, or even — contrasting them.

The role of civil society groups in conflict resolution in Nigeria

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-81
Author(s):  
Surajudeen Mudasiru ◽  
Abdul-Wasi Moshood
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Civil Society

Case study 2

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewan Ferlie ◽  
Sue Dopson ◽  
Chris Bennett ◽  
Michael D. Fischer ◽  
Jean Ledger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Think Tanks ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
Informal Networks ◽  
Think Tank ◽  
Significant Potential ◽  
Key Stakeholders

This chapter analyses the role of think tanks in generating a distinctive mode of policy knowledge, pragmatically orientated to inform and shape issues of importance to civil society. Drawing on political science literature, we argue that think tanks exploit niche areas of expertise and influence to actively mobilize policy analyses and recommendations across diverse stakeholders. Through our exploratory mapping of think tanks, geographically concentrated within London, we characterize their influence as significantly boosting knowledge intensity across the regional ecosystem. In particular, we study the empirical case of one London-based think tank which powerfully mobilized policy knowledge through its formal and informal networks to build influential expert consensus amongst key stakeholders. We conclude that such organizations act as key knowledge producers and mobilizers, with significant potential to influence policy discourses and implementation.

Domestic Colonies

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Arneil
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Mentally Ill ◽  
Abraham Lincoln ◽  
The State ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Alexis De Tocqueville ◽  
Modern History ◽  
Peter Kropotkin

Colonization is generally defined as a process by which states settle and dominate foreign lands or peoples. Thus, modern colonies are assumed to be outside Europe and the colonized non-European. This volume contends such definitions of the colony, the colonized, and colonization need to be fundamentally rethought in light of hundreds of ‘domestic colonies’ proposed and/or created by governments and civil society organizations initially within Europe in the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth centuries and then beyond. The three categories of domestic colonies in this book are labour colonies for the idle poor, farm colonies for the mentally ill, and disabled and utopian colonies for racial, religious, and political minorities. All of these domestic colonies were justified by an ideology of domestic colonialism characterized by three principles: segregation, agrarian labour, improvement, through which, in the case of labour and farm colonies, the ‘idle’, ‘irrational’, and/or custom-bound would be transformed into ‘industrious and rational’ citizens while creating revenues for the state to maintain such populations. Utopian colonies needed segregation from society so their members could find freedom, work the land, and challenge the prevailing norms of the society around them. Defended by some of the leading progressive thinkers of the period, including Alexis de Tocqueville, Abraham Lincoln, Peter Kropotkin, Robert Owen, Tommy Douglas, and Booker T. Washington, the turn inward to colony not only provides a new lens with which to understand the scope of colonization and colonialism in modern history but a critically important way to distinguish ‘the colonial’ from ‘the imperial’ in Western political theory and practice.

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