Voluntary Association Participation and White Ethnic Diversity in Rural Iowa Communities

Membership in voluntary associations is of core importance to civil society. In this study, I build on the large literature that focuses on how community racial/ethnic diversity affects individuals’ joining of—and participation within—voluntary associations. The central focus is on White ethnicity or European ancestry, which I analyze using the 2004 Iowa Community Survey and 2000 U.S. Census data. I find that White ethnic diversity is associated with fewer overall memberships and less frequent participation, with differing effects for various large groupings of voluntary organizations. I close our study by discussing the implications of my findings for organizations and the broader community.

Schools of Democracy? Giving Circles and the Civic and Political Participation of Collaborative Philanthropists

Social transformations around the world have increased the need for philanthropy and motivated people to become more active at the local level. Giving circles have emerged from this context, providing a hands-on, “do-it-yourself” approach to philanthropy. They involve individuals collaborating to support causes of mutual interest and frequently include social, educational, and engagement opportunities for members. In this research, I focus on understanding if participation in these new forms of philanthropic voluntary association lead to greater civic and political participation. That is, do giving circles serve as schools of democracy? I draw on survey data from current and past members of giving circles and donors outside these circles, as well as interviews with giving circle members, in the U.S. and U.K. The findings suggest that giving circles have a positive impact on giving, volunteering, and efforts to address problems in the community, but little effect on participation in changing government policy or other political activities.

Creation of the Union of Sports Societies and Organizations of the USSR: Regional Aspect (on the Example of the Penza Region)

The article reveals the reasons and conditions for the transformation of the structure of physical education and sports management in Soviet society in the late 1950s within the framework of the concept of building communism in the USSR — the creation of the Union of Sports Societies and Organizations (Sport Union) of the USSR — a voluntary association that managed the physical education and sports movement with the active assistance of trade unions and the Komsomol. The main goal of the Sports Union was to give the physical education and sports movement in the USSR a mass and then a national character. The theoretical provisions of literature of the 1960s are characterized. On the ratio of state and public principles in management under communism, the transition of individual state functions to public organizations, the strengthening of the role of public structures in communist society, etc. Estimates of modern domestic researchers of the goals and factors of changing the form of leadership in physical education and sports in Soviet society in the late 1950s are considered. The formation of the Sports Union at the regional level is being studied in accordance with the decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR «On the Leadership of Physical Culture and Sports in the Country» of January 9, 1959 — in the Penza Region: the formation of an organizing bureau, the holding of constituent conferences, the state of the physical education and sports movement in the region in the late 1950s.

Social process in a voluntary organisation: a study of adult membership in the Scout Association of New Zealand

<p>This thesis examines social processes in a large, voluntary organisation. The investigation was concerned with the activities and retention of lower-level adult members in the Scout Association of New Zealand. The demographic, socio-economic and organisational background of members, their attitudes, and the organisational context within which activity occurs were examined with reference to the relationship of these variables with the satisfaction, commitment and participation of members. Particular attention was given to five organisational variables: size, communication, control, support and effectiveness. Attitudinal variables such as solidarity, ideology, prestige and orientation were also examined. It was found that the organisational variables were most clearly related to differences in satisfaction, commitment and participation. This was described firstly in terms of an association between larger size, better and more frequent communication, and higher levels of control, support, and effectiveness. The latter in turn was related to higher levels of satisfaction, commitment, and participation. Background variables, particularly age, also proved important. This suggested that the life cycle plays a part in voluntary association membership and activity. It was concluded that the main organisational variables are affected by the peripheral structural position of voluntary associations in New Zealand society. The sanctions available to senior officials are few and generally weak, and there is often little pressure to pursue some of the more intangible formal goals. Adherence to official procedures varies, with frequent blockages of control, communication and support. This results in considerable differences in the organisational environment within which members operate. The study was carried out over two years. Observation, semi-structured and unstructured interviews were used, as well as a lengthy questionnaire.</p>

LEGISLATIVE REGULATION OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT OF UKRAINIAN CITIES

After the proclamation of Ukraine’s independence in 1991, local self-government in Ukraine is not regulatedseparately for such administrative-territorial units as cities (exceptions are cities with a special status). Most authorsonly state this fact, but do not make constructive suggestions aimed at improving the situation.The purpose of the article is to consider and analyze the modern laws of Ukraine, which implemented the legalregulation of local self-government in the cities of Ukraine.The study of the laws of Ukraine regulating local self-government gave grounds to note that the peculiarities of localself-government in cities are fragmented in the Law “On Local Self-Government in Ukraine”, Electoral Code and arecompletely absent in such important laws-sources of municipal law as Law “On Voluntary Association of TerritorialCommunities”, “On the Status of Deputies of Local Councils”. Regarding the latest act, the following directionsof amendments aimed at differentiating the status of deputies of local councils of rural and urban settlements areproposed: differences in the rights and responsibilities of deputies of local councils and taking into account differentquantitative composition of local councils (depending on the number of members); accordingly – more or less complexinternal structure of local councils, their executive bodies.It is noted that with the adoption on February 5, 2015 of the Law “On Voluntary Association of TerritorialCommunities” at the present stage of municipal reform began to follow the trend of refusing to unify local governmentin urban and rural areas (in connection with the introduction of the institute of elders). Proposals for amendments toArt. 7 of this Law “Preparation of decisions on voluntary association of territorial communities” and on supplementingArt. 8 “Formation of a united territorial community” paragraph 1-1 in the proposed wording.

The legal regulation of the activities of cooperative associations in Russia during the Soviet period (on the example of agricultural cooperation)

The article is devoted to the study of certain aspects of the transformation of cooperative legislation on the territory of our country in the period of the 20–80s of the last century, which regulated the emergence and development of various forms and types of elements of the cooperative movement in Russia at the stages of its formation, the transformation of cooperation during its almost complete nationalization and subsequent restoration as an independent economic entity based on the voluntary association of intellectual, physical and material resources of its members. As a result of the study of the legal regulation of public relations in the field of agricultural cooperation, the author identifies the prerequisites, chronological stages and consequences of fundamental changes in state policy in the field under consideration, which led to the transformation of the legal status of the majority of rural residents, the effectiveness or harmfulness of decisions taken in the practice of legal regulation of the studied sphere, as well as the significance of historical experience for the further development of cooperative legislation.

The politics of civil society forms

Regardless of the debate on how and to what extent civil society contributes to enhance democratic practices, it is generally agreed that there is a reasonable link between civil society and democracy under certain conditions. The aim of this paper is to explore the politics of civil society forms and their contribution to maintain democratic practices in Jakarta. Building from the neo-Tocquevillean understanding of civil society, this article particularly analyses urban environmental activists’ strategy to adopt voluntary association and environmental spin off campaign as the forms of civic engagement to improve public policy in the province. Despite the lack of acknowledgement, this paper argues for the necessary inclusion and elaboration of spin off campaign and voluntary association in the Indonesian civil society literature because of their ability to facilitate diagonal accountability mechanism. Further analysis found that, however, the forms adopted by urban environmental activists suffer similar horizontal and vertical accountability problems frequently found in the more established civil society form (e.g. non-government organization). Nonetheless, the discussion in the paper provides an illustration about civil society’s ingenuity in pushing for democratic practices amidst the “democratic recession” in Indonesia.

Voluntary Association Involvement and Political Participation in South Korea

While studies suggest that voluntary association involvement leads to more political participation in the U.S. and European countries, the relationship remains debatable in new democracies. Using the Current Social Integration Survey from 2015 to 2018 in South Korea, this study examines the relationship between voluntary association engagement and participation in political activities based on the social capital theory and explores whether the results vary by the types of voluntary associations and multiple memberships in the associations. The results suggest that memberships in voluntary associations are positively associated with voting and engagement in political activities. Additionally, only memberships in certain types of associations are related to voting and engagement in political activities.