Civil Society by Design
Civil Society by Design

Author: Kendall Stiles

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2002-06-30

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 0313012296

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Drawing on years of research and direct experience in Bangladesh, Stiles pulls together theoretical strands from economics, sociology, and anthropology to help explain an emerging social structure in the Third World. These structures, which he calls intermestic development circles, bring together international donor agencies with various domestic community and private organizations. In Bangladesh not-for-profit agencies are dramatically transforming their operation and organizational cultures, while in turn Western NGOs are themselves changing in subtle ways. Scholars of development will find Stiles's intriguing account of the reciprocating effects of extensive interaction, cooperation, and tensions between international donors and domestic recipients informative and provocative. Moving through three discernable phases, each one explainable by resort to different theories, these development circles grow from mere trading arrangements to a coherent social structure, separate from the rest of civil society in Bangladesh. While in the process of the not-for-profits receiving assistance become wealthier and more effective, they lose much of their local identity and become part of a transnational network. At the same time, donors must recast themselves in order to work effectively with these agencies, which often creates tension between local and home offices. The book closes with some recommendations that might attenuate some of the more troubling effects of this transformation.

Development, Civil Society and Faith-Based Organizations
Development, Civil Society and Faith-Based Organizations

Author: G. Clarke

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2007-11-28

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 0230371264

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This book examines the role of faith-based organizations in managing international aid, providing services, defending human rights and protecting democracy. It argues that greater engagement with faith communities and organizations is needed, and questions traditional secularism that has underpinned development policy and practice in the North.

Civil Society and Political Theory
Civil Society and Political Theory

Author: Jean L. Cohen

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 1994-03-29

Total Pages: 804

ISBN-13: 9780262531214

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In this first serious work on the theory of civil society to appear in many years, Jean Cohen and Andrew Arato contend that the concept of civil society articulates a contested terrain in the West that could become the primary locus for the expansion of democracy and rights. In this major contribution to contemporary political theory, Jean Cohen and Andrew Arato argue that the concept of civil society articulates a contested terrain in the West that could become a primary locus for the expansion of democracy and rights.

The Oxford Handbook of Civil Society
The Oxford Handbook of Civil Society

Author: Michael Edwards

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2013-07-04

Total Pages: 532

ISBN-13: 019933014X

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Broadly speaking, The Oxford Handbook of Civil Society views the topic of civil society through three prisms: as a part of society (voluntary associations), as a kind of society (marked out by certain social norms), and as a space for citizen action and engagement (the public square or sphere).

Meaningful Inefficiencies
Meaningful Inefficiencies

Author: Eric Gordon

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 0190870141

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"Public trust in civic organizations is low. And many public serving organizations (government, news, civil society) assume that greater efficiency will build trust. As a result, they are quick to adopt new technologies to enhance what they do. However, efficiency, in the sense of charting a path to a goal with the least amount of friction, can sometimes be at odds with the goal of building trust. This book is about those practices that challenge the normative applications of "smart technologies" in order to build or repair trust with publics. Based on over sixty interviews with changemakers in public serving organizations throughout the United States, as well as detailed case studies, this book provides a practical and deeply philosophical picture of civic life in transition. It is a book about design, but not necessarily about designers. Without coordinating, these civic designers embedded within organizations have adopted an approach to public engagement we call "meaningful inefficiencies," or the deliberate design of less efficient over more efficient means of achieving some ends. This book illustrates how civic designers are creating meaningful inefficiencies in less than ideal conditions and encourages a rethinking of how innovation within public serving organizations is understood, applied, and sought after. Different than market innovation, civic innovation is not just about invention and novelty, it is concerned with building communities around novelty, and cultivating deep and persistent trust. It involves a plurality of publics (not just a single public good); it creates the conditions for those publics to play; and it results in people caring for the world. Meaningful Inefficiencies describes an emergent approach to creating civic life at a moment when smart and efficient are the dominant force in social and organizational change"--

Civil Society
Civil Society

Author: Michael Edwards

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2013-08-20

Total Pages: 159

ISBN-13: 0745659055

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Since its publication in 2004, Civil Society has become a standard work of reference for all those who seek to understand the role of voluntary citizen action in the contemporary world. In this thoroughly-revised edition, Michael Edwards updates the arguments and evidence presented in the original and adds major new material on issues such as civil society in Africa and the Middle East, global civil society, information technology and new forms of citizen organizing. He explains how in the future the pressures of state encroachment, resurgent individualism, and old and familiar forces of nationalism and fundamentalism in new clothes will test and re-shape the practice of citizen action in both positive and negative ways. Civil Society will help readers of all persuasions to navigate these choppy waters with greater understanding, insight and success. Colleges and universities, foundations and NGOs, public policy-makers, journalists and commissions of inquiry – all have used Edwards’s book to understand and strengthen the vital role that civil society can play in deepening democracy, re-building community, and addressing poverty, inequality and injustice. This new edition will be required reading for anyone who is interested in creating a better world through citizen action.

Socialization to Civil Society
Socialization to Civil Society

Author: Peter Robert Sawyer

Publisher: SUNY Press

Published: 2005-01-01

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 9780791461860

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Using a life history approach, looks at what influences citizens to participate in the voluntary associations that comprise and promote civil society.