THIS CHAPTER EXPANDS further on the construct of the ‘defending democracy’ by inquiring into the ‘pro-democratic civil society’ and its role in the context of the ‘defending democracy’ model. The following pages will underscore the significance of the actions of this non-state actor in the ‘defending democracy’s’ transition from the ‘militant’ to the ‘immunised’ model. The fundamental argument here submits that, as a result of its isolation from the State, ‘civil society’ in Israel probably plays a threefold role in safeguarding Israeli
chapter we assess the role participation in civil society might play in rural areas for inhabitants’ self-reported quality of life in the global North. The basis for this chapter is research showing that participation in activities related to civil society does seem to matter for individuals’ quality of life. For example, ‘membership’ in associations
Introduction Cultural heritage can add to the quality of life in rural areas by mobilising local civil society, linking cultural with social capital formation and creating civic pride and sense of place, as we have argued elsewhere (Wallace & Beel, 2021 ). Here we follow up on our original research, which documented the early stages of
Established during the Guatemalan Peace Process, the Oslo Accord contemplates the question of compensating the victims of internal armed conflict. Not only was this accord founded on the principles of victims rights, but it also intends to contribute to the democratic reconstruction of Guatemalan society through a process of recognition of victims status and memory – intended to have a reconciling function. The article focuses on the work of two organisations implementing the Oslo Accord and aims to analyse the discourses and practices of the local actors and their perception of the application of victims rights. Civil society actors and members of the National Compensation Programme demonstrate different approaches both in practical work and in representations of what is right. However, revendication of local cultural values is present in all actors discourse, revealing their ambiguous position in regard to state government.
This article considers how the reburial and commemoration of the human remains of the Republican defeated during the Spanish Civil War (1936–39) is affected by the social, scientific and political context in which the exhumations occur. Focusing on a particular case in the southwestern region of Extremadura, it considers how civil society groups administer reburial acts when a positive identification through DNA typing cannot be attained. In so doing, the article examines how disparate desires and memories come together in collective reburial of partially individuated human remains.
Between 2012 and 2017, at the Ł-section of Warsaw’s Powązki Military Cemetery, or ‘Łączka’, the Polish Institute of National Remembrance exhumed a mass grave containing the remains of post-war anti-communist resistance fighters. Being referred to as the ‘cursed soldiers’, these fighters have become key figures in post-2015 Polish memory politics. In this article we focus on the role of the volunteers at these exhumations in the production of the ‘cursed soldiers’ memory. Following the idea of community archaeology as a civil society-building practice, the observed processes of sacralisation and militarisation show how the exhumations create a community of memory that promotes the core values of the currently governing national-conservative PiS party. We found that tropes related to forensic research and typically identified with cosmopolitan memory paradigms are used within a generally nationalist and antagonistic memory framework.
In recent years, the arrival of asylum seekers and other irregularised migrants 1 in Europe has prompted both hostility and hospitality. The latter has been evident largely in Europe itself, as individuals and civil society groups have welcomed new arrivals by offering to help them find their feet: for example, by assisting them with language learning, accompanying them on visits to the doctor or providing advice on how to secure accommodation or a job. It has been less common for Europeans to support migrants as they attempt to cross the EU’s external or
involved in various research related to health in conflict settings with LSHTM, Chatham House and The Lancet– AUB Commission on Syria. He is now a research associate with the Research for Health in Conflict in the Middle East and North Africa (R4HC-MENA) project at King’s College London. He is still a regular contributor to many medical and civil society entities in Syria and in the Middle East. Ammar Sabouni is also a Syrian physician who started his medical training in Damascus, Syria (2011–13). During those years, and at the start of the conflict, he worked as an
, and we established systems to maintain the confidentiality of our data. Methods included ethnographic observation at vaccine clinics, thirty-one in-depth interviews with trial participants, fifteen interviews at the exits of vaccine clinics, as well as eight in-depth interviews with politicians, traditional medical practitioners, civil society activists and health authorities. The article also draws from five focus group discussions with trial participants and
Programme (WFP). However, the Moon–Kim summits have not brought the resumption of previous inter-Korean activities such as increased ability for humanitarian aid from South Korean civil society. 1 While much of the focus amongst academics, policymakers and the public alike has centred on the DPRK’s nuclear programme, humanitarian and human rights issues are of vital importance to the 25 million people living inside the country. The regime’s controls on information, movement and access to the outside world hinder knowledge on the humanitarian situation for average and