An Analysis of the Current State of Civil Society Participation in Ensuring the National Security of Mongolia

In this article, the researchers tried to evaluate the contribution of civil society to Mongolian democracy and the problems faced by civil society. In addition, the article aimed to determine the unique national criteria of Mongolian democracy and the need to create an organization to monitor the process of democracy. The process of identifying important documents and ideals for the development of Mongolian civil society today is still in its early stages. It can be said that the approval of the democratic constitution and the first free and fair parliamentary elections as a country that has newly and restored democracy became another impetus for the creation of a new type of citizen organization. It is characterized by trying to study the changes that have occurred since this historical period at the intersection of political science and security studies. One of the most important issues today is to find out how many non-governmental and civil society organizations exist in Mongolia today, which are Western-oriented, focused on specific issues, have their own position and opinion, are specialized, and are capable of influencing government policy. On the other hand, in this article, we emphasize whether non-governmental and civil society organizations, which aim to hold the government accountable, and carry out influence and control activities, are fully developed.

Integrated Civil Society Organizations System

The integrated Civil Society Organizations(iCSO)System,developed by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs(DESA),facilitates interactions between civil society organizations and DESA.The system

BRICS POLITICAL PARTIES, THINK TANKS AND CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS TO CEMENT COOPERATION

The BRICS political parties,think tanks and civil society organizations Forum was held in Fuzhou,capital of southeast China’s Fujian Province,June 11-12,2017.The forum drew over 400 participants from BRICS and other developing countries.Heads of political parties,think tanks and civil society organiza-

Pool Civil Wisdom to Assist Social Development——Sidelights of Civil Society 20 China

Civil Society 20 China 2016(C20)was successfully convened in Qingdao on July 5th and 6th.Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a message of congratulations to the Conference.State Councilor Yang Jiechi attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech.Sun Jiazheng,Vice-Chairman of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and President of China

Development of China’s Media Industry & Building of Civil Society

Historical changes have taken place in China under the reform-and-opening-up policy over the past three decades. Changes in China＇s social and economic structures, cultural scenes and social operations are revolutionary. The Chinese people, who account for one fifth of the human race, are working hard to bring about a national reiuvanation.

Civil Society to Be More Active in Human Rights Affairs

Nobody can become an expert on the United Nations in one week. But a week-long training workshop on international human fights treaties in Geneva, Switzerland may herald more active participation of China＇s civil society in the country＇s commitment to these principles.

Three Decades of Social Transformation in Russia:From a Totalist Society to a Civil Society

To review and evaluate the transformation of Russia at the historical juncture of the 30th anniversary of the Soviet collapse is an essential task.Compared with political and economic transformation,social transformation is more complex,slower,and more uncertain.This paper seeks to examine Russia’s social transformation from a totalitarian to a civil society from the perspective of the state-society relationship.Viewed from Western theories of civil society,the social transformation of Russia has not been a success:citizens have a low level of self-organization,civil rights are not genuinely guaranteed,and state power constantly intervenes in civil society.However,this transformation has achieved the goal of social solidarity.We need to reflect upon the concept of social transformation and gain an understanding of the structure of and changes in Russian society by taking into account its cultural logic and historical context.

The Strange Fate of Marxist Civil Society Discourse in Japan and China

Since the fall of the Soviet bloc and the various transformations in China since the late 1980s and early 1990s, scholars in both China and other regions have begun to use the term ＂civil society＂ to denote a realm of political practice separate from the state. Even today, the Chinese philosophy professor Han Lixin uses the term to denote future possibilities for China. However, unlike earlier works on civil society that attempt to guide China through Western liberal theory, Han explicitly draws on the Japanese ＂civil society Marxists,＂ such as Hirata Kiyoaki and Mochizuki Seiji. This essay in some ways mimics Han＇s attempt to bring together Japanese Marxist theory and contemporary Chinese reality, but claims that reexamining theories of civil society in Japan should lead us to emphasize the logic of capital in understanding Chinese society and envisioning a future for socialism. The essay introduces the complex theorization of civil society by an often overlooked Marxist, Kakehashi Akihide. Kakehashi explicitly grasps civil society in relation to more fundamental categories in Marx＇s work, such as the commodity form. In this way, he points the way to a deeper understanding of the dynamic of capitalism and by extension the history of particular regions of the world, such as China. However, in the 1960s and early 1970s when the ＂civil society Marxists＂ Hirata Kiyoaki and Mochizuki Seiji popularized their reading of Marx, they focused on civil society as a moment of liberation without stressing the totalizing dynamic of capitalism. The essay discusses Han＇s use of Hirata and Mochizuki, before returning to the problem of how thinking of capitalism as a totalizing dynamic could further illuminate issues of post-1949 and contemporary China. In short, I argue that civil society is always already imbricated in a more fundamental logic of producing surplus value, which serves to undermine the freedom that civil society is supposed to realize. Hence a true theory of human emancipation must focus on the totalizing logic of capitalism and how to overcome it.

Commercial Civil Society:A Perspective on Private Higher Education in China

Two distinctive paradigms have been used in researching higher education phenomena in China’s process of social transformation.The first might be described as“critical realist,”and the second as“interpretivist.”The book Portraits of 21st Century Chinese Universities:In the Move to Mass Higher Education,has inclined toward the second paradigm and a central concept is that of“civil society.”However,the authors of this article argue that the concept of“commercial civil society”may better explain the characteristics of Chinese private higher education.Different from civil society that is based on voluntary action and contributions,commercial civil society is characterized by profit making behavior.This article focuses on analyzing the profit making features of Chinese private higher education,and thus aims to supplement the interpretivist analysis presented in the book.The authors believe that the concept of“commercial civil society”not only reflects certain features of the social environment in which Chinese private higher education operates,but may also be helpful for analyzing private higher education phenomena in other countries.

Assessing Barriers to Mental Healthcare Interventions for Deaf People in Ghana

While mental health issues are increasingly gaining attention in Ghana, little is known about the situation among deaf people. This study assessed the mental health care needs of deaf people in Ghana. A descriptive design, consisting of interviews and focus group discussions, was used to collect data from 97 participants. Findings indicated that participants had limited knowledge on mental health issues. Mental health stigma, inaccessible mental health information and exclusion from mental health programmes were the major barriers hindering access to mental health care services. This study bridges the knowledge gap and provides evidence for the implementation of deaf-friendly services.

Design of an Interactive Geo-Location Mobile Application for Civil Societies in East Africa

This paper reports the developed mobile application through the use of advanced technologies such as mobile computing, cloud computing and Global Positioning System (GPS) in order to solve the challenges. The purpose of this study is to find out how the recent advances and mass adoption of ICT by the public can best be leveraged to enhance the performance of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in East Africa. The data collection techniques used are through questionnaires, observations and conducting interviews with different stakeholders in the civil society arena i.e., the donors, the CSOs and the people in society that are given a voice by civil societies. In the system development phase, agile development methodology was used. Analysis of the data collected showed that there is a gap in the availability of a single or a centralized platform which can be easily accessed, user-friendly and reliable where different actors can readily get reliable and up-to-date information about the available CSOs they are interested in. To address this problem, an interactive online directory of CSOs has been developed. The platform is mobile based and enables CSOs to register and fill up their current details, thus ensuring that there is always correct and updated information. The platform is equipped with, among other features, a geo-mapping facility which enables users of the system to correctly geo-locate their civil societies of interest on a map view. The results of system evaluation showed that 88.125% of users were satisfied with the system basing on the evaluation criteria.

Chinese Residents’Philosophy and Religion in Contemporary China and North America

The cultural dimension of sustainability as the fourth pillar of the overall sustainable development framework encompasses both tangible and intangible cultures.In this study,tangible culture refers to the home environments of Chinese residents in China and North America,while intangible culture refers to their faiths and belief systems,in other words,their philosophy and religion,reflected(or not)in their home environments.The paper argues that Chinese philosophy and religion have historically contributed to Chinese people’s environmental ethics and their health and happiness.Set within this context,the paper presents the author’s two empirical research findings on Chinese residents’philosophy and religion in contemporary China and North America.Quantitative and qualitative data were collected by asking Chinese residents the same research question in the 2007-2008 onsite survey and follow-up interviews in Beijing and Suzhou of China,and the 2013 online survey and follow-up interviews in the US and Canada.The findings show a significantly higher percentage of ethnic Chinese in North America holds traditional Chinese faiths than those in China,though Western cultural infiltration is also happening to them.Nevertheless,due to the limited number of participants,the findings may only be indicative.

Five Years Beyond Sendai——Can We Get Beyond Frameworks?

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030(SFDRR) and its implementation is evaluated after its first five years. A dozen questions that the author and a colleague used in their evaluation of the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005–2015(HFA) are repeated. Improvements are noted in relation to possible coherence and alignment with other components of the Post-2015 Agenda, especially as regards climate change and urban disasters as well as the higher visibility of civil society and women, and also regarding the specificity of targets and monitoring of governments’ successes. Nevertheless, the overall conclusion is that both the HFA and the SFDRR fail to deal with root causes of disaster. A new,radically proactive leadership role is suggested for the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction in partnership with civil society in identifying and warning all engaged in Post-2015 Agenda activities of possible creation of new risk by agenda implementation activities,especially for the poor and already-marginalized.

Counterfeiting Legitimacy： Reflections on the Usurpation of Popular Politics and the ＂Political Culture＂ of China, 1912-1949

The rhetoric of popular political participation filled Republican China＇s newspapers, periodicals, and books throughout the 1910s and 1920s. The vocabulary, however, masked a different reality： the monopolization of political life by elites, well-organized political parties, and various kinds of activists. Through a three-part analysis of counterfeit legitimacy in early twentieth-century print media--the widespread use of the word ＂citizen,＂ the seeming pervasiveness of civil society associations, and the periodic scheduling of elections--this article exposes the manner in which democratic-sounding rhetoric was manipulated for political gain. Chinese political culture in this era could be characterized as a culture of ＂misrepresentation＂ in which politically savvy individuals and groups deliberately cloaked themselves with misleading rhetoric. A recognition of this ＂usurpation of popular politics＂ should inform any scholarly attempts to locate a ＂civil society＂ or a ＂public sphere＂ in early twentieth century China.

Environmental participation in the shadow of the Chinese state

China’s environmental governance reforms are simultaneously strengthening state enforcement measures and encouraging citizen participation in monitoring and enforcement processes.State control over environmental protection and citizen participation appear to be in tension with each other.In discussing environmental governance under democracies,B€orzel and Riesse,however,theorise that opportunities for citizen participation increase as a state increases its enforcement capacity,at least until the state becomes very strong.This article analyses changes in the regulatory field that have strengthened state coercive capacity to enforce environmental law,and two aspects of citizen participation:civil society monitoring of polluters and participation in environmental public interest lawsuits.The early evidence on citizen participation since the revised Environmental Protection Law took effect on 1 January 2015 is mixed.Civil society organisations have been allowed to serve as plaintiffs in a small number of high-profile environmental public interest lawsuits,but that domain remains dominated by state-backed organisations and local procuratorates.Finally,in reaction to the threat of new fines and penalties on illegal emissions,some grassroots civil society organisations are finding new opportunities to advise and monitor polluters.

Defining,Explaining and,then,Exploiting the Elusive Concept of"Governance"

The concept of“governance”has become omnipresent in the lexicon of politics and political science.It has very quickly acquired many different meanings,but its most important property seems to be its capacity to serve as a substitute for“government”.The former is(allegedly)good,and the latter is(allegedly)bad.In this essay,I explore the definition,the presumptions and the utility of governance.I conclude that it can make an important contribution of our understanding of the increasingly complex process of making and implementing public policies,but not as a substitute for government.

The Promotion of Building Culture in Rural Germany

Over the past two decades,building culture has increasingly caught the attention of the architectural and planning professions.The building culture is to be understood in the broadest sense as the sum of all cultural,economic,technological,social and ecological factors influencing the quality and process of planning and construc­tion.While the revitalisation and promotion of building culture is central to discussions on urban areas,these are generally ignored in regard to rural areas.This article aims to provide an overview of how building culture has been promoted in Germany’s rural areas,thereby contributing to international research on this topic.The paper adopts a general descriptive approach in examining the promotion of building culture in rural Germany.It provides back­ground knowledge on institutional promotion and demonstrates the diverse approaches implemented in represent­ative villages as best practices examples.The German experience confirms that the promotion of building culture is a meaningful and effective measure to help revitalise rural areas.Moreover,the three selected rural municipalities show how stakeholders from civil society are increasingly involved in measures to implement and promote building culture in the local context.