Considering the manifestations of gender inequalities in the access, use, and control of information and communication technologies—and how those inequalities can be erased—the authors of this stellar collection show how ICTs can provide opportunities for women to improve their incomes, gain awareness of their rights, and improve their own and their families’ well-being.    More >

Departing from characterizations of Asian governments as benevolent overlords and Asian citizens as politically naive and/or docile, Fiona Yap explores the dynamic interactions between state and citizenry in the arena of economic policies. Yap focuses on the cases of Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan to show that, with the strategic use of activities ranging from labor unrest to    More >

Is democracy in Latin America in trouble, as many now argue? Or is the increasingly overt political participation of both "average" and marginalized citizens evidence to the contrary? This important collection focuses on citizenship to shed light on the dynamics and obstacles that the region's democracies now face.   The authors place citizenship in the context of democratic    More >

Volume 2 of the CIVICUS Global Survey of the State of Civil Society offers a wide-ranging analysis of key issues facing civil society worldwide. The authors draw on information collected by the CIVICUS Civil Society Index project in more than 45 countries to explore issues such as civil society’s accountability, its relations to the state and corporate sector, and its role in governance and    More >

How can something as vast and contested as civil society be measured? Answering that question, the hundreds of members and partners that contribute to the CIVICUS Civil Society Index (CSI)  focus here not only on measurable, short-term indicators, but also on long-term and more complex processes that are often neglected elsewhere. Concise profiles of 44 countries consider such factors as    More >

This anthology describes the use of civil remedies in policing and crime prevention programs in the US, the UK, and Australia. Civil remedies are procedures and sanctions provided in civil statutes and regulations that are used in programs to prevent crime. These remedies include efforts to persuade or coerce non-offending third parties, such as landlords and property owners, to take action in    More >

Now Available in Paperback! Incorporated into the discourse of academics, policymakers, and grassroots activists, of multilateral development agencies and local NGOs alike, "civil society" has become a topic of widespread discussion. But is there in fact any common understanding of the term? How useful is it when applied to the South, and what difference does it make to bring the    More >

Responding to the burgeoning interest in the role of civil society in peace processes, this groundbreaking collaborative effort identifies the constructive functions of civil society in support of peacebuilding both during and in the aftermath of armed conflict. The authors also highlight the factors that support those functions and the obstacles to their fulfillment. A comprehensive analytical    More >

This seminal book examines the potential value of the concept of civil society for enhancing the current understanding of state-society relations in Africa. The authors review the meanings of civil society in political philosophy, as well as alternative theoretical approaches to employing the concept in African settings. Considering both the patterns of emerging civil society in Africa and issues    More >

What are the dynamics of civic activism in authoritarian regimes? How do new social actors—many of them informal, "below the radar" groups—interact with these regimes? What mechanisms do the power elite employ to deal with societal dissidence? The authors of Civil Society in Syria and Iran explore the nature of state-society relations in two countries that are experiencing    More >