Nonprofits and Democratic Development: Lessons from the Czech Republic

This article argues that existing concepts of the civil society–democracy relationship are misleading guides for analyzing political development because they incorporate limited perspectives on the nature and activities of civil society, particularly the nonprofit sector. First, three contemporary conceptualizations of civil society are critiqued, and a contradiction is noted between the importance assigned to ideational functions and the inadequacy of reliance upon elections and party systems. Particular emphasis is placed on civil society's involvement in policy formation, for it is there that a weak state–society connection may be discovered, with significant ramifications for democratic development. Second, recent political instability in the Czech Republic is related to negative trends in political attitudes, indicating a weak connection. Third, the general nature of Czech policy-making processes is examined, and then a closer look is taken at the formation of nonprofit legislation and environmental policy. Finally, implications for the future development of Czech democracy are drawn.     

Developing inclusive educational practices for refugee children in the Czech Republic

All children in the Czech Republic have the legal right to primary education, regardless of nationality and legal status. This article is based on a study of refugee children and their educational situation. The study reveals that refugee students in the Czech Republic are not benefiting fully from this fundamental right and that their educational future is in jeopardy. The study identified six major barriers to full participation and educational benefits. Finally, a plan of action to overcome barriers is put forward. Key ingredients are effective information transfer among state agencies, non‐governmental organizations, parents, children and schools.     

Transactional activism without transactions: network perspective on anti-corruption activism in the Czech Republic

In 2007, Petrova and Tarrow coined the term transactional activism, arguing that, despite weak individual-level political participation, civil societies in Central and Eastern Europe were surprisingly strong due to their capacity to establish transactional links. Yet the research which followed, relying mostly on quantitative data, has not uncovered much evidence of how transactional activism works. To make advances here, we take a more qualitative approach and focus on transactional ties among NGOs, developing a more fine-grained conceptualization. Specifically, we distinguish associative ties of loosely defined cooperation and interlocking ties based on the division of labour. We utilize this new conceptualization through a successful anti-corruption initiative known as ‘Reconstruction of the State’. The initiative presented itself largely in transactional terms (plurality of participating actors) and was extremely successful in the run-up to the Parliamentary elections in 2013 in the Czech Republic, inspiring similar initiatives abroad. We use social network analysis and qualitative interviews to test our concept of interlocking transactional ties. In contrast to our expectations, we find limited division of labour in the initiative, with just one organization, in the main, shouldering most of the important tasks. We use our findings to question the previously claimed importance of transactional activism in Central and Eastern Europe. Specifically, we call for more robust evidence describing how cooperation among organizations empowers civil society.     

Neither a Dinosaur Nor a Weathercock: The Construction of a Reputably Continuous Self in Czech Postcommunist Life Stories

This article explores an exemplary life story to show some of the ways in which men and women who had successful careers under communism attend to the potential stigma. It analyzes the overall life story as a structure of stories, reports, self-characterizations, and arguments, where the stories have an especially strategic significance. They are cultural stories (Miller and Glassner 1997) of the precommunist middle class; collective stories (ibid.) of communist-era professionalism; and continuity stories of revolution in local contexts.     

The Behavioral Equilibrium Exchange Rate of the Czech Koruna

The behavioral equilibrium exchange rate (BEER) model of the Czech koruna is derived in this paper and estimated by three methods suitable for nonstationary time series. The considered potential determinants of the real equilibrium exchange rate are the productivity differential, the interest rate differential, the terms of trade, net foreign direct investment, net foreign assets, government consumption, and the degree of openness. We find that the Czech koruna was on average undervalued over the period from 1994 to 2004 by about 7 percent with respect to the estimated BEER. The significant determinants of the equilibrium exchange rate of the Czech koruna appear to be the productivity differential, the real interest rate differential, the terms of trade, and the net foreign direct investment.     

An international politics of Czech architecture; or,reviving the international in international political sociology

ABSTRACT

Politics was long overlooked in analyses of architecture. International politics still is. Yet one of the sub-fields of International Relations seemingly best equipped to address this oversight, ‘International Political Sociology’ (IPS), is at a crossroads with leading scholars bemoaning the dominance of Sociology over the political and the international. They concur on the need revive the political, but some advocate abandoning the international. Instead, I argue that IPS scholars should embrace the international and suggest a particular way to do so via Rosenberg’s concept of Multiplicity. This transforms the international from the object of analysis into an analytical and heuristic lens through which to examine the constitutive effects on, (e.g.) architecture, of (international) societal co-existence, interaction, combination, difference, and dialectical change. Using examples from the late Habsburg period to the present, I sketch an international politics of ‘Czech’ architecture and show the value of ‘the international’ in and beyond IPS.     

Normality or care – an inventory of Swedish municipalities’ responses to unstable accommodation for vulnerable groups

This article presents an inventory of policies and housing support interventions to the homeless and those at risk of becoming homeless in a representative sample of Swedish municipalities. Two types of intervention are included: various types of accommodation for those who are already homeless and daily life support for those at risk, either provided or financed by the social services in the municipality. Data were collected in 2004–2005 through a questionnaire e-mailed to local authority officials, in a stratified sample of about half of the Swedish municipalities (n=147). The results show that two types of housing intervention dominate the field: daily life support and sublet contracts, both of which have a relatively high normality factor, with a setting in normal housing. Daily life support includes care and is usually implemented before the tenant is evicted. The level of care related to various interventions fluctuates more between the municipalities than normality does. The more densely populated municipalities were more engaged in developing housing policies and administrative bodies to handle these. However, the implementation of housing policies does not seem related to improvements in the qualities of the interventions. On the contrary, the local authorities that have housing policies and administrative tools adapted to these policies provided a lower degree of both normality and care in the interventions. The results suggest that aspects of normality and care in the same type of housing interventions vary depending on the type of municipality, while the existence of policies has no influence on care and a negative effect on the degree of normality provided through the interventions.     

International migrations and care provisions for elderly people left behind. The cases of the Republic of Moldova and Romania

International migrations are posing numerous challenges to care systems in both sending and receiving countries. Based on a multi-method research conducted between 2011 and 2013, this article looks at how the care provisions for elderly people are rearranged in two Eastern European countries affected by the care drain phenomenon (the Republic of Moldova and Romania). The author charts and compares how transnational families, but also the other facets of the care diamond, such as the public sector, the market and the not-for-profit sector, provide care to elderly people left to cope at home alone because their close relatives have migrated. The main findings of the article are that transnational families are the principal welfare provider for elderly people left behind, while there is a serious delay in the adoption of specific policies for the elderly.     

促进我国服务经济发展的体制创新研究

体制改革与创新对于加快我国服务经济发展具有特别重要意义。制约我国服务经济发展的体制性障碍表现为产权体制、规则体制、管理体制、支持体制、环境体制5个方面的缺陷。为服务经济发展创造良好的制度环境,应建立开放公平的产权体制、透明合理的规制体制、简洁有效的管理体制、协调有力的支持体系、诚信宽松的环境体制。     

The link between economic and social upgrading in global supply chains: Experiences from the Southern Cone

This article uses nine case studies of global supply chains (GSCs) in Southern Cone countries to explore the extent to which economic and social upgrading are linked and spread from lead firms to their supply chain. While economic and social upgrading are found in lead firm segments throughout the case studies, the impacts on suppliers are varied. Pattern groupings enable the authors to develop a three‐part typology of development in GSCs, in the light of which they consider the roles of public policies, company behaviour and social actors in addressing developmental outcomes for GSC lead firms and suppliers.     

Interactional perspectives on the mistreatment of older and vulnerable people in long‐term care settings

This article draws on a study aimed at developing theoretical and methodological understanding of the abuse and neglect (mistreatment) of older people in long‐term care settings such as care homes and hospitals. It presents an interactionist account of mistreatment of older people in such establishments. Starting with an outline of definitional issues surrounding the topic, the allied concept of dignity is also briefly explored, and one important model described; we present dignity as the converse of mistreatment. The article argues for the potential of a positioning theory analysis of mistreatment. Positioning theory proposes that interactions are based on taking of ‘positions’, clusters of rights and duties to act in certain ways and impose particular meanings, which enable or prohibit access to certain storylines. It is argued that ‘malignant’ positioning can contribute to the creation of a climate that allows mistreatment to take place, or fails to prohibit its development. Mistreatment of people with dementia is used as an illustration, and it is argued that this is potentially generated by negative feedback loops of behaviour patterns, interpretations and malignant positioning by staff or family carers and subsequent response to these interpretations by the person with dementia. Positioning theory also allows for an explanation of the importance and impact of organizational cultures and social factors such as ageism. Individual staff members take positions, use meanings and develop storylines imbued with such factors. This understanding therefore overcomes some of the potential confusions created by concepts such as organizational or institutional abuse, removing the need to ascribe intentions and personal responsibility to such constructs. The article concludes with some suggestions for further research to develop an understanding of the kinds of cultures that allow mistreatment and consequently to inform the development of protective measures.     

民国时期社会保险辨析

民国时期是否建立了社会保险制度,是社会保障学界存在重大分歧的重要问题。本文在提出判断社会保险制度确立与否的标准的基础上,根据民国时期社会保险在立法、行政与实施方面的实践考辨,得出民国时期没有成功建立社会保险制度的结论,进而从宏观环境结构、中观制度复合体和微观行动者等3个层面,对民国时期影响社会保险制度产生的机制进行探究。     

Estonian social policy: from Soviet heritage to understanding the principles of deinstitutionalization

Deinstitutionalization is a key issue in the field of social policy. The community-based services movement has challenged the role of institutions as far back as the 1950s, but it is a relatively new development in Central and Eastern Europe. EU membership and the use of structural funds have been key elements of change in many countries; however, the Soviet heritage still overshadows progress and decision-making in social policy. Though deinstitutionalization’s overall meaning and aims are generally well known, less information is available about the processes and policies underlying deinstitutionalization. In post-communist countries, deinstitutionalization is often narrowly associated with large institutions, but its embedment in the social welfare policy framework is less discussed. Nevertheless, first attempts to change the design of social services to more participatory and integrated solutions are evident. For more than 20 years, developments in the field of social-welfare policy have aimed to reduce the gap between Estonia and other developed countries. This article reviews relevant documents in Estonia’s social welfare policy reforms from re-independence to the present. The article discusses the prospects and challenges for achieving deinstitutionalization’s intended goals in Estonia.     

The importance of the size of the social network and residential proximity in the reception of informal care in the European Union

This paper explores which factors affect the reception of informal care among those dependent people aged 65 and over in Europe, starting from the so-called Behavioural Model of Health Service Use introduced by Andersen. The data employed are drawn from the fourth wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement. The final sample consists of a total of 17,284 older dependent people of which 4529 (26.2%) received informal care. The main novelty is the incorporation of different characteristics of the social network of the individual (presence of children, size and residential proximity) among the factors that enable the reception of informal care. In particular the two latter aspects are combined in one sole indicator of distance to the social network. In addition to ‘traditional factors’ like age or degree of dependency, all the characteristics of the social network are found to influence the likelihood of receiving informal care. This reveals the need for taking into consideration the role played by social networks when governments design care programmes, especially in the current scenario of rising demand for care.     

Oversight and accountability in the social auditing industry: The role of social compliance initiatives

The 2013 Rana Plaza collapse led to increased awareness of abusive working conditions in the garment industry. Much attention has since been paid to the role and responsibility of retailing companies. The responsibility of social auditing companies, however, has often been overlooked. The authors investigate the systems in place to detect and address substandard auditing that fails to detect violations of workers' rights. They find that, in practice, oversight of social auditors and sanctions for substandard audits are both limited. In this light, this article explores how social compliance initiatives can play a role in improving verification of audit quality and ensuring accountability.     

Readers' response: The place of social work in the Contemporary University: Meeting the challenges of the profession and the Academy

Abstract

The pressure to attract funds and produce research, to spend more time on scholarship rather than on teaching and practice links challenges the nature of social work education. This paper outlines the impact of both funding cuts and the managerial and business culture of contemporary Australian Universities on the teaching of social work. It addresses social work practitioners concerns' about these changes, and outlines attempts made by social work schools to respond to these challenges.     

浅析民国时期广州教育发展历程及启示

民国时期的教育是中国现代化的一个重要组成部分,在中国教育现代化的进程中起到承上启下的历史作用;而民国时期的广州,又是我国最先经历思想文化重大转型的开放地区。民国时期的广州教育,在不断改变落后状态的同时,还形成了一些地方特色。本文梳理民国时期广州教育发展的历程,认真总结了民国时期广州教育发展的经验与教训,并对当前广州教育发展提出了建议。     

Innovative models of aging in place: Transforming our communities for an aging population

As the proportion of the global population over 60 continues to grow, the issue of where and how elders are going to live becomes increasingly pressing. The idea or “aging in place” – in which elders remain in their own homes and communities – is becoming an increasingly popular alternative to age-segregated retirement communities. This article documents three new models of aging in place – naturally occurring retirement communities (NORC-SSPs), villages and campus-affiliated communities – and explores how they seek to provide both services and meaningful connections among members. Data from interviews and site visits reveal both promising practices as well as challenges such as how to ensure access for low and moderate-income elders, integrating elders from diverse cultural and linguistic back grounds, and building the leadership and participation of elders. By looking critically at these models, the author argues that many previously held theories and assumptions about the aging process and social capital formation must be reexamined in light of the agency of elders and the new organizational models. Ultimately the design of our communities – both physically and socially – and our approach to retirement must be restructured to support the needs of an aging population.     

Framing the corporate responsibility-reputation linkage: The case of Tata Motors in India

This study, focusing on the emerging economy context of one of India's largest automotive companies, Tata Motors, analyzes the thematic framing of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate reputation. Five CSR frames are shown: institutionalization, community development, modernization, mainstreaming, and nation-building. Reputation is framed via: heritage, nationbuilding, technological advancement, global footprint, and responsibility. The findings suggest how firms may better align their CSR efforts with regular business, and their larger public relations campaigns with wider social perceptions of their responsibilities.     

From advocacy to service provision: state transformation and the disability rights movement in Taiwan

This research uses the development of the disability rights movement in Taiwan as a case study to analyze the impact of state transformation, in particular marketization of social welfare policy, on the disability rights movement. First, the institutionalization of the disability rights movement enabled it to expand its organizational structure and become involved in shaping policy. Secondly, when disability rights organizations started to undertake state-funded projects, their focus shifted from advocacy to service provision. Thirdly, competition for limited state-funding gave the organizations led by urban-middle class advocates a significant advantage over small, community-based NPOs and gathered significantly greater resources. Finally, this paper suggests that, in a context in which the state did not provide basic social services for its citizens with disabilities, the institutionalization of SMOs turned advocacy groups into service providers. Although the number of disability civic organizations increased, the voices of advocacy groups were weakened.