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146-540: The World Social Forum can be considered a visible manifestation of global civil society , bringing together non governmental organizations , advocacy campaigns, and formal and informal social movements seeking international solidarity . The World Social Forum prefers to define itself as "an open space – plural, diverse, non-governmental and non-partisan – that stimulates the decentralized debate, reflection, proposal building, experiences exchange and alliances among movements and organizations engaged in concrete action towards

292-602: A civil disobedience in New York City. In a "die-in" organized by the M27 Coalition (an ad-hoc group of various anti-war organizations and individuals), 215 people were arrested after blocking traffic on 5th Avenue near the Rockefeller Center , protesting the cooperation between U.S. media and the government. Protesters also blocked traffic at various sites around the city in a coordinated protest with

438-667: A blur of white snow on Parliament Hill. Rallies were held in several other cities, including Halifax , Winnipeg and Edmonton . On January 16, 2003, protests were held worldwide in opposition to a war with Iraq, including in Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan, Japan, Belgium, the Netherlands, Argentina, and the United States, where Americans attended a rally in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Park Police , which oversees activities on

584-466: A choice. What is your choice? What is your vision of the world?" Another one of the founders of the WSF, Cándido Grzybowski has said of the annual meetings, "The numerous recent crises are expressions of the contradictions and limitations of the form of global capitalism that has been imposed on humanity and the earth. The assertion that "another world is possible" is now an absolute necessity." Since 2001,

730-670: A competitive, or uncooperative society. The historian Cassius Dio makes an argument in the voice of Augustus 's general Agrippa beseeching Augustus, having defeated his rivals for power in the Roman civil wars, not to overthrow the Roman republic because of its expected effect on society. The literature on relations between civil society and democratic political society has its immediate origins in Scottish Enlightenment philosophy, including Adam Ferguson 's An Essay on

876-621: A crowd of possibly 50,000 people-it simply ended...casual shoppers and walkers joining the crowd-the largest march of any kind in Seattle's history at the time (surpassed by the Women's March in Seattle in 2017). In Washington, "at least tens of thousands", people demonstrated through the city, ending with a rally at The Mall. Among the speakers was Rev. Jesse Jackson who told the crowd that "We are here because we choose coexistence over coannihilation." The protests were planned to coincide with

1022-423: A democratic government. Putnam argues that the strength of civil societies in the U.S. have historically brought more social trust and more social capital for citizens. Others state that a dependence on civil societies can lead citizens to question the effectiveness of the U.S. government and can create instability by dividing society. In modern America, Yuval Levin writes that civil societies are considered to be

1168-516: A demonstration which ended at Victoria Square . Though there were some reports of some students throwing coins, West Midlands police said that the protests were "buoyant rather than boisterous" and no arrests were made. The demonstration later moved on to Cannon Hill Park. The son of Lord Hunt , a junior health Minister who quit his job over the march, was amongst the students in attendance. In West Yorkshire around 500 students (BBC estimate) walked out of Ilkley Grammar School, reportedly one-third of

1314-648: A gateway between the U.S. government and citizens Some state that civil societies help maintain individual freedoms as a check to the U.S. government's power, while others see its role as upholding the state's efforts by helping it fuel social causes while constraining the un-democratic consolidation of power. Others, such as David Rieff, point out that the U.S. government is more financially equipped to work on social causes than civil societies like NGOs, who prove inadequate due to their lack of relative strength. Research by Harvard professor Theda Skocpol indicates that though civil societies have brought more democracy to America,

1460-474: A great impact on the thinkers in the Enlightenment period. The Enlightenment thinkers argued that human beings are rational and can shape their destiny. Hence, no need of an absolute authority to control them. Both Jean-Jacques Rousseau , a critic of civil society, and Immanuel Kant argued that people are peace lovers and that wars are the creation of absolute regimes (Burchill 2001:33). As far as Kant

1606-465: A march down Market Street to the civic center. In Seattle, a surprise turnout on a sunny Saturday saw over 45,000 people (Organizer and observers reports) march from the Seattle Center (after several speeches) to King Street Station-the local media all came up with nonsensical crowd numbers, from 200 up to 1,500 people. People were still vacating the starting point at the Seattle Center while

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1752-618: A mile-long human chain, and more than 120,000 in Madrid . Marches also took place in Seville , Aranjuez , Palencia , and in the Canary Islands . Many of the protests were said to be smaller than those in the same cities a month ago; exceptions were Montreal, which upped its turnout to 200,000 and Dublin where 130,000 demonstrated. The Montreal turnout may have been related to solidarity against American anti-French sentiment , which

1898-542: A more informed citizenry, who make better voting choices, participate in politics, and hold government more accountable as a result. Civil society acts as a forum for people with common goals and interests to further develop democratic ideals, which in turn can lead to a more democratic state. Membership in these kinds of associations serves as a source of information which reduces the barriers to collective action. These groups then affect policy by putting pressure on governments. This implies that civil society serves to balance

2044-452: A more solidary, democratic and fair world; a permanent space and process to build alternatives to neoliberalism ." The World Social Forum is held by members of the alter-globalization movement (also referred to as the global justice movement ) who come together to coordinate global campaigns, share and refine organizing strategies, and inform each other about movements from around the world and their particular issues. The World Social Forum

2190-430: A natural consequence of Renaissance, Humanism, and the scientific revolution, the Enlightenment thinkers raised fundamental questions such as "What legitimacy does heredity confer?", "Why are governments instituted?", "Why do some human beings have more basic rights than others?", and so on. These questions led them to make certain assumptions about the nature of the human mind, the sources of political and moral authority ,

2336-697: A peace march in Vancouver marching from Peace Flame Park as part of a Cross-Canada Day of Action. In Vancouver , about 3,000 people gathered in the rain. Washington must take any complaints against foreign governments to the United Nations, they said. Many accused the White House of targeting Saddam Hussein in order to try to take control of valuable oil reserves. About 1,000 marched through a shower of ice pellets in Montreal, and about 500 showed up in

2482-454: A pro-war rally. The protests made 20% more opposed to the war and 7% more supportive. A Fox News poll showed that while 63% had an unfavorable view of the protesters, just 23% had a favorable view. According to Pew Research, 40% said in March 2003 that they had heard "too much" from people opposed to the war against 17% who said "too little". Some observers have noted that the protests against

2628-485: A professional bureaucracy and fiscal departments, which enabled them to maintain direct control and authority over their subjects. In order to meet administrative expenditures, monarchs exerted greater control over the economy. This gave birth to absolutism . Until the mid-eighteenth century, absolutism was the hallmark of Europe. The absolutist concept of the state was disputed in the Enlightenment period. As

2774-790: A second day in a row in various US cities including Seattle, Portland, Oregon, Chicago, Atlanta, Georgia, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. In the last two cities, demonstrators closed parts of the city to traffic. Media report about 150,000 protesters in Barcelona (other sources say 1,000,000); more than 100,000 (other sources: up to 500,000) protesters in London; some 100,000 protesters in Paris; at least 150,000 protesters altogether in many German cities; between 35,000 and 90,000 in Lisbon; around 40,000 in Bern,

2920-610: A similar concept to Hobbes about the political condition in England. It was the period of the Glorious Revolution, marked by the struggle between the divine right of the Crown and the political rights of Parliament. This influenced Locke to forge a social contract theory of a limited state and a powerful society. In Locke's view, human beings led also an unpeaceful life in the state of nature. However, it could be maintained at

3066-490: A site for struggle to subvert Communist and authoritarian regimes. Thus, the term civil society occupies an important place in the political discourses of the New Left and neo-liberals. It is commonly believed that the post-modern way of understanding civil society was first developed by political opposition in the former Soviet bloc East European countries in the 1980s. However, research shows that communist propaganda had

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3212-431: A situation, life was "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short" (Ibid: 25). Upon realizing the danger of anarchy, human beings became aware of the need of a mechanism to protect them. As far as Hobbes was concerned, rationality and self-interests persuaded human beings to combine in agreement, to surrender sovereignty to a common power (Kaviraj 2001:289). Hobbes called this common power, state, Leviathan . John Locke had

3358-443: A society's social interactions". With higher social capital comes a greater amount of social interdependence, which increases productivity and economic growth. For example, one study found that high school drop out rates in areas within the United States with better social networks were lower than in areas with weaker social networks. Some, like Thomas Carothers, somewhat dispute this narrative. He argues that although civil society

3504-657: A target. A philosophy student of the University of Guayaquil was arrested two days later in connection to the attack, in alleged possession of radical left-wing propaganda material. On the live broadcast of the 2003 Academy Awards , several presenters and recipients made various comments against the war ranging from Susan Sarandon giving a simple peace sign to Michael Moore publicly denouncing George W. Bush upon receiving his award. Media reports state at least 20,000 school pupils protesting in Hamburg, Germany. After

3650-419: Is a field of economics and constitutionalism which describes and analyzes the specific interrelationships between constitutional issues and functioning of the economy including budget process . The term "constitutional economics" was used by American economist James M. Buchanan as a name for a new budget planning and the latter's transparency to the civil society, are of the primary guiding importance to

3796-729: Is beneficial toward economic growth, it is not necessary , which he illustrates through how South Korea's great economic success was built without a strong civil society, which only appeared after economic growth had more than took off, as well as how Bangladesh, with an incredibly rich civil society, has largely failed to grow its economy, remaining one of the poorest countries in the world. Going even further, Carothers also points out how too much civil society, at least in certain sectors, can lead to harmful economic impacts, citing how some economists believe labor unions in Latin America have restricted economic growth. Constitutional economics

3942-579: Is explicit about not being a representative of all of those who attend and thus does not publish any formal statements on behalf of participants. It tends to meet in January at the same time as its "great capitalist rival", the World Economic Forum 's Annual Meeting in Davos , Switzerland . This date is consciously picked to promote alternative answers to world economic problems in opposition to

4088-451: Is largely organized via Northern donors and their NGOs. Mngxitama also describes how popular organizations in the global South are systematically marginalized or included in a deeply subordinated manner. Many grassroots movements in the global South boycott the forum and the NGOs that gate-keep participation in the forum and some actively oppose it as just one more space of domination. There

4234-490: The 2003 invasion of Iraq , large-scale protests against the Iraq War were held in many cities worldwide, often coordinated to occur simultaneously around the world. After the biggest series of demonstrations, on February 15, 2003 , New York Times writer Patrick Tyler claimed that they showed that there were two superpowers on the planet: the United States and worldwide public opinion . These demonstrations against

4380-573: The French academic Dominique Reynié , between January 3 and April 12, 2003, 36 million people across the globe took part in almost 3,000 protests against the Iraq war. In the United States, even though pro-war demonstrators have been quoted as referring to anti-war protests as a "vocal minority", Gallup Polls updated September 14, 2007, state, "Since the summer of 2005, opponents of the war have tended to outnumber supporters. A majority of Americans believe

4526-597: The Movimento dos Sem-Terra and the World Social Forum are not well known. The WSF has, especially in recent years, been strongly criticised for replacing popular movements with non-governmental organizations (NGOs). A delegation from the South Africa -based Abahlali baseMjondolo criticised the event's 2009 iteration as "dominated by" non-governmental organizations. The group also argued in 2007 that

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4672-895: The National Mall , stopped providing estimates of crowd size after being threatened with lawsuits by the organizers of the Million Man March , but said that protest organizers only had a permit for 30,000 demonstrators. On January 18, anti-war demonstrations, focusing particularly but not exclusively on the expected war with Iraq, took place in villages, towns, and cities around the world, including Tokyo, Moscow, Paris, London, Dublin, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Cologne, Bonn, Gothenburg , Florence, Oslo, Rotterdam, Istanbul and Cairo. In New Zealand, thousands rallied in Dunedin and Christchurch , while in Auckland protesters rallied at

4818-564: The Palestinian territories . On March 16, more than 6,000 candlelight vigils for peace were held in more than a hundred countries. On 18 March 2003 two activists climbed the sails of the iconic Sydney Opera House to paint the words No War in bright red paint. On March 19, across the United Kingdom tens of thousands of school students staged walkouts. In Birmingham 4,000 (BBC estimate) striking school students held

4964-485: The United Nations has had a presence at the WSF through UNESCO , showing the institutional credibility achieved by the forum, seen by UNESCO as a "prime opportunity for dialogue and a laboratory of ideas for the renewal of public policies" through "critical reflection on the future of societies we want to create and for elaborating proposals in search of solidarity, justice, peace and human rights". The third WSF

5110-508: The United Nations General Assembly . Outside the United Nations building, over 1,000 people attended a protest organized by Voter March and No Blood for Oil. On September 24, Tony Blair released a document describing Britain's case for war in Iraq. Three days later, an anti-war rally in London drew a crowd of at least 150,000. On September 29, roughly 5,000 anti-war protesters converged on Washington, D.C., on

5256-453: The public sphere encourages rational will-formation; it is a sphere of rational and democratic social interaction. Habermas analyzes civil society as a sphere of "commodity exchange and social labor" and public sphere as a part of political realm. Habermas argues that even though society was representative of capitalist society, there are some institutions that were part of political society. Transformations in economy brought transformations to

5402-404: The "third sector" of society , distinct from government and business , and including the family and the private sphere . By other authors, civil society is used in the sense of 1) the aggregate of non-governmental organizations and institutions that advance the interests and will of citizens or 2) individuals and organizations in a society which are independent of the government. Sometimes

5548-525: The 1990s, which involved conditioned loans by the World Bank and IMF to debt-laden developing states, also created pressures for states in poorer countries to shrink. This in turn led to practical changes for civil society that went on to influence the theoretical debate. Initially the new conditionality led to an even greater emphasis on "civil society" as a panacea, replacing the state's service provision and social care, Hulme and Edwards suggested that it

5694-647: The Australian cities of Brisbane and Hobart (which were brought to a halt); Jakarta, Indonesia, where protesters converged on the US embassy; across South Korea including the capital Seoul, where Buddhist monks played drums to console the spirits of war casualties to the 2,000 protesters; across India including 15,000 in Calcutta; Bangladesh which saw a general strike (closing down many businesses and mosques); and Japan, including protests near US naval and air bases on

5840-740: The Australian parliament in Canberra to speak to the prime minister, but were stopped by police. In the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh , Maoist protesters attacked shops selling Coca-Cola and US soft drinks. Protests in front of US buildings and in fast food shops were also held in Indonesia. In Egypt, 12,000 students of two universities in Cairo protested as well as 3,000 people in the Thai capital Bangkok. In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 150 people threw stones at

5986-534: The BBC studios where they sat down in the road at around 1pm and blocked the traffic for over an hour where their numbers grew to around 1000 demonstrators. They were filmed by anti-war activists and video clips were distributed. The students then marched around the city centre and ended up back at Albert Square at about 4pm where they remained demonstrating in front of the Town Hall for some hours. The whole of this event

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6132-604: The Devonport naval base on January 28, opposing the deployment of the frigate HMNZS Te Mana to the Gulf. NION and ANSWER jointly organized protests in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco. Other protests took place all over the United States, including various smaller places such as Lincoln, Nebraska . Upwards of 50,000 people demonstrated in San Francisco. The day started with a waterfront rally at 11 am, followed by

6278-578: The Forum, "We must state it clearly. We must say to President Bush that we do not agree with the way he controls the world. We must tell him that he has to govern with his mind, not with might." The fifth World Social Forum 2005 was held in Porto Alegre, Brazil between 26 January and 31 January. There were 155,000 registered participants at the Forum, with most coming from Brazil, Argentina, the United States, Uruguay, and France. A number of participants in

6424-554: The French Revolution, the second during the fall of communism in Europe. The concept of civil society in its pre-modern classical republican understanding is usually connected to the early-modern thought of Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century. However, it has much older history in the realm of political thought. Generally, civil society has been referred to as a political association governing social conflict through

6570-473: The German cities of Berlin and Freiburg . In Rome, Milan, Turin and other Italian cities, thousands of pupils and schoolteachers stayed away from school to protest against the Iraq war. The teachers union reported that 60 percent of all schools were closed. The strike had been planned weeks ago as a signal against a school reform bill, but was converted to an anti-war protest. 400 anti-war protesters tried to enter

6716-621: The Global Anti-War Movement , an idea that originated from the Asian Social Forum in November 2003, and broadly coalesced in response to the invasion of Iraq by the United States in 2003. The Assembly had few activists from the United States, but overwhelmingly tried to articulate that they opposed the policy, and not the country itself. The former director-general of UNESCO , Federico Mayor Zaragoza , said at

6862-511: The History of Civil Society , and in the work of G. W. F. Hegel , from whom the concepts were adapted by Alexis de Tocqueville , Karl Marx , and Ferdinand Tönnies . They were developed in significant ways by 20th century researchers Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba , who identified the role of political culture in a democratic order as vital. They argued that the political element of political organizations facilitates better awareness and

7008-736: The Iraq War took place in May 2012 at Chicago during the NATO Summit at the Hyatt Regency, regarding the War in Afghanistan . A March 2003 Gallup poll conducted during the first few days of the war showed that 5% of the population had protested or made a public opposition against the war compared to 21% who attended a rally or made a public display to support the war. An ABC news poll showed that 2% had attended an anti-war protest and 1% attended

7154-543: The Iraq War were relatively small-scale and infrequent compared to protests against the Vietnam War . One of the most often cited factors for this is the lack of conscription . These protests are said to be the biggest global peace protests before a war actually started; the peace movement is compared with the movement caused by the Vietnam War . On September 12, 2002, U.S. President George W. Bush spoke to

7300-675: The January 15, birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. On February 15, millions of people protested, in approximately 800 cities around the world. Listed by the 2004 Guinness Book of Records as the largest protest in human history, protests occurred among others in the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Syria, India, Russia, South Korea, Japan, and even McMurdo Station in Antarctica . Perhaps

7446-807: The Museum Center exits were dispersed by mounted police, and six people were arrested. On October 26, protests took place in various cities across the world. Over 100,000 people took part in a protest in Washington . 50,000 people took part in a demonstration in San Francisco. Both protests were called by the ANSWER Coalition . On October 31, around 150 protests took place across the United Kingdom, including Critical Mass bike rides, occupations, and mass demonstrations in Brighton , Manchester , Glasgow and London. Protests also took place in

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7592-591: The US. On November 9, demonstrations were held against the war at the end of the first European Social Forum in Florence, Italy. According to the organizers, 1,000,000 people were in attendance. Local authorities put attendance at 500,000. On Saturday, November 16, in Canada an anti-war demonstration of about 2,000 people occurred at Queen's Park in Toronto. On November 17, a large anti-war coalition held

7738-683: The United States Social Forum during June 22–26. Regional forums have taken place in the Southwest, Northwest, Northeast, Midwest and Southeast regions of the United States. The first Canadian Social Forum took place in June 2010. Most, though not all, social forums adhere to the WSF Charter of Principles drawn up by the World Social Forum. The goal of these forums is to decentralize and allow far more people to engage in

7884-638: The United States consulate. Some people demonstrated in Syria against the United States, United Kingdom and Israel. This protest was endorsed by the Syrian government. In the Islamic country of Bangladesh , 60,000 people demonstrated. Media also reports protests in front of the South Korean parliament building, linked to plans to bring South Korean forces into the war. Hundreds of protesters participated in

8030-520: The World Economic Forum. The World Social Forum first met in 2001, but it had its roots in Latin American activism, namely the encuentro, a meeting which emphasizes dialogue and exchange of ideas among activists. Some of the founders of the WSF, were part of the First International Encuentro for Humanity and Against Neoliberalism in 1996, and decided to expand the idea and make it a global forum for activists of all stripes opposing hegemonic globalization and neoliberalism . It has also been suggested that

8176-495: The World Social Forum took place in Tunis from 23 to 28 March 2015. It led to the creation of the Internet Social Forum . The fifteen edition of the World Social Forum took place in Montreal from 9 to 14 August 2016. It was a multilingual event which featured organizations from around the world. The sixteenth edition of the World Social Forum took place in Salvador, Bahia , Brazil , from March 13 to 17, 2018. Having representatives of 120 countries. The 2021 World Social Forum

8322-472: The World Social Forum was another decentralized affair, with about 35 national, regional and local forums taking place across the world. In Porto Alegre , the flagship space for the WSF, events and speakers were held from January 25–29, entitled "FSM 10 Years: Greater Porto Alegre". The big event held in Porto Alegre was the International Seminar "10 Years Later: Challenges and proposals for another possible world", which featured over 70 intellectuals from around

8468-407: The backbone and foundation for the party and its propaganda. As a result, the Nazi party transformed itself from a place of political irrelevancy to the largest party in the German Reichstag after the 1932 elections . Contrary to Putnam's argument, in this instance, a dense civil society network had damaged democracy. The Nazi Party exploited the societal organization of Germany ultimately leading to

8614-413: The beginnings of the World Social Forum originated in the Battle for Seattle November 1999, where anti-globalization activists protested a meeting of the World Trade Organization 's latest trade negotiations. One of the originators of the World Social Forum, Oded Grajew , of the Ethos Institute for Business and Social Responsibility, said in an interview with InMotion Magazine in 2004, "Then I had

8760-490: The bigger and wealthier NGOs having far more space to talk and lead the events. Raúl Zibechi argues that there is a "crisis" of the World Social Forum in that it has been "weakened" as it has been "taken over" by "those who were most capable of 'leading' assemblies, professionals from universities and NGOs." South African politician Andile Mngxitama sees the World Social Forum as mostly dominated by Northern NGOs, donors and activists, and argues that Southern representation

8906-412: The city's Nikolai Church. Prayers for peace and subsequent large demonstrations at that church every Monday ('Montagsdemos') helped bring down the GDR government in East Germany in 1989. The weekly demonstrations, supported by churches, trade unions and other civic organizations, began again in January 2003 in protest to the impending invasion of Iraq. Protest marches in the afternoon were also reported in

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9052-425: The classical period did not make any distinction between the state and society. Rather they held that the state represented the civil form of society and ‘civility’ represented the requirement of good citizenship. Moreover, they held that human beings are inherently rational so that they can collectively shape the nature of the society they belong to. In addition, human beings have the capacity to voluntarily gather for

9198-433: The common cause and maintain peace in society. By holding this view, we can say that classical political thinkers endorsed the genesis of civil society in its original sense. The Middle Ages saw major changes in the topics discussed by political philosophers. Due to the unique political arrangements of feudalism , the concept of classical civil society practically disappeared from mainstream discussion. Instead conversation

9344-423: The connections that made the global day of action on February 15, 2003 so successful. The global day of action was an international protest attended by an estimated 12 million people in 700 cities across 60 countries protesting the Bush Administration 's plans to invade and occupy Iraq. At the time, the New York Times called international public opinion a superpower to counter the United States. The fourth WSF

9490-413: The day after an anti- International Monetary Fund protest. On October 2, the day President Bush signed into law Congress' joint resolution authorizing the war, a small-scale protest was held in Chicago, attended by a crowd of roughly 1,000 who listened to speeches by Jesse Jackson and then-Illinois State Senator Barack Obama . Obama's statement, "I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars,"

9636-433: The emergence of the modern state created a realm of civil society that reduced society to private interests competing against each other. Political society was autonomized into the state, which was in turn ruled by the bourgeois class (consider also that suffrage only belonged, then, to propertied men). Marx, in his early writings, anticipated the abolition of the separation between state and civil society, and looked forward to

9782-495: The emergence of the nongovernmental organizations and the new social movements (NSMs) on a global scale, civil society as a third sector became treated as a key terrain of strategic action to construct ‘an alternative social and world order.’ Post-modern civil society theory has now largely returned to a more neutral stance, but with marked differences between the study of the phenomena in richer societies and writing on civil society in developing states. Jürgen Habermas said that

9928-440: The environmental policy making process. These groups impact environmental policies by setting an agenda on fixing the harm done to the environment. They also get the public informed about environmental issues, which increases the public demand for environmental change. From a historical perspective, the actual meaning of the concept of civil society has changed twice from its original, classical form. The first change occurred after

10074-507: The event, to raise the issue of stateless peoples, and the plights that they face. The Escarré International Centre for Ethnic Minorities and Nations helped to organize the tent for the Collective Rights of Stateless Peoples, who are marginalized in an international system that recognizes only states as political units. Various stateless ethnic groups represented were the Basques , Kurds , Palestinians , Roma , Tibetans , Mapuche , Saharawi and Australian Aborigines . The tenth edition of

10220-405: The fall of the communist system was a part of neo-liberal strategies linked to the Washington Consensus . Some studies have also been published, which deal with unresolved issues regarding the use of the term in connection with the impact and conceptual power of the international aid system (see for example Tvedt 1998). On the other hand, others see globalization as a social phenomenon expanding

10366-465: The fall of the nation's first ever republic. Even in well-established democracies, the proliferation of special interest groups—which signal a strong civil society—can potentially impede the functioning of representative institutions and distort policy outcomes in favor of the wealthy, well-connected, or well-organized. Moreover, based on survey data collected by Kenneth Newton, there is little evidence that social and political trust overlap, which renders

10512-403: The first treaty, people submit themselves to the common public authority. This authority has the power to enact and maintain laws. The second treaty contains the limitations of authority, i. e., the state has no power to threaten the basic rights of human beings. As far as Locke was concerned, the basic rights of human beings are the preservation of life, liberty and property. Moreover, he held that

10658-540: The formal estate (trade and industry), and the universal estate (civil society). A man is able to choose his estate, though his choice is limited by the aforementioned inequalities. However, Hegel argues that these inequalities enable all estates in Civil Society to be filled, which leads to a more efficient system on the whole. Karl Marx followed the Hegelian way of using the concept of civil society. For Marx,

10804-765: The forum released the Porto Alegre Manifesto . Since Article 6 of the World Social Forum's Charter of Principles bars the event from attempting to represent all participants through formal statements, the Porto Alegre Manifesto was released on behalf of 19 activists. This 'Group of 19' includes Aminata Traoré , Adolfo Pérez Esquivel , Eduardo Galeano , José Saramago , François Houtart , Boaventura de Sousa Santos , Armand Mattelart , Roberto Savio , Riccardo Petrella , Ignacio Ramonet , Bernard Cassen , Samir Amin , Atilio Borón , Samuel Ruiz García , Tariq Ali , Frei Betto , Emir Sader , Walden Bello , and Immanuel Wallerstein . The sixth World Social Forum

10950-432: The front of the march was piling up at King Street Station, the terminal point of the march; Over 5 miles of solid people-as was evidenced by one aerial photo courtesy KING-TV, showed the true scope of the march. Most of the media downplayed the numbers by taking photos at the front of the parade, on flat ground-which usually showed just a few hundred people. For some reason there was no speaker awaiting to what would have been

11096-565: The idea. Why not create the World Social Forum, as we have the World Economic Forum, speaking about the people in the world? Why not have the World Social Forum—the social is more important than the economic—to have a space to show that we can have an alternative? We have choice. This is not the only way you can see the world, globalization. We have another way to see it. And, at the same time, force people to look, to make

11242-475: The implementation of the rule of law . Also, the availability of an effective court system, to be used by the civil society in situations of unfair government spending and executive impoundment of any previously authorized appropriations, becomes a key element for the success of any influential civil society. Critics and activists currently often apply the term civil society to the domain of social life which needs to be protected against globalization , and to

11388-431: The imposition of rules that restrain citizens from harming one another. In the classical period, the concept was used as a synonym for the good society, and seen as indistinguishable from the state. For instance, Socrates taught that conflicts within society should be resolved through public argument using ‘ dialectic ’, a form of rational dialogue to uncover truth. According to Socrates, public argument through ‘dialectic’

11534-404: The intrusive holistic state-dominated regimes of Communist Eastern Europe. The first post-modern usage of civil society as denoting political opposition stems from writings of Aleksander Smolar in 1978–79. However, the term was not in use by Solidarity labor union in 1980–1981. The ancient Romans were aware of the connections between democracy and a cooperative society, versus a monarchy and

11680-698: The largest demonstration this day occurred in London, with up to one million protestors gathering in Hyde Park; speakers included the Reverend Jesse Jackson, London mayor Ken Livingstone , and Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy . A large demonstration, also attended by perhaps around a million, took place in Madrid. Such prominent figures of demonstrations against Vietnam War in the 1960s and 70s as Pete Seeger , Tom Hayden , Joan Baez , Norman Siegel , William Sloane Coffin took part in

11826-698: The largest protest in Switzerland for decades; 10,000 to 20,000 in Greece, Denmark and Finland. 250,000 protesters demonstrated in New York City according to the German Spiegel Online magazine. There were protests in Washington, D.C. In Chicago, protesters disrupted traffic by closing down Lake Shore Drive . CNN reported that a march of over a thousand protesters in Atlanta, Georgia passed by their headquarters, upset over that network's coverage of

11972-476: The mid-1900s, and observed that those who were engaged with civil society organizations demonstrated greater “political sophistication, social trust, political participation, and ‘subjective civic competence’” than those not involved in these organizations. Similarly, Dr. Sheri Berman found that the NSDAP (Nazi Party) civil society organization leveraged strong civil society networks among the middle class together for

12118-488: The modern industrial capitalist society, for it had emerged at the particular period of capitalism and served its interests: individual rights and private property. Hence, he used the German term "bürgerliche Gesellschaft" to denote civil society as "civilian society" – a sphere regulated by the civil code . This new way of thinking about civil society was followed by Alexis de Tocqueville and Karl Marx as well. For Hegel, civil society manifested contradictory forces. Being

12264-718: The most globally representative WSF so far. It was criticized as being 'an NGO fair' and movements of the poor in Kenya and South Africa mounted vigorous protests against some of the NGOs that attended and, in their view, dominated the forum in the name of the African poor. The ninth World Social Forum took place in the Brazilian city of Belém , located in the Amazon rainforest, between January 27 and February 1, 2009. About 1,900 indigenous people, representing 190 ethnic groups attended

12410-406: The most important influence on the development and popularization of the idea instead, in an effort to legitimize neoliberal transformation in 1989. According to theory of restructurization of welfare systems, a new way of using the concept of civil society became a neoliberal ideology legitimizing development of the third sector as a substitute for the welfare state . The recent development of

12556-456: The multifaceted broad issues facing society, such as the challenges of globalization, and instead the focus of elections becomes centered on a few specific hot-button topics, such as abortion. There is a considerable amount of data supporting the notion that civil society organizations significantly increase political participation. Dr. Robert Putnam conducted a study of civil society in Italy in

12702-428: The nature of human beings should be encompassed by the contours of state and established positive laws . Thomas Hobbes underlined the need of a powerful state to maintain civility in society. For Hobbes, human beings are motivated by self-interests (Graham 1997:23). Moreover, these self-interests are often contradictory in nature. Therefore, in state of nature , there was a condition of a war of all against all. In such

12848-673: The number in Portland who participated in the January 18 protest. Thousands more marched in cities worldwide including Bangkok, Seoul, Hong Kong, Amman, Chicago, Calcutta, Melbourne, Christchurch , Dunedin , Paris, London, Portsmouth , Leeds , York , Exeter , Newcastle upon Tyne , Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Zurich, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Nicosia , Monaco, Santiago , Havana, São Paulo , Buenos Aires, Moscow, Seattle, Chicago , San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Vancouver, Halifax , Ottawa, and Toronto, as well as cities in Yemen, Turkey, Israel, and

12994-841: The obligations and rights of citizens with regard to government processes, different types of political issues and policy agendas, ways in which citizens can collaborate to address societal issues, and approaches to creating meaningful change in communities. Professors Carew E. Boulding and Jami Nelson-Núñez assert that civil society organizations are beneficial in that citizens are more inclined to participate politically when they can act collectively and develop associative solidarities with others around shared policy preferences. Other scholars, however, note that there are some drawbacks of civil society organizations as it pertains to political participation and policy processes. Professor Thomas Carothers have explained that, because civil society organizations have such an influential role in political participation,

13140-443: The open forum atmosphere of the World Social Forum without needing very much money for travel expenses. All of the various social forums in this mold include international attendees and are in no way specifically focused on the problems of a single region of country. On January 26, 2001 a number of activists with Brazil's Movimento dos Sem-Terra (MST) reacted in protest to the growing role of Monsanto in global agribusiness , which

13286-713: The organisational background has taken place since a decade ago when critical voices were raised. As of 2020, preparatory meetings for the 2021 World Social Forum were run by a younger generation of female and male organisers while the founders (Oded Grajew and Chico Whiteker) usually did not intervene. Communicating languages were mainly Spanish and Portuguese (because of many Latin American organisers), and also English and French. New individuals, social groups and movements were invited to co-organise events in 2021; new ecological movements run by young generations, for example. Civil society Civil society can be understood as

13432-974: The organizing of many regional social forums , including the Americas Social Forum , European Social Forum , the Asian Social Forum , the Mediterranean Social Forum and the Southern Africa Social Forum . There are also many local and national social forums, such as the Norwegian Social Forum , Iraqi Social Forum, Italian Social Forum , India Social Forum, Liverpool Social Forum and the Boston Social Forum . The first-ever United States Social Forum took place in Atlanta in June 2007. In 2010 Detroit , Michigan , hosted

13578-453: The participating NGOs would sometimes compete with popular movements for access to the forum and for influence there. The 2007 World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya was criticized as an "NGO fair" by Firoze Manji , as he believed that the large number of international NGOs crowded out less formal groups of activists. He also asserted that not all the attendees were properly represented, with

13724-706: The participation of a specific type of civil society organization—non-political organizations rooted in quotidian relationships—in the democratic transition process is what drives successful democratic transitions. Gianfranco Poggi argues this as well, saying that interpersonal trust is needed if republican society is to be maintained. Others, however, have questioned the link between civil society and robust democracy. As Thomas Carothers points out, civil societies do not necessarily form for worthy reasons nor do they necessarily promote democratic values. For example, Sheri Berman argued that civil society organizations can actually be used to mobilize people against democracy. This

13870-429: The polis was an ‘association of associations’ that enables citizens to share in the virtuous task of ruling and being ruled. His koinonia politike described a political community . The concept of societas civilis is Roman and was introduced by Cicero . The political discourse in the classical period, places importance on the idea of a ‘good society’ in ensuring peace and order among the people. The philosophers in

14016-431: The power of the state. The statutes of these political organizations have been considered micro-constitutions because they accustom participants to the formalities of democratic decision making. More recently, Robert D. Putnam has argued that even non-political organizations in civil society are vital for democracy because they build social capital, trust, and shared values within a society. Social capital, as defined as

14162-446: The proliferation of these organizations has made it increasingly difficult for governments to meet both the widening range of policy preferences and rapidly changing social needs. The scholar David Rieff discusses another issue tied to civil society and political participation: single-issue activism. Since most civil society organizations focus on one sector or societal issue, this sometimes causes voters to shift their attention away from

14308-495: The protest march, conflicts between police and protesters broke out in front of a US building in Hamburg. Protesters who were pushed back by the police began to throw stones, who in turn reacted with water cannons . There have since been serious discussions about police abuses in Hamburg, and political ramifications may follow. In the afternoon, 50,000 people protested peacefully in Leipzig following traditional prayers for peace in

14454-706: The protests against the invasion in Iraq in the USA. On March 8, three separate marches converged on Manchester Town Hall , UK. Official estimates put the number of participants at 10,000 (although this was disputed by organisers), making it the biggest political demonstration in the city since the Peterloo Massacre in 1819. On March 15, Spanish and Italian cities showed some of the largest turnouts against their governments' pro-war stance, with more than 400,000 protesters in Milan, more than 300,000 in Barcelona forming

14600-482: The public sphere when individuals and groups begin to challenge boundaries of permissible behaviour – for example, by speaking out against the regime or demanding a government response to social needs – civil society begins to take shape. Civil society organizations, also known as civic organizations, include among others: Protests against the Iraq War Beginning in late 2002 and continuing after

14746-410: The public sphere. Though these transformations happen, a civil society develops into political society when it emerges as non-economic and has a populous aspect, and when the state is not represented by just one political party. There needs to be a locus of authority, and this is where society can begin to challenge authority. Jillian Schwedler points out that civil society emerges with the resurrection of

14892-622: The purpose of mobilizing for political participation in Germany. The powerful influence of these efforts is evidenced by the NSDAP becoming the most potent political force in the nation in the mid-1900s. These case studies provide evidence of the crucial role of social networks in facilitating political participation and civic engagement. A strong civil society is often considered to be important for economic growth, with reasoning being that it can give important input on economic decisions, facilitate private enterprise and entrepreneurship, and prevent

15038-404: The realm of capitalist interests, there is a possibility of conflicts and inequalities within it (ex: mental and physical aptitude, talents and financial circumstances). He argued that these inequalities influence the choices that members are able to make in relation to the type of work they will do. The diverse positions in Civil Society fall into three estates: the substantial estate (agriculture),

15184-490: The reasons behind absolutism, and how to move beyond absolutism. The Enlightenment thinkers believed in the power of the human mind to reason. They opposed the alliance between the state and the Church as the enemy of human progress and well-being because the coercive apparatus of the state curbed individual liberty and the Church legitimated monarchs by positing the theory of divine origin. Therefore, both were deemed to be against

15330-452: The relationship between the strength of civil society and democracy obsolete. Indeed, as Larry Diamond asserts, in order to understand the multitude of ways civil society can serve democracy, it is also necessary to understand the tensions and contradictions civil society generates for democracy. In the United States, Tocqueville states that the tendency to form associations that would manifest into civil societies has propelled its success as

15476-477: The reunification of private and public/political realms (Colletti, 1975). Hence, Marx rejected the positive role of state put forth by Hegel. Marx argued that the state cannot be a neutral problem solver. Rather, he depicted the state as the defender of the interests of the bourgeoisie. He considered the state to be the executive arm of the bourgeoisie, which would wither away once the working class took democratic control of society. The above view about civil society

15622-573: The second day. On March 23, in the Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil , individuals threw a grenade at the UK's consulate in the city center from a car before quickly fleeing the scene. No victims and only minor material damage were reported. A self-styled People's Revolutionary Militias claimed authorship for the attack via email, justifying it as a reaction to the invasion. In this line, the nearby US-funded North American-Ecuadorian Center would also have been

15768-431: The shift from large unions and organizations to smaller movements targeting specific political issues is less likely to spur large-scale participation in democracy. Galston and Levine state these new civil societies have proved to be less likely to engage in the political process and more likely to bring social activism. Civil society organizations provide citizens with knowledge crucial to political participation, such as

15914-433: The social networks and norms of reciprocity associated with them, can help societies resolve dilemmas of collective action; individuals with dense social networks are more likely to credibly commit to other members of society and leverage their social capital to build public goods. In turn, countries with strong civil societies are more likely to succeed as democracies. Some scholars have built on Putnam's claim and argued that

16060-418: The sources of resistance thereto, because it is seen as acting beyond boundaries and across different territories. However, as civil society can, under many definitions, include and be funded and directed by those businesses and institutions (especially donors linked to European and Northern states) who support globalization , this is a contested use. Rapid development of civil society on the global scale after

16206-460: The southern island of Okinawa. Thousands of protesters, mainly Muslims, demonstrated across the African continent. Hundreds (BBC estimate) of young people marched in Mombasa in Kenya. The Somali capital Mogadishu saw protests by students, Koranic schoolchildren, women and intellectuals. There were reports about massive conflicts between protesters and police in the Gulf state of Bahrain for

16352-462: The sphere of classical liberal values, which inevitably led to a larger role for civil society at the expense of politically derived state institutions. 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. Civil societies also have become involved in

16498-420: The state from stifling the economy. For example, labor leaders can ensure that economic growth benefits working people, faith leaders can advocate for greater inclusion in economic affairs, NGOs can flag and document harmful business practices, etc. Essentially, civil society creates social capital, which the World Bank defines as "the institutions, relationships, and norms that shape the quality and quantity of

16644-408: The state must operate within the bounds of civil and natural laws. Both Hobbes and Locke had set forth a system, in which peaceful coexistence among human beings could be ensured through social pacts or contracts. They considered civil society as a community that maintained civil life, the realm where civic virtues and rights were derived from natural laws. However, they did not hold that civil society

16790-610: The student body. In Bradford up to 200 students (BBC estimate) gathered in Centenary Square. Demonstrations also took place in the city centre in Leeds and Horsforth. A large protest took place at Westminster where London school students gathered. In Manchester, 300 (eye-witness Stop the War estimate) secondary school children, Further Education students and university students met at Albert Square at 12 noon. They marched to

16936-440: The sub-optimal level in the absence of a sufficient system (Brown 2001:73). From that major concern, people gathered together to sign a contract and constituted a common public authority. Nevertheless, Locke held that the consolidation of political power can be turned into autocracy, if it is not brought under reliable restrictions (Kaviraj 2001:291). Therefore, Locke set forth two treaties on government with reciprocal obligations. In

17082-487: The survival of the hegemony of capitalism. Rather than posing it as a problem, as in earlier Marxist conceptions, Gramsci viewed civil society as the site for problem-solving. Misunderstanding Gramsci, the New Left assigned civil society a key role in defending people against the state and the market and in asserting the democratic will to influence the state. At the same time, neo-liberal thinkers consider civil society as

17228-463: The term civil society in the phrase koinōnía politikḗ ( κοινωνία πολιτική ), which refers to a political community , like the city-state ( polis ), established for collective survival. The telos or end of civil society, thus defined, was eudaimonia ( τὸ εὖ ζῆν , tò eu zēn ) (often translated as human flourishing or common well-being), in as man was defined as a ‘political (social) animal’ ( ζῷον πολιτικόν zōon politikón ). The concept

17374-462: The term civil society is used in the more general sense of "the elements such as freedom of speech, an independent judiciary, etc, that make up a democratic society" ( Collins English Dictionary ). Especially in the discussions among thinkers of Eastern and Central Europe, civil society is seen also as a normative concept of civic values. In the Politics , the philosopher Aristotle presents

17520-472: The term then gained currency to denote the corporate estates ( Ständestaat ) of a feudal elite of land-holders as opposed to the powers exercised by the prince. It had a long history in state theory, and was revived with particular force in recent times, in Eastern Europe, where dissidents such as Václav Havel as late as in the 1990s employed it to denote the sphere of civic associations threatened by

17666-546: The theme of "No Business As Usual." Protests also took place across the UK. About 250 students (Police estimate) marched on the US embassy in central London. 200 people (South Wales Police estimate) brought Cardiff city centre traffic to a standstill leading to at least six arrests. There was a lunchtime anti-war demonstration on the Humber bridge in Hull which involved some friction between motorists and protesters. In Derry , up to

17812-418: The third sector is a result of this welfare systems restructuring, rather than of democratization. From that time stems a political practice of using the idea of civil society instead of political society . Henceforth, postmodern usage of the idea of civil society became divided into two main ones: as political society and as the third sector – apart from plethora of definitions. The Washington Consensus of

17958-473: The war was a mistake." From the protests before and during the Iraq War, this was one of the biggest global peace protests to occur in the early 21st century, since the 20th century protest of the Vietnam War . Throughout several rallies spanning throughout 2002 until 2011, an unspecified number of people were arrested. Despite the fact that the United States had already withdrawn the troops from Iraq by December 2011, another anti-war protest led by veterans of

18104-523: The war were mainly organized by anti-war organizations , many of whom had been formed in opposition to the invasion of Afghanistan . In some Arab countries demonstrations were organized by the state . Europe saw the biggest mobilization of protesters, including a rally of three million people in Rome, which is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest ever anti-war rally. According to

18250-633: The war. Canada likewise experienced numerous anti-war protests over the weekend. Crowds of anti-war demonstrators took to the streets of Montreal and Toronto. Calgary held three days of protests (20 March – 22nd), culminating in a march which surrounded the government building and American consulate. In the Italian city of Naples 10,000 anti-war protesters marched towards a NATO base in Bagnoli. Protests also took place in Wellington , New Zealand.;

18396-496: The will of the people. Strongly influenced by the atrocities of Thirty Years' War, the political philosophers of the time held that social relations should be ordered in a different way from natural law conditions. Some of their attempts led to the emergence of social contract theory that contested social relations existing in accordance with human nature. They held that human nature can be understood by analyzing objective realities and natural law conditions. Thus they endorsed that

18542-732: The world. One of the notable regional forums was the US Social Forum held in Detroit, Michigan and attended by about 18,000 people. The 2011 World Social Forum was hosted in Dakar, Senegal and ran from 06 to 11 February. The 2012 World Social Forum was hosted in Porto Alegre, Brazil and ran from 24 to 30 January. The thirteen edition of the World Social Forum took place in Tunis from 26 to 30 March 2013. The fourteenth edition of

18688-656: Was "polycentric", held in January 2006 in Caracas , Venezuela and Bamako , Mali , and in March 2006, in Karachi , Pakistan . The Forum in Pakistan was delayed to March because of the Kashmir earthquake that had recently occurred in the area. The seventh World Social Forum was held in Nairobi , Kenya in January 2007. There were 66,000 registered attendees, and 1,400 participating organizations from 110 countries, making it

18834-820: Was a common theme for many of the protesters. A further 15,000 protested in Quebec City . 55,000 protested in Paris, and 4,500 to 10,000 in Marseilles . 100,000 protested in Berlin, some 20,000 protested in Athens, close to 10,000 people marched in Tokyo, and tens of thousands in Washington, D.C. Organizers claimed between 30,000 and 45,000 people turned out, while The Oregonian and the Associated Press estimated between 20,000 and 25,000 people attended, closer to

18980-515: Was a separate realm from the state. Rather, they underlined the co-existence of the state and civil society. The systematic approaches of Hobbes and Locke (in their analysis of social relations) were largely influenced by the experiences in their period. Their attempts to explain human nature, natural laws, the social contract and the formation of government had challenged the divine right theory. In contrast to divine right, Hobbes and Locke claimed that humans can design their political order. This idea had

19126-515: Was again held in Porto Alegre, in January 2003. There were many parallel workshops, including, for example the Life After Capitalism workshop, which proposed focused discussion on anti-capitalism and participative possibilities for different aspects of social, political, economic, communication structures. Among the speakers was American linguist and political activist Noam Chomsky . Some credit this meeting of World Social Forum for

19272-622: Was also criticism of the way that CelTel had exclusive rights at the Kenyan event, the virtual monopoly of a local hotel offering food at rates that the average Kenyan could not afford, and the physical and financial exclusion of local business. A delegation from Abahlali baseMjondolo criticised the World Social Forum, following their attendance in 2009, for being too focused on Latin America, and for failing to provide delegations with adequate translational services. A demographic transformation of

19418-556: Was barely noted at the time, but became famous during the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries when the Obama camp used it to demonstrate his courage and good judgment on the war. On October 7, Bush delivered a major speech justifying the invasion of Iraq at the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal . Outside, approximately 3000 people gathered to protest the coming war. Later, a few hundred protesters blocking

19564-517: Was concerned, this system was effective to guard against the domination of a single interest and check the tyranny of the majority (Alagappa 2004:30). G. W. F. Hegel completely changed the meaning of civil society, giving rise to a modern liberal understanding of it as a form of non -political society as opposed to institutions of modern nation state . While in classical republicanism civil society where synonymous with political society , Hegel distinguished political state and civil society, what

19710-501: Was considered by the group to be unethically using their seed patents to harm the rights of rural peoples, tore up an experimental plot of transgenic crops in Não-me-Toque, 300 kilometres (190 mi) from Porto Alegre, where the World Social Forum was taking place at the time. Three days later, Jose Bove, a French citizen, was arrested by Brazilian authorities as the World Social Forum ended on January 29, 2001. Connections between

19856-414: Was criticised by Antonio Gramsci (Edwards 2004:10). Departing somewhat from Marx, Gramsci did not consider civil society as a realm of private and alienated relationships. Rather, Gramsci viewed civil society as the vehicle for bourgeois hegemony, when it just represents a particular class. He underlined the crucial role of civil society as the contributor of the cultural and ideological capital required for

20002-502: Was dominated by problems of just war , a preoccupation that would last until the end of Renaissance . The Thirty Years' War and the subsequent Treaty of Westphalia heralded the birth of the sovereign states system . The Treaty endorsed states as territorially-based political units having sovereignty. As a result, the monarchs were able to exert domestic control by circumventing the feudal lords by raising their own armed troops. Henceforth, monarchs could form national armies and deploy

20148-603: Was evident in fall of the Weimar Republic in Germany. The Weimar Republic's failure to address the ravages of economic depression, and domestic struggles, led to the creation of a multitude of German civil societies. A defining and arguable fatal flaw of these groups was they reinforced societal conflicts and differences among Germans. This separation of German society into individual social groups meant they were incredibly vulnerable to nationalist ideals. Nazis infiltrated these discontent groups where they eventually became

20294-462: Was filmed by anti-war activists accumulating two hours of footage. The day after the invasion of Iraq had begun, protests were held in cities around the world. In some U.S. cities, protesters attempted to shut their respective cities down. In Germany, students staged a massive walkout. In London, a massive demonstration was held in front of the Houses of Parliament . Demonstrations were organized for

20440-427: Was followed by Tocqueville's distinction between civil and political societies and associations, repeated by Marx and Tönnies. Unlike his predecessors, Hegel considered civil society ( German : bürgerliche Gesellschaft ) as a separate realm, a "system of needs", that is the, "[stage of] difference which intervenes between the family and the state". Civil society is the realm of economic relationships as it exists in

20586-453: Was held in Mumbai , India, from 16 January to 21 January 2004. It was the first meeting of the World Social Forum held outside Brazil and its success has encouraged the WSF to expand in scope across the global South . Some credit it with inspiring the Asian Social Forum held in November of that year. The attendance was expected to be 75,000 and it shot over by thousands. The cultural diversity

20732-537: Was hosted virtually from 23 to 31 January 2021. Representatives from 144 countries attended the forum, with 1,371 organizations participating. The digital events attracted over 78,000 visits. The 2022 World Social Forum was held in a hybrid format, with in-person events in Mexico City , and virtual events . Preliminary data from the World Social Forum reported attendance from 500 organizations, 2,080 participants, and over 31,230 online visitors. The WSF has prompted

20878-415: Was imperative to ensure ‘civility’ in the polis and ‘good life’ of the people. For Plato , the ideal state was a just society in which people dedicate themselves to the common good, practice civic virtues of wisdom, courage, moderation and justice, and perform the occupational role to which they were best suited. It was the duty of the ‘ philosopher king ’ to look after people in civility. Aristotle thought

21024-461: Was now seen as "the magic bullet". By the end of the 1990s civil society was seen less as a panacea amid the growth of the anti-globalization movement and the transition of many countries to democracy; instead, civil society was increasingly called on to justify its legitimacy and democratic credentials. This led to the creation by the UN of a high level panel on civil society. However, in the 1990s with

21170-484: Was one notable aspect of the forum. A notable decision that was taken was the stand on free software . One of the key speakers at the WSF 2004 was Joseph Stiglitz . In contrast to earlier meetings, which had focused more on Euro-centric political intellectualism, the 2004 meeting included marches, as well as colorful and lively demonstrations. The 2004 meeting also saw the convening of the General Assembly of

21316-416: Was used by Roman writers, such as Cicero , where it referred to the ancient notion of a republic ( res publica ). It re-entered into Western political discourse following one of the late medieval translations of Aristotle's Politics into Latin by Leonardo Bruni who as a first translated koinōnía politikḗ into societas civilis . With the rise of a distinction between monarchical autonomy and public law,

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