Civil society organizations only started to be considered a sector in the 1970s in the United States. Amitai Etzioni pioneered the use of the expression third sector, which became common in academic and political literature. However, in the United States, the non-profit sector concept gradually became more robust and was spread internationally based on the studies conducted by Lester Salomon and associated researchers. The theory built on the concept of the non-profit sector is strongly related to the North American cultural context, marked by the tradition of philanthropy and volunteerism, but with little importance given to associative and cooperative organizations. The non-profit sector is implicitly or explicitly conceived as part of the private sphere. In contrast, theoretical currents such as liberal communitarianism, the theories of cooperation, common goods, social capital, European social economy, and the Latin American solidarity economy highlight the primacy of cooperation in solving collective problems. These theories underpin the associative approach of the third sector and link it to the community, not to the market. This paper argues that the associative approach is more appropriate for international studies on the third sector and the relevance of self-organization. The third sector, i.e., the set of organizations created and maintained by civil society, is the inheritor of the millennial associative tradition, including both entities whose values are compatible with the common good and those with particularistic values, authoritarian and contrary to human rights. The third sector is not entirely virtuous, but it is a vital sector for solving great human problems.

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The aim of this paper is to illuminate the interdependent relation and connectivity between state and regime known as the state-regime-nexus. To conceptualize the reciprocal institutional relation between state and regime and to deepen the understanding of the state-regime-nexus, I focus on law and legal order as one mutual linkage between state and regime in both democratic and autocratic regimes. To do so, this conceptual paper addresses two points that are part of the same topic: the relation between state, regime and law and different variants of legal order in democratic and autocratic regimes. This creates a theoretical basis to gain more conceptual and analytical clarity in the complex realm of the state-regime-nexus.

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Die Situation in Chinas nordwestlicher Region Xinjiang hat in den letzten Jahren zunehmende internationale Aufmerksamkeit erfahren. Berichte über Masseninternierungen von Uiguren und anderen ethnischen Gruppen in Umerziehungslagern, Zwangsarbeit, Zwangssterilisation und weitere Menschenrechtsverletzungen beherrschen die Schlagzeilen und belasten die Beziehungen zwischen China und seinen Kritikern. Die chinesische Regierung rechtfertigt ihr Vorgehen hingegen als Kampf gegen Terrorismus, islamistischen Extremismus und ethnischen Separatismus. „Xinjiang – China und die Uiguren“ präsentiert erstmalig in deutscher Sprache eine tiefergehende wissenschaftliche Auseinandersetzung mit diesem kontroversen Thema. Prägnant und anschaulich führt der erste Teil des Buchs in die komplexe Geschichte der Region ein. Der zweite Teil stellt die Entwicklungen im 21. Jahrhundert dar. Hierbei zeigt sich ein facettenreiches Bild der sozioökonomischen Entwicklung, der ethnischen Identität sowie der Sprach- und Religionspolitik. Der dritte Teil hinterfragt die gängigen Deutungen des Xinjiang-Konflikts, analysiert Proteste und Terrorismus ebenso wie die staatlichen Repressionsmaßnahmen und die internationale Dimension der Auseinandersetzung. Quellennah, basierend auf den Ergebnissen der neuesten Forschung und in einem unaufgeregten Ton vermittelt „Xinjiang – China und die Uiguren“ ein ausgewogenes Bild der aktuellen Konflikte.