Publication Policy Paper 1: Re-thinking Civic Activism

Despite the sustained and genuine efforts of committed civic activists, and a ‘surge’ of civil society organisations and democracy promotion over the course of the past two decades in the Middle East, hopes for genuine and far-reaching democratic reforms have reached an apparent dead-end. This is in apparent contrast to civil societies in Latin America, Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia, which also faced authoritarian regimes and yet managed to engender democratic changes. Consequently, this Middle Eastern ‘democracy deficit’ has led to disappointment, disenchantment, despair and even over-determinism among (some) academics and activists in the region and internationally, who feel that the exceptional and peculiar Middle East is doomed to be governed by authoritarian regimes. This paper presents the characteristics of the context in which civic activists operate. It provides a discussion of the role of the ‘unusual suspects’ — new media and private sector – in democratisation processes, particularly in Syria and Morocco and addresses the concepts of active citizenship, civic culture and social non movements.

Publication Policy Paper 2: Resilient Authoritarianism in the Middle East

While celebrating a historic turning point in Egypt and Tunesia, it is also clear that authoritarianism will remain a prominent feature of Middle East politics. The spectrum of regime types in the region will expand. It may even come to include democracies. Yet as the cases of Syria and Iran demonstrate, not all regimes will experience political openings. Eventhough the region might be transformed in the years ahead, the cases of Syria and Iran remind us that the political landscape of the Middle East will retain familiar and troubling features. This paper presents some key parameters for a rethinking of democracy and reform promotion in this part of the region.

Citizen action matters!

Citizen engagement matters! That’s the three word conclusion from 10 years of research by the IDS Citizenship development research centre. Word of warning: Citizen action also sometimes backfires. Yet, the evidence from more than 150 case studies overwhelmingly demonstrates how citizen action makes a difference in processes on democratic development. Interestingly, the findings do not hold for stable contexts but also in fragile settings, topic for discussion in the remainder of this blog.

Civic Driven Change

Civic Driven Change is an emerging framework for analysis and promotion of civic action for social change. Originating from a think tank of activists and academics in 2008, Civic Driven Change has attracted widespread international attention. But what exactly has it got on offer for practitioners and policy makers?

Does Big Philantropy Undermine Democratic Development?

On 3 March, Michael Edwards kickstarted our second Target 2020 debate by an inspiring talk on the role of philantropy in democratic development. Michael Edwards, former Ford-Foundation director, recently wrote 'Small Change, Why Business Won't Save the World'. In his presentation, he questioned whether the private sector, and its philantropic foundations, can play a positive role in democratic processes in developing countries. His main argument centred around notions of impact and accountability: "Big philanthropy both undermines the conditions that promote democratic development on the ground and weakens democratic processes of decision-making about development priorities at the national and international levels".

Provocation Seminar Series: Video of the second Provocation online

The second in a series of six seminars on markets and small-scale farmers took place in Stockholm, Sweden on 3 March 2011. Take a look at the live stream videos at: www.iied.org/provocation2

See also: Supporting smallholders: markets, rights, or sovereignty? and: Supporting small-scale farmers: rights or markets? for summaries on what has been discussed during the provocation.

Provocation Seminar Series: Making markets work for the poor - contents and discontents

The third in a series of six seminars on markets and small-scale farmers will take place in Paris, France, on 30 March 2011, 09.30-13.00 (central European time).

Development policymakers and practitioners are turning to markets to alleviate poverty. The idea is that well functioning markets that integrate poor people as consumers, producers and workers will lead to economic development, growth and prosperity. But do linear interventions to ‘make markets work for the poor’ work for all? There is increasing evidence that while they may help some small-scale farmers, the most vulnerable are often still left out in the cold.

Faith and social change in India – as seen by a Muslim research-activist collective

The existing mindset of civil society organizations in India is insufficiently aware of new sites of social transformation springing up in India. According to Shahrukh Alam and Khalid Anis Ansari of the Patna Collective, lower caste Muslims and Muslim women for instance are instigating change independently from civil society organizations.

Indonesian government must take action against religious violence

Indonesia has experienced 39 cases of interreligious tensions around places of worship in the past year. 17 cases concerned attacks on houses of worship or violence against members of religious groups, reports CRCS in its Annual Report on Religious Life in Indonesia.

Digital Rights Blogathon

Last week, in light of the human rights celebration in South Africa, digital natives from different parts of the world have given use their view on the digital rights that need to be ensured in 20, 30 or even 50 years time. In this Blogathon they were asked to reflect on what should be right in the digital age.

Diagnosing processes of K4D

The KP submitted a case story entitled Diagnosing processes of K4D for The Knowledge Management Impact Challenge (KMIC) which aims to bring people together to help focus efforts and resources and explore different solutions to the challenge of measuring the results and impact of investing in KM and learning. The Diagnosing processes of K4D story highlights key insights in measuring relationships between different stakeholders and embraces the diversity of different types of knowledge – academic, practitioner, educational and cultural –assuming that this diversity encourages diverse stakeholders to use and share their knowledge.

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