News
Academic Articles on Civil Society 2008-2010
What are the latest academic publications on themes related to the Civil Society Building Knowledge Programme? And in which journals were they published? Attached you find an overview of the most interesting publications published in 2008-2010. This overview contains the details of the publication as well as the abstract. The articles can be found in the research database on civil society and social movements at the Institute of Social Studies. This database is currently not publicly accessab...
Knowledge, Change and the Global Justice and Solidarity Movement
The Other Knowledges Group is a space to explore alternative knowledges, paradigms and worldviews. The group invites you to the following 'multilogue': Knowledge, Change and the Golbal Justice and solidarity Movement.What knowledge/s, and whose knowledge/s, does - and - should - the Global Justice-Solidarity Movements work with? Do these global movements propose knowledges different from the hegemonic kind?
Less Pretension, More ambition
In February 2010, the Dutch Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR) published a landmark report on the Dutch development sector. The report, titled 'Less pretention, More ambition' sparked widespread debate in the Netherlands about the future of aid. Now there is an english version of the report too.
This Ain't Democracy Anymore...
"This ain´t democracy anymore..." : Reflections based on the referendum on mining in the Northern frontier of Peru.Over the last years conflicts around mining have emerged around Peru. One of the emblematic cases is the resistance against the illegal presence of the Rio Blanco mining in the territories of the Yanta and Segunda y Cajas communities, in the Ayavaca and Huancabamba provinces. In the northern frontier of Peru, apart from direct action, legal initiatives, attempts to dial...
Can Citizen Action Save the World?
Date: 21st October 2010 Time: 1.15 pm - 2.45 pm (New York Time) Venue: The Simon Wiesenthal Center/New York Tolerance Center, Screening Room, 226 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017 (between 2nd and 3rd Avenues)As part of the UNU Midday ForumProgramme, the United Nations University Office at the UN, New York (UNU-ONY) is holding an event entitled Can Citizen Action Save the World? in association with the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation.
Book Release: Mobilising Social Justice: Perspectives from Researchers and Practitioners
South Africa grapples with serious social and economic inequalities, including inequality in access to basic services. At a time of rising social tensions, the country’s institutions are in danger of losing the legitimacy they gained in the wake of democratic dispensations of the 1990s.
Problematizing Civil Society in South Africa and beyond
South Africa’s soccer fever has subsided, but recent sparks of violent protest and public sector strikes indicate that for the foreseeable future, social tensions are here to stay. Fueled by perverse social-economic inequalities and fragile public institutions, outbursts of public anger will continue to send out warning signals to the wider world that stability and democracy in South Africa cannot be taken for granted. This post brings together the findings of four recent studies on civil soc...
Mobilising Social Justice in South Africa - perspectives from Researchers and Practitioners
How do civic actors in South Africa deal with contemporary developmental challenges such as socio-economic inequality, limited access to basic services, xenofobic tensions and governance constraints. At a time of rising social tensions, the country’s institutions are in danger of losing the legitimacy they gained in the wake of democratic dispensations of the 1990s.
Challenges in Trans-disciplinary and Value Critical Research on Social Movements
ISS MA-student in Human Rights and Development Cyprianus Jehan Paju Dale (read profile here) is currently in Papua to conduct research on key actors of social movements in Papua. He explores the leading discourse of indigenous people of Papua on development and human rights. Cypri’s is grappling with the ‘western’ concept of ‘social movement’ in the Papuan context. How is it understood in Papua and by whome? And what about the ethics of research: how to analyze your research findings and crit...
A Matter of Religion? Really?
ISS-student Rima Irmayani is currently blogging from Indonesia about her fieldwork that she’s undertaking for her MA research on understanding community participation in post-conflict reconstruction programmes. (see profile here). As farming is one of the main livelihood strategies in Poso-Central Sulawesi local government and NGOs put considerable effort into helping farmers to rebuild their agricultural practices after the violence ended in 2001. By interviewing the farmers in Sintuwulemba...